Deacon Lou Ness says baptism is scary because you are committing to a powerful, transformative covenant with God. Accepting your baptismal covenant means your will suffer because standing with Christ is counter cultural. And that's a challenge.

Nancy Sauer's guest sermon takes a deep look at three travelers who may been called kings, astrologers, Magi and wiseman. They are central to the Epiphany story, as the "revelation of Christ to the Magi in Bethlehem was a symbol of His revelation to the whole of the Gentile world. Epiphany presents to us the calling of not merely a chosen few, but all nations to Christianity."

We don't have to try to save Christmas because it's going to happen with us or without us. God is the Christmas light that existed before time and will be shining when we are long gone. We can't prevent it or make happen. But we can decide to join the party or not.

Beyond the dogma and doctrine, the Rev. Andria Skornik believes Christmas is a love story, the kind of absurd, passionate, authentic and self-sacrificial love story that would cause a king to put on plain clothes or a God to be born in a manager.

What do you tell people in the 90-second life update at holiday parties? What would you say if you were Mary having been given the angel's news? In the Magnificat, Mary claims God's sacred-making work in her life, and we too can make this our story, even when we can't see the whole picture.

Deacon Doug Rogers says times were tough in the kingdom (as they are today) when a man with tangled hair and camel hide loin cloth started purifying people in the Jordan River. John was a beacon of hope, a reminder that the darkest forces of the world aren't as powerful as they appear to be.

Greetings. This is a thought provoking guest sermon by Vicki Garvey, canon for Lifelong Christian Formation at the Chicago Diocese. She says: "Good news. Gospel. Glad Times. God is with us still. Always was. Always will be. "Do you believe me?"

Our tradition has been called the Via Media, meaning “middle way.” It is a way of mediating opposing views through dialogue, the charting of a course between divergent sides so that by bringing together two positions in discussion a third idea may emerge.