University Chapel
5375 University Blvd V6T 1K3 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Sunday 20 December at 10AM We celebrate the joy of Christmas together with a performance from the children at University Chapel. This year we will be hosting a virtual play to be broadcasted during our Sunday service on Dec 20. And because it's online, we can invite family and friends from all around the world to join us in the celebration this year! You are invited!... Please join us in celebrating the joy of Christmas on Dec 20 at 10am! Click below to join the service https://www.universitychapel.org/events/christmas-pageant

http:// ADVENT DAY 16 // What Child is This? (Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:1-14) Dear Family,...Continue reading

God has a Greater Plan Acts 18 Dear Family...Continue reading

Carina shares her thoughts on the golden calf, and talks about the foolishness of worshipping something we make with our own hands.

Dear Family The Lectionary has brought us to the end of the books of Kings and the total destruction of Jerusalem (in 587 BC). All but the poorest people are taken to captivity in Babylon. Part of the judgement was the destruction of the temple. Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian commander, broke it down and took all the sacred vessels and implements. How did God allow this when he’d said that anyone who touches his holy things would be struck down (Num 4:15)? For example, wh...Continue reading

ADVENT DAY 15 Gaudete Sunday The Need for Joy...Continue reading

Return to the Lord 2 Chronicles 30 Dear Family... From the time of the early church, local Christians commemorated the martyrs who had died among them on the anniversary of their martyrdom. However during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) persecution was so severe and the number of martyr’s so great that it was no longer possible for Christians to give a separate day to each one. They therefore started commemorating all martyrs on one day. This is mentioned by St Ephrem the Syrian in a sermon in 373 AD as a well-established practice. All Saints’ Day became a church wide commemoration on May 13th, 609 AD under Pope Boniface IV. It later moved to November 1st. Not by accident, the lectionary reading for Monday (Nov 2nd, All Souls Day) is 2 Chron 30. King Hezekiah worked hard to restore the worship of the Lord after the idolatrous reign of his father. He cleared the temple and made the Levites prepare themselves to celebrate the Passover. He invited all Israel and Judah (v 1) to come and celebrate. Only Judah and Benjamin were under his reign; the other tribes were in the Kingdom of Israel to the north. He invited them nonetheless. The invitation came by courier, but the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun laughed them to scorn and mocked them (v 10). However, a remnant from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem (v 11). Along with Judah who had one heart (v 12) to follow the Lord, they celebrated the Passover. However, since the feast had been so neglected and people were not properly prepared, they did not do it quite by the rules (v 18). Hezekiah prayed that the celebration would be acceptable to God anyway (v 19). God answered and healed the people (v 20). It is clear this Passover was only celebrated by a faithful remnant. Those remembered on All Saints’ Day had not just been laughed at, scorned and mocked. They had often been cruelly executed. Those doing the remembering may well also have faced unpleasant moments because of their faith. Faithfulness to God is often an uncomfortable and dangerous minority pursuit and sometimes, through fear and weakness, we fail. Knowing the character of God, Hezekiah prayed May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God even though not according to the sanctuary rules (v 18-19) and God heard his prayer. God’s graciousness is always welcoming when we come to him in humble faith, even if we don’t quite get it right, and even if beforehand we have been way off track in our neglect and rebellion. Hezekiah’s invitation puts it well: For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn his face away from you if you return to him (v 9). What an encouragement to draw close to God no matter how far and in what ways we have drifted! In His grace Pastor Geoff

ADVENT DAY 14 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Luke 2:8-14)...Continue reading

