The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon | A Multitude of Camels

Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Speaker: Mark Rupp

One of the biggest losses for me during this pandemic has been the necessary cancellation of the extended family gatherings for my mother’s side of the family. We have still been able to gather with my brothers and their families while being as safe as possible, but I have deeply missed the chaotic large group gatherings with cousins and cousin’s kids running through legs and under tables, aunts making the rounds to catch up on all the family gossip, uncles quietly falling asleep in a chair until someone dares to change the TV channel, and the occasional significant other brought along for the first time who always ends up looking overwhelmed trying to remember so many names. 

My mother is one of six siblings, each of which has multiple children, many with their own growing families. The pandemic has made me lose the exact count of all the babies my various cousins have been having over the last two years, but at this point I think these family gatherings end up pushing close to 100 people when everyone is there. 

And nothing better sums up and symbolizes this large family chaos better than the much loved tradition we have of playing Christmas Bingo. This tradition started many years ago when we finally outgrew the ability to do direct gift exchanges. Instead, one of my aunts designed bingo cards using all the Christmas clip art she could find (of course Jesus was the free space because Jesus is free for everyone),…

Essentials: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Immanuel, Epiphany

CMC Service 12-26-21.mp4 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon | God with us, Us with God

Text: Luke 1:39-56

Speaker: Joel Miller

In April 1977 a group of mothers gathered in the Plaza de Mayo outside the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  It was a demonstration of women whose adult children had gone missing under the current military dictatorship.  They demanded the release of their loved ones but were instead expelled from the public square. 

This was the first public action of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.  Later that year they  decided to join the annual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Lujan, a Basilica with a statue of the Virgin Mary.  They wore white headscarves with the names and birth dates of their missing children along with the words “Aparicion con Vida,” “Alive reappearance.”  This was their hope and their demand for their children who were desaparecidos, disappeared.  In the following years The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo continued telling their stories and speaking out against the repressive military government, at great risk to themselves. 

At the height of their protests the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo marched with posters containing the words of Mary’s Magnificat:

Él hace proezas con su brazo:
dispersa a los soberbios de corazón,

     God has shown strength with his arm
     He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts

derriba del trono a los poderosos
y enaltece a los humildes,

     God has brought down the powerful from their thrones
     and lifted up the lowly

a los hambrientos los colma de bienes
y…

CMC Christmas Eve 2021 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

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