Western churches continue to think about "going to heaven" or "going to hell" as the framework for the Gospel, but the Bible Story is not about us going somewhere but the Creator God coming to live with us.
I take so much delight in the silence of the men in the Christmas story. Zechariah can't speak. Joseph doesn't speak. While the words and emotions of Mary and Elizabeth are unapologetically centered. The sound of Advent is the voice of women.
It’s Christmas! The problem is solved. Now go and utterly enjoy all remaining days. Not only is it “always Advent,” but, now, every day can be Christmas because the one we thought we were just waiting for has come once and for all.
In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is...
Advent is a powerful time to remember that we are in process. We await the arrival not of the cute little baby Jesus, but of the new consciousness he represents—a new way of perceiving and reacting to “reality.” Jesus’ birth heralds the arrival of what we’ve come to...
Advent is a good time to remember that “biblical womanhood” must include the scene in Luke 1 when two pregnant women celebrate their new motherhood by passionately discussing the overthrow of every earthly empire. “He has brought down the mighty from their...
A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes--and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
It’s Christmas! The problem is solved. Now go and utterly enjoy all remaining days. Not only is it “always Advent,” but, now, every day can be Christmas because the one we thought we were just waiting for has come once and for all.
I will light candles this Christmas,Candles of joy despite all the sadness,Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,Candles of courage for fears ever present,Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,Candles of love to inspire...
For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last. from The Magnificent Defeat