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    • Sunday service - Holy Communion December 28, 2025 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID:…
    • Sunday service - Morning Prayer January 4, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID:…
    • Sunday service - Holy Communion January 11, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT As of January 16, 2022 our service online only (via Zoom). Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.orgTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) …

Christmas Eve 2018

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Beth Crane

Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…” “The grace of God has appeared.” On this day, in the darkest time of year, the light is coming into the world.

The Roman Empire has decided to do a census, and Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, not an easy thing for a young woman who is about to have her first child. But Mary and Joseph are people of profound faith, wisdom, endurance, and courage.

The baby is born in a cave used as a stable. There is no room at the inn. The first people to hear the good news are shepherds out in the fields protecting their flocks, not kings and emperors. The shepherds are the first to go and worship this new king.

We have heard this story many times, and yet it always brings new light and hope into our lives. Our King has come among us as one of us, as a vulnerable baby. He comes into the world just as we did. The angels proclaim this birth to ordinary people, people like us. The shepherds are living their lives, doing their work, and suddenly the sky is filled with light and the angels are telling them something that will change their lives.

At this darkest time of year, the light of Christ comes into our lives. We approach this baby once again, knowing that he is our Savior, and that he will walk the human journey with us, that he will understand our struggles, that he will know our frailties and still love us, that he will give us courage and grace.

As the hymn says, “Love came down at Christmas.” Thank you, Jesus, for your wondrous gift of yourself.  Amen.

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Holy Name  January 1, 2017

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Beth Crane

Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm 8
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:15-21

Today is Holy Name Day, January 1. We do not often get to celebrate this feast day because it falls on a Sunday only occasionally. On this day, when he was eight days old, Jesus officially received his name, the name that was given to him by the angel who told Joseph that this child  was the child of God.

Our first reading is the beautiful and powerful blessing from the Book of Numbers. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” God tells Aaron that this is the way in which God is going to put God’s name on God’s people. This is a blessing full of God’s love for us. It is a blessing full of God’s light and love and peace.

Our psalm today is a song of praise and thanks to God, who has given us stewardship over the world God has made.

In our reading from his Letter to the Galatians, Paul gives a brief but powerful summary of our faith. God sent his Son to free us from the bonds of the law and give us grace. God has adopted us as God’s own children so that we can call God “Daddy” or  “Mom.” Because of God’s love and grace, we are on the most intimate terms with God.

In our reading from Luke’s gospel, the angels have come to tell the shepherds the good news of the Birth of Jesus. Shepherds were not high on the social scale. Their work was dangerous and often dirty and difficult. But it is to these ordinary, lowly, common people that God sent the angels to share this joyous news.

So it is the shepherds who bring the good tidings to Mary and Joseph. They go to Bethlehem and find Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus lying in the manger, and they tell Mary and Joseph what they have heard from the angels. The gospel tells us that “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” The angel Gabriel had already told her who this child was. Now she was hearing about this from the shepherds, who had heard the message from a multitude of angels.

There was so much to absorb. She and Joseph would be responsible for bringing up the child of God. What a profound responsibility that was! Very soon, they would have to take Jesus to Egypt to protect him from Herod. There was much to think about. As we meditate on Mary thinking about the meaning of all this, We can imagine that she asked for God’s help and grace to do the best she possibly could do in the joyful but also challenging ministry.

And we can also imagine that she. who was courageous and wise, knew that, with a king like Herod, there could be danger. And we can imagine that she asked God for courage. We know that she showed almost superhuman courage and faithfulness when the worst of the worst happened to her Son. Mary became a faithful disciple of her Son. She stood at the foot of the cross and she waited with the others for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The shepherds return to their work, exhilarated with the joy of having actually seen this extraordinary little baby and his earthly parents. Eight days later, Jesus received his name. Gene M. Tucker of Candler School of Theology at Emory University tells us, The name Jesus is a form of the name Joshua, which means ‘salvation from Jehovah.” Tucker notes that Jesus has already been called the savior of his people when the angel Gabriel was speaking with Mary.  

At our baptisms, we receive our names, and we receive our formal welcome as children of God and members of the Body of Christ. We receive the anointing with the oil of Chrism as the sign of the cross is made on our foreheads, marking us as Christ’s own forever.

In baptism we are made inheritors of the kingdom of God. We receive the blessings of God which were conferred so long ago in our first reading and we are made children of God in a very loving and intimate way, as described in our epistle.

Our readings today are full of blessings and gifts. The blessing of God’s love is so deep and so broad that, try as we will, we will never be able to fathom it or understand it. God’s love for us is so immense. It is beyond our comprehension. God has given us the whole world full of all its wonders and graces and gifts.

