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 […]
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Advent 3C
[…] what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger (2:1-3).” Not exactly “have yourself a merry little Christmas,” is it? This is not the kind of stuff people want to hear two Sundays before Christmas. I mean, the world is dark enough. We come […]
Isaiah 64:1-9
Advent 1B
[…] it’s not just terrorists, abusers and polluters who have who have sinned against God. It’s also us, the very people who can hardly wait to celebrate God’s Christmas arrival. We too have continued to sin against God. So God didn’t just have to tear open the heavens to come to earth in order to […]
Luke 1:39-45 (46-56)
Advent 4C
[…] righteousness that would landscape the whole earth. Mary could see it clear as day. The Advent question that is so properly bracing for all of us as Christmas comes once again five days after this Fourth Sunday in Advent is: “Do we still see this, too?” Textual Points It is interesting to note that […]
Psalm 126
Advent 3B
[…] ultimate restoration of Zion came through that final Son of David who is Jesus Christ the Lord. That is what we finally celebrate in Advent and at Christmas. But if we are honest, then despite all the good cheer we try to crank up over the holiday season, we also still live well short […]
Isaiah 64:1-9
Advent 1B
[…] every year. The hope we find in these Scripture text is not of the cozy, festive, cheery sort we expect to find in the lead up to Christmas. Instead, we remember that what we are waiting for is … judgment. Our hope begins with a baby in a manger but it finds its completion […]
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 […]
Psalm 25:1-10
Advent 1C
[…] done away with. And so cue once more Psalm 25: If we are to follow the Savior whose birth we anticipate and then celebrate in Advent and Christmas, we need to do what Psalm 25 exhorts us to do: repent of the crookedness of altogether too many of the pathways we forge on our […]
Hebrews 10:5-10
Advent 4C
[…] alone refers to Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf no less than five times. Jesus’ friends may wince at talk about Christ’s sacrifice (especially during the week of Christmas). However, the Spirit can use Hebrews 10 to help remind Jesus’ friends that he was born in Bethlehem’s manger in the long shadow cast by Calvary’s […]
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