Christmas is about family, celebrating the birth of Jesus with family, living in God’s joy with family. This year is one of those odd years where our normal family celebrations of Christmas come into conflict with our weekly worship celebrations (i.e. Christmas falls on Sunday). Families are debating how to handle this dilemma, “Do we... Continue Reading →
Do I want peace?
This time of year it is common to hear someone talk of peace on earth, we hear people wishing for it in songs and movies. This is based on the angels’ song to the shepherds in Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (Luke... Continue Reading →
Lighting up Christmas
This morning I woke up around 6:30 am it was completely dark in my house, sometime around 7:00 the first rays of sun broke over the hilltops and by 7:30 sun was up. There was an obvious progression from dark to light, a progression which could be predicted and timed. We are all used to... Continue Reading →
From pity toward generosity
What does it mean to pity someone and who should we pity? As a rule, I hate resorting to the dictionary definition of a word, but, I do like the way the Oxford English Dictionary frames its definition: “The feeling of sorrow and compassion at the sufferings and misfortunes of others.” Sometimes suffering is easy... Continue Reading →
Stir Up Sunday
A somewhat lesser known holiday in the Church falls on the last Sunday of the Church calendar, November 22 this year, Stir-up Sunday. Stir-up Sunday gets its name from the Anglican collect for the day: Stir up; we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit... Continue Reading →
Christmas: culture in conflict
Sunday evening, I happened to catch something on TV that struck me, I was not paying attention to the show and have little context for what I saw. A man was talking about how much he loved Christmas, and began to list the reasons why. Nowhere, however, did he list Jesus. Then, Monday I opened... Continue Reading →
Squinting in the Light 