A Message from Pastor Andrea Chaumont
December 18, 2025
“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!”
-Hamilton Wright Mabie (My Study Fire)
We are in the final week of Advent, a week focused on Love. At the same time, we are approaching winter solstice, the longest night of the year (Dec. 21). This is the time of year that the church often recognizes the reality that as wonderful as this time of the year is, there is often also a heightened sense of sadness, depression, and grief (recognized in the Longest Night service). This past week we had plenty of occasions for grief on a national level - gun violence in Australia at a synagogue, on a college campus and a celebrity couple killed in L.A. Perhaps you are experiencing personal stories of grief too, aging family members, geographical distance from loved ones, cancer, addiction and mental illness.
Anne Lamott writes:
I got used to having to teach my Sunday School kids after school shootings, this being America…The kids feel helpless and hopeless after these shooting, and I do, too. I remind them of what Mr. Roger’s mother said, that in the face of tragedy and hopelessness we look to the helpers, the profound and immediate presence of the first responders, the people serving them coffee and sandwiches through the night. I remind them of how we as a people, a community, a nation come together with incredible courage and generosity of spirit in the aftermath of shootings, floods, fires.
I remind them of something my buddy Ram Dass said, that we are all just walking each other home. We look to see who around us most needs help. Often, all we can do is not turn away, and that is so brave and inspiring.
(You can find the full article on her substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/annelamott/p/today?r=d8sdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
This is Love, God with us in the darkness, breaking into the chaos in the form of a baby. Brennan Manning puts it this way: “God entered into our world not with the crushing impact of unbearable glory, but in the way of weakness, vulnerability, and need. On a wintry night in an obscure cave, the infant Jesus was a humble, naked, helpless God who allowed us to get close to him.”
This is love, not turning away from suffering, but leaning in with compassion. Thank you for all the ways you do this MBPPC, shining a light in our community through spiritual friendships, local partnerships, and kindness and care for one another. As we approach these final days of Advent, “we look ahead to the arrival of Emmanuel, God with us, who comes that the world might be renewed and victorious over evil’s darkness” (Tsh Oxenreider, Shadow and Light).
Join us Sunday, the 21st for a little light, the Children’s Pageant at MBPPC. In our gospel reading, Matthew 1: 18-25, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him that he is going to be the father of Jesus. Joseph leans in to this great mystery, perhaps in fear and with trembling, but also in love.
Peace,
Pastor Andrea
P.S. My absolute favorite writing on Advent is Brennan Manning’s “Shipwrecked at the Stable.” You can find an online version here: https://thevalueofsparrows.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/advent-meditation-shipwrecked-at-the-stable-by-brennan-manning/
Or you can find a hard copy in this Advent devotional: https://www.amazon.com/Watch-Light-Readings-Advent-Christmas/dp/087486917X