From Crib to Cross

During this time of advent (which means 'to come') I can’t help but think about what is actually ‘to come’. Christmas (which means 'Christ Sent'). The Son of God is sent into the world to make the love of God visible for us. He doesn’t come in a flurry of fire or descending in the clouds, he comes to us as a baby. A helpless little infant.

I wonder sometimes about the infant Jesus. Jesus is the second person of the Holy Trinity the Word of God. The word infant comes from two Latin words "in" meaning 'not' and "fans" which means 'to speak' (in fans). The work infant means speechless. The incarnation, when the Son of God takes on human flesh, is a time when the Word of God becomes speechless!

It amazes me that the word that spoke all of creation into being steps into time and becomes speechless in order to show the world what it means to love. Jesus, the Second person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Logos, (the word), gives himself to humanity and takes on flesh. He becomes one with us yet remains fully God. So he is Emmanuel (God with us). Throughout the Old Testament all God wants is to be with his people—to dwell among them. Time and time again, His people refuse Him, choosing to live in ways that exclude God.

So He becomes one of us. The Word of God becomes speechless because of His great love for us. He is born into the world and laid on the wood of a manger (a feeding trough) in a town called Bethlehem (Which means house of bread). Thus begins the earthly life of our Savior. At the end of His life he is again laid on the wood but this time it is the wood of the cross where he offers himself as the One True sacrifice where he finishes what was began in the upper room. He becomes the Bread for the world and the cross becomes the source of nourishment for all humanity.

O come let us adore him!!
Merry Christmas

The Theology of Baseball

Baseball and faith really have a lot in common. Krissy and I had a great time thinking of some of these things. Here are some thoughts.

Baseball reference in scripture.
“In the big inning…” ~ Genesis 1:1

To score you have to come back home. God is the beginning and the end; the alpha and the omega.

You have to run really hard. In the same way that you have to try really hard in everything you do in your faith, whenever anything happens in baseball, the next thing you’re going to do is run really hard.

You have to touch base. There’s no shortcut.

God said to Adam and Eve, “You’re outta here!”

Jesus made a sacrifice fly.

You really have to know and love the game to play it well.

You are being cheered on by the fans (the Saints and Angels!).

God announces your name REALLY cool when you come out on to the field.

There’s no clock in baseball. "It ain’t over till it’s over." (Yogi Berra)…you always have time to repent.

It’s a Universal game, played all around the world.

What you do, can allow someone else to score big. It’s not an individual sport, it’s a team sport.

It requires suffering.

Nobody bats 1000. Nobody’s perfect.

Baseball is complicated.

Life can throw you curves.

You need light to play.

Even after you strike out, you always have another at bat.

ROCKIES LIFE NIGHT!!!

So the Rockies have two more games to win and they make it to the World Series!!

There is a lot that I would like to say that has spiritual metaphors with the way the Rockies are going through this. More about that later!

For now what I want to say is we are going to watch the game this Sunday for Life Night!

The game starts a little after 6:30 so the timing is perfect!

We will get bunch of baseball food so come and enjoy game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

OFF TO A GREAT START

We had a great time with the whole MIB theme. Who knew that the Core Team could dance like that? (Interpret that however you want)!

The night turned out to be a lot cleaner than last year but lots of fun. The prizes were good and how did they get the room to match the video?

The Youth Room has been a lot of things over the years... but a hallway in a top secret organization that monitors alien life one earth... That was something special!

We look forward to seeing you next Sunday. What do you suppose the room will be turned into next?

Until next week,

MAKE IT BOLD!

God Bless,

Richard

Welcome Krissy!

Krissy Jensen the new Assistant Youth minister is in the house!!

Krissy and I have been working together for several weeks now and she is incredible! I can't wait to see the full impact of her presence at here at SOC. She is a great addition to the ministry and I am excited to be working with her!

Thanks for being willing to work with me.

Welcome aboard Krissy!!

Happy Easter!!!

Hey Everyone!

The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!!

We will he holding "The Upper Room" on Thursday @ 7:00.

Have a great rest of the week!!!

Peace,

Richard

Happy Holy Week!

Hey Everyone,

Happy Holy Week!!! This week we will not be having a LIFE TEEN Mass or The Upper Room (The Upper Room will meet next week instead). We will however be holding the Ultimate Frisbee night tonight Tuesday April, 3rd and...

YES there is Confirmation class tomorrow Wednesday April, 4th !!!

Have an awesome Easter. See you on the 10th for Razing Hell 7:00 pm in the Youth Room.

Peace,

Richard