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Showing posts from December, 2021

Christmas 2 C + It’s Christmas, why am I anxious? + ACL + 1.2.22

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  It’s Christmas, why am I anxious? Christmas 2C, 2021 (Luke 2, [Colossians 3]) All Saints, Oxnard The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell (shared by MCL)             Not long after our now adopted daughter came to live with us as a 12 year old foster child, we went to visit her grandparents in Pasadena.   Feeling all of her pre-teen independence, she asked us to let her off several blocks away from the restaurant where we were meeting up, so she could walk there on her own. We gave careful instructions (we thought) and let her out of the car.   My wife and I continued on to the restaurant, parked the car, and went inside to greet the parents/grandparents.   Minutes passed.   No sign of the kid.   More time passed. Still, she was nowhere to be seen.   With anxiety rising, we got back in the car and began to retrace the path from where we let her off.   We couldn’t find her!   Finally, we thought through our instructions and followed the street she would have taken had she missed the las

Navidad 2C + Es la Navidad, ¿porque estoy ansiosa? + ACL + 1.2.22

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  Es la Navidad, ¿porque estoy ansiosa? Navidad 2C, 2021 (Lucas 2) Todos los Santos, Oxnard La Revda Alene Campbell-Langdell (compartido por MCL)             Solo un poco después de que nuestra hija que ahora esta adoptada vino a vivir con nosotros como una niña en acogida de 12 a ñ os, fuimos a visitar sus abuelos en Pasadena. Sintiendo toda su independencia como una preadolescente, ella nos pidió dejarla varios bloques antes de que llegamos al restaurante donde íbamos a reunir para que ella pudiera caminar allí por si misma. Dimos instrucciones cuidadosas (a lo menos lo que pensamos fueron buenas instrucciones) y ella salió del auto. Going to visit the grandparents when Monica first moved in, she decided to be independent and walk to the restaurant herself. Mi esposa y yo continuamos al restaurante, estacionamos el auto, y fuimos a conocer a nuestros papas/los abuelos. Pasaron minutos, y no vimos a la niña. Mas tiempo pas ó , y no la vimos. Con montando ansiedad, regresamos

Christmas 1/ Navidad 1 2021

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  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Luke/ Lucas 2:1–14, (15–20)) The whole world appeared to be asleep. There were tax collectors and governors and shepherds out doing their sheep-herding and Mary and Joseph just quietly trying to get by. Just to get by. Había cobradores de impuestos y pastores de ovejas y gobernantes y José y María buscando un lugar en la posada, pero todo pareció envuelto en un gran susurro; todo parecía dormido. No room at the inn. No había lugar en la posada. Everything was quiet. Todo fue quieto. Even the excitement of Gabriel's visit must have seemed so long ago for Mary. Maria debería haber pensado que soñó con la visita del ángel Gabriel. Todo estaba quieto. But not so in heaven! No estaba quieto en el cielo. As one C. Clifton Black says, "BOOM! Not only one angel but an entire celestial chorus electrifies the night sky before a handful of outliers (2:9-14) who know nothing of what happened in Luke 1:5-80. The difference is that betw

Christmas / Navidad 2021

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M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Isaías 52:7–10; Salmo 98; Hebreos 1:1–4, (5–12); Juan 1:1–14) “Do you know your worth?” “¿Conoces tú valor?” Esta fue la pregunta que leí en un correo electrónico esta semana. I read these words in an email this week. And in this case, it was talking about knowing your financial worth. Hablaba de mi valor financiera. But what came to mind was the song that has been going through my head these past two weeks, “O Holy Night,” as Alene prepared to play for Susanna. She needed me to (rather feebly I might add) sing alongside her while she practiced. He estado escuchando y a veces cantando la canción “O Holy Night” mientras Alene practicaba para acompañar a Susanna ayer. And there is that beautiful verse, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.” En español la letra aquí es: “Tanto esperó el mundo en su pecado, hasta que Dios derramó su inmenso amor.” Que es muy lindo, pero no tien

Nochebuena / Christmas Eve 2021

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  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard ( Isaías 9:2-7; Lucas 2:(1–7), 8–20)                           Can you imagine what it was like for us shepherds? ¿Pueden adivinar como sentimos nosotros los pastores? Yo y mi hermano hubiéramos estado caminando tras los cerros por días con nuestras ovejas. We poor shepherds had been wandering the hills for days with our sheep. Fuimos en la zona de los pastores. We were in the shepherd zone, and to be honest, felt a bit out of touch with the world. Es difícil para nosotros, los pastores, sentir conectados con el mundo judío en que vivimos porque trabajamos con los animales todo el tiempo y comimos afuera mucho, sin siempre lavar según las costumbres. Es difícil mantenernos kosher. It is hard for us to keep kosher because we are always going about with animals, eating in unclean conditions according to our Jewish brothers and sisters, so we feel a bit out of the loop. We don’t mind that most of the time. Nos gusta nuestra vida aislada mu

Advent 4 C + Love & Service + 12.19.21

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  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Micah 5:2–5a; Canticle 15; Hebrews 10:5–10; St Luke 1:39–45) “In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit….” I can imagine it. Mary, her sandaled feet hitting the road, breathing a little harder as she makes her way to her cousin. Her cousin who is older than her, but possibly a great friend of hers. We know that she was the person with whom Mary wanted to share her great news. And it was possibly to process her emotions a bit. What would you do if your God visited you and told you that you were going to have a child, not born of a man of this world, but by his power? I would have been in shock. And possibly so was Mary. But after her moment of shock, she went to her comadre- her bosom friend and cousin. She went t

Adviento 4 C + Amor y Servicio + 12.19.21

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  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Miqueas 5:2–5a [= 5:1–4a DHH]; Cántico 8; Hebreos 10:5–10; San Lucas 1:39–45) Por aquellos días, María se fue de prisa a un pueblo de la región montañosa de Judea, y entró en la casa de Zacarías y saludó a Isabel. Cuando Isabel oyó el saludo de María, la criatura se le estremeció en el vientre, y ella quedó llena del Espíritu Santo. Yo lo puedo imaginar. María, sus pies en sandalias golpeando el camino, su respiración un poco más duro mientras se haga camino hacia su prima. Su prima quien es mayor que ella, pero posiblemente fue su gran amiga. Sabemos que fue la persona con quien María quisiera compartir su gran noticia. Y posiblemente para procesar sus emociones un poco. ¿Qué harías tu si tu Dios te visitara y te dijera que ibas a tener un hijo, no nacido de un hombre de este mundo, sino por su poder? Yo hubiera estado en un estado de shock. Y posiblemente lo fue también María. Pero después de su momento de choque, ella fue donde su