God has come to be with us—God with us, Emmanuel. Our loving God, full of grace and truth, has come to be with us and to show us the way. He marks us as his own beloved children. He takes us onto his lap and cherishes us. He leads us through the brambles and briars of life as our Good Shepherd.

Today, as we celebrate his receiving his name, we also remember that he knows each of us by name, and loves us, and leads us. These are Christmas gifts beyond measure. May God be praised, and may we be forever grateful. Amen.

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Advent 4 A RCL December 18, 2016

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Beth Crane

Isaiah 7: 10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

In our opening reading today, King Ahaz of the Southern Kingdom, Judah, is facing an extremely difficult and dangerous situation. The year is 734 B.C. The powerful Assyrian Empire is threatening to conquer Syria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The kings of Syria and Israel want King Ahaz to join with them in an alliance against the Assyrians.

Isaiah has been trying to encourage Ahaz to remain neutral. Ahaz doesn’t want to listen. Now God is directly addressing King Ahaz, God is going to give a sign. But Ahaz does not want to hear about this sign. His excuse for the fact that he does not want to listen to God is that he does not want to put God to the test.

But God tells him about the sign anyway. A young woman is going to have a baby, and that baby is going to be named Immanuel, God with us. By the time this baby is old enough to choose the good over the evil, the Assyrian Empire will be a thing of the past.

God is saying that God will be with King Ahaz and all the people. King Ahaz chooses not to listen to God or to Isaiah. He decides to form an alliance with the Assyrians and they end up invading Jerusalem. Ahaz is an example of someone who likes to do things his own way. He does not listen to guidance from wise people like Isaiah. He does not even listen to God.

In our gospel for today, we have an example of someone very different from King Ahaz, Joseph of Nazareth. Joseph is betrothed to a young woman named Mary. This is a wonderful thing. But something has happened which has cast a shadow over Joseph’s life. Mary is going to have a baby, and Joseph knows that he is not the father of this baby.

He had thought that Mary was someone who took commitments very seriously. She had seemed honest and full of sincerity and integrity. You and I know that Mary does take commitments seriously. She follows her son to the foot of the cross and stays there until the bitter end.

But Joseph, who is usually calm and level-headed, is upset, There is only one explanation for this, on the earthly level, and so he makes a decision to divorce Mary quietly to spare her feelings and her reputation. We need to remember that, in those days, being betrothed was like being married. Under the circumstances, it appears that she has committed adultery, and, in that culture and that time, we know that women were stoned to death for that crime. We also remember that Jesus as he encountered a crowd about to throw stones at a woman caught in adultery, said, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone,” and they put down their stones and walked away.

But to get back to our gospel, Joseph has resolved to divorce Mary quietly and try to preserve her reputation.

Now we need to remember that Joseph is a man of prayer. He is close to God. Unlike King Ahaz, he listens for God’s guidance. That night, an angel appears to him in a dream. This often happened back then, God would speak to people in their dreams. It actually happens today as well. The angel tells Joseph the truth about this baby. The angel even tells Joseph what to name the baby, Jesus. This baby is going to be God with us, Immanuel.

Joseph is a man of deep faith. He listens to every word the angel says to him. He knows this is a message from God. Quietly, faithfully, Joseph accepts God’s call to be the foster father of Jesus.  We know that Joseph will protect Mary as they travel to Bethlehem. We know that King Herod is going to try to have all the baby boys under the age of two killed, and that Joseph will take Mary and Jesus to Egypt so that they will be safe. We can imagine Joseph teaching Jesus in his carpenter shop when Jesus gets old enough. This wise, patient, gentle, courageous, faithful man is saying Yes to an extraordinary vocation—bringing up the child of God as a foster father. Jesus could have been born under the shadow of illegitimacy. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were refugees when they fled into Egypt. Always, Joseph was there to protect Jesus and Mary and to seek and accept God’s guidance.

What a contrast there is between Joseph and King Ahaz. I don’t know about you but I have actually met people who, when offered wise guidance, have said, in so many words, “I like to do things my own way.” That’s the Ahaz approach to life.

Joseph kept listening to God and followed every direction. He devoted his life to taking care of Mary and Jesus. What a wonderful holy example for us today. Do we realize that God is as close as our breath? Do we listen for the guidance of God as Joseph did?

Emmanuel. God with us. Our God who loves us so much is coming to live among us, full of grace and truth. May we make room for him in our hearts and lives. Amen.

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