ADVENT DAY 13 December 11: Isaiah 42:1-13 Luci Shaw, Descent ... Down he came from up, and in from out, and here from there. A long leap, an incandescent fall from magnificent to naked, frail, small, through space, between stars, into our chill night air, shrunk, in infant grace, to our damp, cramped earthy place among all the shivering sheep. And now, after all, there he lies, fast asleep. When was the last time you thought about the incarnation? It might’ve been recently, since as we prepare for Christmas, many Advent reflections are focused on this event of the Nativity: Jesus, the Son of God, fully God himself, becoming fully man. But have you ever taken time to pause and reflect on the little details of what this means? Growing up, one of my favorite Christmas songs was This Baby by Steven Curtis Chapman. It ignited my imagination to think about how Jesus was like me. As I’ve gotten older, the core themes of that song still resonate with me. In my time studying theology, I’ve continued to be drawn into this fascination about Christ’s incarnation. When we think about ‘where’ heaven is, even though most of us know it’s not in the sky, there is a sense of heaven being far off. Christ, in his coming, brings Heaven to us. In his coming, he exists as a ‘thin space’ where heaven and earth are one. No longer is heaven a far off distant place somewhere in the stars, but it is here, in our own hearts. God has drawn near to us. He, who seems so distant, has come close. What a comforting truth to embrace. There’s a sister poem to this one that I’ll write on next week, hopefully going a bit deeper into some of these themes. But one last key piece to note is that, not only should we marvel and wonder at Christ’s descent, not only should we take comfort in his presence with us, we who are followers and imitators of Christ are invited into that same descent. Where might God be inviting you, to lower yourself? In your pride? Your status? And in this descent, where can you join God in the work he is already doing, to love and serve your neighbor? Peace, Rachel Image: James B. Janknegt, Nativity

HI All, We're excited about our Christmas Cheer and Carols event this Saturday, 6:45pm, on zoom. We'll gather together to sing, smile, and just enjoy the season. Grab your favorite Christmas drink, you kids (if applicable, and awake), and anything else that makes you think of Christmas.... Details on the UC website: https://www.universitychapel.org/.../chrismas-cheer-and... Of if you want, join by Zoom direct at 6:45 bit.ly/christmascheer2020 Look forward to seeing you there!

ADVENT DAY 12 O Holy Night Dear Family,...Continue reading

ADVENT DAY 11 From For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratio by W.H. Auden: ... Alone, alone, about a dreadful wood Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind, Dreading to find its Father lest it find The Goodness it has dreaded is not good: Alone, alone, about our dreadful wood. Where is that Law for which we broke our own, Where now that Justice for which Flesh resigned Her hereditary right to passion, Mind His will to absolute power? Gone. Gone. Where is that Law for which we broke our own? The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss. Was it to meet such grinning evidence We left our richly odoured ignorance? Was the triumphant answer to be this? The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss. We who must die demand a miracle. How could the Eternal do a temporal act, The Infinite become a finite fact? Nothing can save us that is possible: We who must die demand a miracle. There is a great paradox (multiple, in fact) in the season of Advent. Christians spend four or more weeks ‘preparing’ for Christ’s coming(s). We ‘ready our hearts’ through conviction and repentance for the coming Day of Judgment. And we simultaneously prepare as churches and families to celebrate the unexpected and always surprising first Advent of Christ at Christmas. I know for many of us Advent can cause great anxiety. How should I prepare for our Lord’s coming? Have I done enough? Should I fast? We then find ourselves with ‘humanity’ in Auden’s poem, dreading to find its Father lest it find, The Goodness it has dreaded is not good. The irony is that we fool ourselves into thinking we are actually capable of preparing for the Lord’s coming. But, as we read on the first Sunday of Advent from Isaiah 64:6, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. In Advent we cannot help but be reminded not only of the darkness out there, but also of the darkness in our own hearts. We are not only incapable of saving ourselves from our individual sins. We also know full-well that inevitable human progress is a myth. Salvation, individual and universal, requires an unmistakable miracle: Nothing can save us that is possible, All who must die demand a miracle. The principle paradox of Advent is that Christ’s coming, both what it is (God become man) and what it accomplishes (justice and restoration for a fallen world), is (apparently) impossible. This is good news because if it were possible, it could not guarantee what it promises. We cannot bring about Christ’s second coming, just as Israel of old could not bring about his first. The good news of Advent is that God has taken it upon himself to bridge the Abyss that stands before us. In Advent, we take stock of the darkness, and then thank God that it isn’t up to us to overcome it. We demand a miracle, and God himself has done it. God-in-flesh is the impossible reality in whom we place all of our hope. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Peace, Deacon Paul

