Our Touchy Topics Book and Discussion Group have selected their readings for 2021. We meet on the first Wednesday of most months (not exception for Holy Week in April) at 7:30 p.m. Right now we are meeting on Zoom. Pick up a copy of one of these books from your library or local book store, and join us!

2021 Touchy Topics Reading List

Join us online on Feb 2nd for a little bit of fun on Zoom. Bring your dinner, wear a costume, draw pics of your favorite rodent, whatever. We’ll provide some Groundhog Day themed fun. See you on Zoom at 6:30 pm. Meeting ID: 853 0448 7560. No password needed.

The Session of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church has scheduled the Annual Meeting of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church for Sunday, January 31, 2021, after worship. We will be gathering on Zoom. Please see our online worship page for more information on how to log-on. Prior to the meeting, the Annual Report will be available here.

Dec. 24                            Luke 1:67-80                                 Erin Counihan

When John the Baptist was born, and Zechariah got his voice back, and the people were afraid of everything that was happening right in front of them, Zechariah praised God. And he offered a vision. A vision of salvation and mercy. A vision of hope and help. A vision of faith and justice. A vision of One to come who would guide us on a journey to peace.

It sounds like the kind of vision I need right now.

There’s this moment every Christmas Eve, after all the shopping and the wrapping, after worship and Silent Night, after the bubbly punch and the party and the people and the snacks and the fun. After all of it, late at night (more accurately, early in the morning), in my jammies, in the quiet, in my home, in the dark, there is this precious Christmas Eve moment, where I allow myself, every year, to really believe. What if this hope is real? What if it is real right now? What if the promise is true? What if Christ is coming? Right here. Right now. What if all that love is being born right now, in the dark, in the quiet, in the fuzzy socks, in our hearts, in our lives, and in this world?

Zechariah says:
By the tender mercy of our God,
    the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.

May it be so. This Christmas Eve.
Right here. Right now.
Always. And again.
AMEN.

Dec. 23                            Luke 1:57-66                                       Matt Hanify

Our main characters are Elizabeth, who is pregnant, and her husband Zechariah, who is mute. I don’t believe those items are related.

Anyway, Elizabeth gives birth to a son, and everyone is happy. So far, everything is according to plan. One day, also according to plan, “they” come to circumcise the baby, whereupon, after much crying I assume, the child will be named Zechariah, after his father.

However, throwing a bit of a wrinkle in things, Elizabeth says he is to be named John – “God is gracious.” Unfortunately, this is not according to plan, and there is apparently much hand-wringing. So, of course, because Elizabeth’s opinion seems irrelevant, everyone turns to Zechariah, mute though he may be, to find out what his opinion might be. He motions for a writing tablet, and on it, he writes, “His name is John.” I think we can all agree – an objectively smart move by Zechariah. I am not mute, much to everyone’s consternation to be sure, but if I were, I think I would work very hard to placate any and all in my immediate family. I think being mute would make things very difficult on those around me, but being mute and opinionated, obstinate and otherwise belligerent would be, I imagine, a quick way to getting abandoned on the side of the road.

Thankfully, Zechariah is nobody’s fool; he quickly agrees with Elizabeth that the boy’s name is John. I imagine the circumcision crew giving a side-eye to this turn of events, but then, in a full-blown miracle, Zechariah begins to speak. And he begins to praise God. And, possibly, later on, he suggests that they get takeout.

And so thank You, God. We give thanks for all of Your miracles, which can sometimes come from changing a child’s name late in the child-naming game or from agreeing to said name change. For, indeed, “God is gracious.”