Today is my final sermon in this series on "rituals." While Adventists aren't used to framing their behaviors with this particular word/concept, it can be enormously helpful as I trust you've seen! We've covered a lot of territory. My sermon today is also profoundly shaped by loss and grief.

As you may have heard, our friend and Hollywood member, Mark Harman, was found deceased in his home in La Crescenta Tuesday afternoon. He was only 33 years old. Many of you know him from his consistent, devoted, and capable work in our AV Department at the Hollywood and Burbank Adventist Churches. Mark was a native of this area.

There's a limit to the efficacy of Rituals. We can see this plainly in passages like Micah 6:1-8 where—through the prophet's voice—God makes it clear: the symbolic and ritualistic acts of sacrifice matter only if or when accompanied by actions that back them up. God would rather have justice and mercy exercised by his people than the sacrifices of animals to atone for injustice and the lack of empathy. 

Adventists, as conservatives in the evangelical protestant line of Christian thinking, we're not really used to the idea of ritual. As pragmatists, aesthetic minimalists, and rationalistic types, "smells and bells" are not for us! And what of penance? Aren't these things for Catholics? Don't we simply confess our sins and depend upon the Redeemer to forgive our sins, cleansing us of unrighteousness?

Water is life. Jesus said that unlike regular water, even if drawn from a good and steady well, the water he could provide would rise up as a spring inside of a person. The net result would be they would never thirst again. That's deep stuff.... A living spring or well. A forever satiation.

I'm thinking now of giving. Giving is a discipline, a practice, an art, a philanthropic exercise, a nod toward that which we believe, or whom we wish to show support to. It's an act of worship, which is why and how the tradition of applause when "offering time" is announced at Hollywood came to be.

It's a beautiful time in the Christian calendar, a time when we linger over the Light that has come into the world. With candles lit each week of Advent, we've together ritualized our anticipation of the coming Christ, and of the hope, peace, joy and love that characterizes His presence. Yes, the presents are unwrapped. Visiting family members have likely gone back home. We're back to familiar routines... and yet the Light! It's still here for us.

I would begin my note this Sabbath by thanking you all for your faithful participation in Hollywood this past year. Despite the departure of Pastor Branden last Fall, your leadership rose to the occasion, and worked through months of intervening space and time before I was appointed Interim Pastor in March. We all worked through the uncertainties of process, and I want to thank you for choosing us as we chose you! Jill and I have loved our year here!

We live in increasingly dangerous times, with social, political, and religious tensions growing globally. Antisemitism is on the rise in the U.S., with 2024 holding the record for the most reported antisemitic incidents. The Anti-Defamation League shows an 893% increase in these incidents over the past decade.

I'm thinking now of giving. Giving is a discipline, a practice, an art, a philanthropic exercise, a nod toward that which we believe, or whom we wish to show support to. It's an act of worship, which is why and how the tradition of applause when "offering time" is announced at Hollywood came to be.