ADVENT
WAITING...
In Silence
Waiting
in silence, creating space for steadfast love to grown within,
may be the most essential practice of all. It is in many ways
the spirit of Advent, that time of the Christian liturgical year
when we practice the waiting of gestation and hoping, of trusting
in new life not yet fully known...
With
Awareness
What would it be like if we were to change our
attitude for a year and experiment with a tradition of waiting
and preparation? It might be that we would find the party at the
end much more
glorious...
With
Expectation
The Advent faith always moves us to the
future instead of locking us into the past. Therefore, we can
expect surprises...
Day
by Day
An Advent calendar featuring a thought a day
for the 22 days of Advent.
CHRISTMAS JOY...
The
Christmas Jesus
It
seems that our culture might agree with Ricky Bobby. Our culture
likes the Christmas-Jesus best. Christmas is the most accessible
of our Christian feasts. What is more universally appealing than
a newborn baby? Defenseless and innocent, every infant is a symbol
of hope, a new beginning. Christmas is a celebration that is easily
embraced. It's the only time of the year when all of the radio
stations sound alike. We hear Christmas carols in our cars, in
our shops, and on our commercials.
The
Christmas Story
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This
one line is the entire Christmas story. The entire message of
the birth of Christ. The Word, God's fullness, the second Person
of the Trinity, sent by God as a message, the message of love
and goodness and God's real presence in the world, sent to dwell
in flesh, sent to be human, to live among us and speak our language
so that we might receive Him and understand what God wants us
to hear from God. ...
Being
Like Jesus
Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. But
even more than a birthday, Christmas reminds us that God became
a human being just like us, with eyes and ears, with a mouth and
hands, with a heart and feet. These
simple children's prayers are a gift we can give to Jesus any
time.
The
Celtic Understanding
of Christmas
We
are in a season of contradictions. Lights glitter from every structure;
meanwhile, the days lengthen, and darkness begins to come earlier,
stay later. A little shiver runs through our pre-electric-light,
primordial selves. The ancient human family viewed this time of
year with trepidation...
Hints
from Yesterday: A Christmas memory
My
grandfather Houk was an undertaker. He lived in an Illinois farm
town some forty miles south of Kankakee and ninety miles south
of Chicago. The year my mother Pearl was born six hundred and
fifty people lived in Piper City...
Messages
in the Music of U2
U2’s
song seems to capture the place that we are in right now. Standing
in a hotel lobby yesterday, I saw Christmas decorations and heard
Christmas carols playing: “Silent night, holy night, all
is calm, all is bright”; and part of me wanted to shout
No! No!
Nothing is calm, nothing is bright!
Making
Our Way toward Christmas
Eve: Unexpected perspectives on the Holy Night
The
village streets were narrow, the houses close, in the shadows,
they looked hunched up as if braced for the cold. The two angels
trudged on, their boots crunching the snow....
Spoken
Meditations:
God
is With Us
Visited by Awe
EPIPHANY
The Scene at the Manger:
Symbols to Nurture the New Life Within
January
6 marks the Feast of the Epiphany, when Christians remember the
story of the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. The images
from this tableau can be compelling symbols with universal appeal
—the birth of the child; the visits of shepherds and wise
men; the threat from King Herod. This story tells of the perennial
struggle of bringing goodness into full being.
Lessons from the Wise Men: Go Home Another Way
So, there they were. Those three priests of Persia.
Three men of wisdom who were on a journey to find a baby. Now,
it just doesn't make any logical sense to start out on such an
arduous journey in the middle of winter to see a baby. Yet, they
traveled for miles in the cold winter desert air, encountering
all kinds of danger along the way.
