Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

Christmas Eve 8pm 2014
The Reverend Alan Neale
Time to Skin
First, it was my email. A year, two years, into my being here
twenty/thirties would tell me (with little regard for the august
stature of my presence) Alan, you just must change from AOL
it says all the wrong things. I changed.
Then it was my treasured, troglodyte, antediluvian commitment to
flip phones for years I struggled to defend my tenacious hold of
my flip phone, admitting failure there I opted to ignore the counsel
to change but I was never deaf to the sighs nor blind to the eyerolling. I changed.
But now I find myself tossed about in a wild sea of website
creation and design buffeted by phrases and words that I thought I
once understood but no more. Cross platform, mobile friendly,
inserts and (most intriguing) the time to skin. The time to skin
Bear with me, please (for here I go where no sexagenarian
Episcopal priest should go) In computing, a skin is a custom
graphical appearance preset package that can be applied to a
specific operating system to suit the purpose, topic, and tastes of
specific users. A skin is not a theme, which usually implies part
changes and smaller differences.
Hebrews 1:1 In many and various ways God has spoken to us
through prophets but now He speaks to us through a son you
see, themes proved insufficient, skin was essential.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The
eternal, divine, pre-existent logic takes on skin and at once makes
itself known and accessible to all people; it will be known on its

own terms constantly loving, readily vulnerable, unremittingly

accessible.
You see because of this childs birth, we believe, experience and
proclaim that every experience of the human soul, every ache of
the human heart, every sadness of the human mind is skinnable
(yes, another term) it can be overwhelmed, inhabited with the
divine. Nothing, no-one cannot be reached.
God puts skin on divine love, vulnerability and accessibility and
thus changes the face of all humanity. And how is this done how
can this be The power of the Most High will overshadow you
and the Holy Spirit will come you.
Consider the hopes, aspirations you bring with you to this church;
the ache for change and the yearning for freedom all this can be
done in companionship with God in Christ, who will passionately,
carefully, appropriately and with great skill place you in the skin of
a new life lived in God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All you and I must do is to surrender and allow a divine birth within
us so that our very skin will become vibrant, energized, aglow with
God.
Pray tonight, pray daily, pray constantly Thy will, not mine be
done and He will make all things new. I promise you AMEN