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One of the odd things about the Church Calendar is that the baby Jesus grows up very fast after his birth on December 25, his circumcision into the Covenant on January 1, and the visit of the Wise Men to the stable in Bethlehem on January 6, the Epiphany. Here we are just a few…
There are no coincidences. Each of us has had times when we have been struck by the oddness of events in our lives. An unexpected visit or a chance meeting connects us with people we haven’t been in touch with for many years; we apply for a job and discover the interviewer knows a mutual…
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we heard the wonderful story of Jesus’ birth from Luke’s Gospel-the account of a baby in a stable, of shepherds, and angels in the town of Bethlehem. This is the narrative from one of the four Gospel accounts, the four versions of the Good News of Jesus Christ. How…
In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan,earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone…snow had fallen, snow on snow,in the bleak mid-winter long, long ago. Some days seem darker than others. Some days seem colder. The shortest, darkest day of the year was only a few days ago. Although the days gradually lengthen…
Have you ever noticed that when you get together with your family and start telling stories about when you were growing up, or what happened years ago, the same events sound very different as different people tell the story? Depending on who’s describing it, the guy who used to live across the street was a…
That story, the Christmas story, and all that goes with it, continues to draw us; it continues to have a strange, haunting power over us. And that power is not just nostalgic; it is not even mostly nostalgic. As important as Christmases past have been — both that first Christmas in Bethlehem and our own…
The last candle is lit. Ready or not, Christmas is upon us. Ready or not, we will be back here Tuesday night to meet our Lord as he comes to us as a child; and to pray that we may continue to meet him, as he comes to us in so many ways, at so…
Some signs are sacred; some are secular. Some familiar; some unrecognized. Each Advent sign points to the one who first came to us in the obscurity of Bethlehem and to the same one who is now to come “in great glory to judge the living and the dead.” Each Advent sign points to Jesus. Four…
“Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye my people,” says your God!It would be difficult to estimate the millions of people who have heard orchestras, soloists, and choirs proclaiming these words of hope and the promise of deliverance from the oppression, despair, and sin of the world. The Messiah has been called the most influential and widely performed…
Lo, He comes with clouds descending… are the opening words of a well-known Advent hymn that will be sung in many churches today. Another hymn many will sing is O, Come, O, Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. The two hymns are bookends for this First Sunday of Advent, one celebrating the coming of Jesus…
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