Throughout this season of Advent our focus is “The Story of Christmas in 20 Words.” On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we’ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. 5. How When the angel Gabriel appears to a Jewish peasant girl and throws her… Read more »
Throughout this season of Advent our focus is “The Story of Christmas in 20 Words.” On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we’ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. 4. Know More than a decade ago, at the Christmas Eve service where I was… Read more »
Throughout this season of Advent our focus is “The Story of Christmas in 20 Words.” On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we’ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. 3. With The key nouns and verbs of the original Christmas story are well known…. Read more »
Throughout this season of Advent our focus is “The Story of Christmas in 20 Words.” On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we’ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. 2. Augustus Two thousand years ago, the classical world of the Greeks and Romans yearned… Read more »
Throughout this season of Advent our focus is “The Story of Christmas in 20 Words.” On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we’ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. Genealogy Not all parts of the Bible are created equal. Among its diverse literary forms… Read more »
This Sunday, Christians the world over will light the first of the four candles on their Advent wreaths. Advent is the church season that annually encompasses the four Sundays before Christmas (this year that will be November 28 and December 5, 12, and 19), then wraps up on Christmas Eve. Advent is derived from the Latin word adventum, which means… Read more »
Gratitude and thanksgiving are frequently presented as synonyms. But they’re not quite the same thing. Gratitude is an inner disposition – a deep-seated feeling that when it comes to the best things in life, all we can do is receive them with empty hands. Gratitude springs from grace. Thanksgiving isn’t a feeling. It’s an action. Thankfulness is a decision we… Read more »
You can argue that God doesn’t play much of a role in the book of Ruth. After all, his name appears only twice. But upon further examination, God’s fingerprints turn out to be everywhere. After unexpected plot twists, miraculous provisions, and “chance” encounters, Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz can look back and see that they have had front-row seats to the… Read more »
Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Is it wise and good to bring a child into this world? For most of human history, that question answered itself. Of course it’s wise and good to help fill the world with little ones… Read more »
Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. “There’s good news and there’s bad news.” That’s the premise for a number of classic jokes, including the one about the two best buddies who spent a lifetime enjoying baseball. They both wondered if there… Read more »