ADVENT DAY 10 Three Kings of Orient The Christmas Star Matthew 2:1-12...Continue reading

Advent day 9 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Acts 28 Dear Family,...Continue reading

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 8 Isaiah 9:1-3 Madeleine L’Engle, Into the Darkest Hour... It was a time like this, War & tumult of war, a horror in the air. Hungry yawned the abyss- and yet there came the star and the child most wonderfully there. It was time like this of fear & lust for power, license & greed and blight- and yet the Prince of bliss came into the darkest hour in quiet & silent light. And in a time like this how celebrate his birth when all things fall apart? Ah! Wonderful it is with no room on the earth the stable is our heart. L’Engle’s poem reminds me of the phrase used during World War II, 'the darkest hour,’ to describe the period of 1940-1941, widely attributed to Winston Churchill. With this context, the poem draws a parallel between when Christ came to earth and our current lived reality. In his historical birth, Christ comes into a broken world. Today, into sickness, polarized communities, unemployment, Christ comes. With all the sentimentality and consumerism of the season, it’s easy for me to forget the intense violent world that Christ was born into. There’s a film from South Africa called Son of Man that re-imagines what it would look like if Christ was born not 2000 years ago, but in present day Sub-Sahara Africa. Its depiction of the Annunciation and the Nativity is raw and difficult, but it is, I think, one of the best, evoking the emotions that are tied up when we witness injustice, violence, and chaos. This poem, like the film, pushes against the exclusively cozy feelings of Christmas. That, I think, is one of the great benefits of Advent. We take time to recognize and name that our world is hurting, how we have been hurt, experienced pain, felt betrayed, confused, taken advantage of. Because it is precisely in those areas of fear, in those areas of shame, that Christ enters in. His light pierces the darkness. His peace brings silence to the noise. His love comforts and binds up the broken. Peace, Rachel ----- Art: 'Let Heaven Come,' by Diane Fairfield

The Outdoor Christmas Market would have been today. While we were sad to have to cancel, we have created a page on our website with links to the online stores and social media handles of vendors who would have been at the market. This is an opportunity to shop local for Christmas, while honouring these artists and artisans who had planned to be at the market. Check it out!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 7 A Prayer of Repentance From the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth Luke 1:5-25, 57-80... Based on what I (Fr. Geoff) wrote last time about repentance, here is a prayer of confession from a part of the nativity story. I wrote it for use in gathered worship; to personalize it, change we/us/our, to I/me/my. A Prayer of Repentance. Zechariah and Elizabeth longed for a child who never came and yet remained steadfast in faith. Forgive us for letting disappointed hopes harden our hearts against you. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Zechariah did not dare to believe when your angel spoke to him. Forgive us for distraction and unbelief when you speak to our hearts. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Zechariah could not see beyond the obstacles when you promised Elizabeth and him a child. Forgive us for the times we let circumstances inhibit our faith. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Elizabeth worshipped in humility and joy when the mother of her Lord came to visit. Forgive us for when we take your grace for granted and think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Elizabeth and Zechariah defied convention to name their son according to your instruction. Forgive us for letting social pressure deflect our obedience to you. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Zechariah’s first action when his speech was restored was to worship you. Forgive us for times that we put our own concerns above thanking you and giving you glory. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free When he could speak Zechariah celebrated your mighty purpose for his son. Forgive us when we fail to rejoice that you use those around us more than ourselves. Lord have mercy Forgive us and set us free Lord our God you have visited and redeemed your people. You came to bring knowledge of salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Because of your tender mercy, you give light to all who live in darkness and have come to guide our feet into the way of peace. Renew our hearts and set us free so that we might serve you without fear and live in holiness and righteousness before you, all our days. We ask through Jesus, our Christ, born in Bethlehem. Amen.