Hebrews 10:5-10
Advent 4C
[…] to wonder where the inventors of the Revised Common Lectionary got their ideas for the choices they made. I mean, here we are, 5 days away from Christmas, surely one of the most pregnant times in the church calendar. The other readings for this Fourth Sunday of Advent are clearly about the impending birth […]
Psalm 98
Easter 6B
[…] praising God, not only in what we sing and say, but also in what we do? Illustration Idea Most Christians don’t think of Psalm 98 as a Christmas psalm, even though it’s the appointed lectionary psalm for Christmas Day. Yet it’s the inspiration for Isaac Watts’ beloved Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.” That […]
Luke 21:25-36
Advent 1C
[…] I suppose it’s this way every year but at this moment late in the year 2015, it certainly looks as though we will be celebrating Advent and Christmas this year under the shadow of ISIS and all the mayhem it is unleashing on the innocent (and all the bombing campaigns and police raids the […]
Luke 21:25-36
Advent 1C
[…] the equivalent of trying to empty the ocean one thimble-full at a time—but kingdom vision sees things differently! Of course and as always, we celebrate Advent and Christmas and we sing our carols and we light our little candles in an often dark and turbulent world. Many nations, including the United States, are living […]
Matthew 1:18-25
Advent 4A
[…] teeth and lips. Immanuel is God-with-us when the pink slip comes and when the beloved child sneers, “I hate you!” Immanuel is God-with-us when you pack the Christmas decorations away and, with an aching heart, you realize afresh that your one son never did call over the holidays. Not once. Immanuel is God-with-us when […]
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
[…] Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, and Henry Travers. 130 mins. Rotten Tomatoes: 94%. It’s a film that supposedly everybody knows, and loves, hauled out each Christmas ad infintum in ever-so-boring bleached out copies. It’s an easy sentimental rush, though familiarity has by now even made that harder to achieve. It has pretty […]
Christmas A: Flutter of Angels
The Advent world is a world of angels. It’s a world alive with the flutter of angels. Our world, in contrast, is inhospitable to angels. It seems totally void of angels. This discrepancy between the Advent world and our world is the thought behind H. G. Well’s story, “The Wonderful Visit.” One day, so this…
Philippians 2:5-11
Lent 6B
[…] their voices, they gasped, “Who was that masked man?” That’s how the first century crowds responded when they encountered Jesus, the Godhead “veiled in flesh,” as the Christmas carol put it. To set up Paul’s deep answer to the question, it might be helpful to explore the various answers given by Jesus’ contemporaries (as […]
Matthew 1:18-25
Advent 4A
[…] teeth and lips. Immanuel is God-with-us when the pink slip comes and when the beloved child sneers, “I hate you!” Immanuel is God-with-us when you pack the Christmas decorations away and, with an aching heart, you realize afresh that your one son never did call over the holidays. Not once. Immanuel is God-with-us when […]
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