The Real Gift of Christmas

Christmas gets a lot of attention every year, and much has been said about what it means. But the most important thing to remember about Christmas is that it is real: God actually became a human baby, Jesus. It’s perhaps…

The Gifts We Bring

We three kings of orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar… This carol is synonymous with Epiphany, and we sing it every year, at least the first two verses.  It is natural to want to focus on the joy of…

The Last Moment Before the Next

From the final Gospel of Advent* “In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us” (Lk 1:78) And isn’t that how God always happens. Breaking upon us. Surprising us. Seemingly not there, and…

Good and Acceptable and Perfect

2 Do not be conformed to this world[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 Another year is slowly drawing…

Immanuel

“…the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and you will name him ‘Immanuel.’” Isaiah 7:14 It’s a good thing that God himself gave us the sign. Immanuel means “God…

SHARE YOUR GIFTS

              Then he said unto them, “Go your way, eat the fat, And drink the sweet, and send portions unto them For whom nothing has been prepared: for this day is Holy unto our…

Even a Limited Life is Worth Living Well

If you lost your job, would you lose your will to live? In 2015, menshealth.com reported a study claiming that one in five suicide deaths worldwide is linked to unemployment. Would you “end it all” if you lost your life…

Debt Forgiveness: Are You Joyful?

During his earthly ministry, Jesus posed this question to Simon, a Pharisee, in the midst of a symposium-style dinner discussion: “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them…

Prepare ye the Way

Advent is a time of joyful anticipation. For someone even bigger than Santa Claus is coming to town. The human race has been waiting a long time for his next and final visit. Actually, it waited a long time for…

Riding to Faith on the Wheels of Music

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: ‘The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.’” –Kurt Vonnegut (beliefnet.com“) “I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes…