The reality of Advent isn't that we are waiting for the birth of the Christ-Child. The Christ-Child is here and is waiting for us to come. He is crying out to us from the border. He is calling to us from the voices of the poor. He is shouting out to us from prison.
Remember, Advent is all about anticipation. It is about recognizing our need for a Savior, longing for that Savior, and joyfully welcoming that Savior. It can be tough to recreate this anticipatory tension when the busyness of the holidays pushes us into go-mode and...
The new thing that God seeks often occurs in times of disruption, when the familiar world has collapsed and the future is in doubt, when the days grow shorter, and we wonder if darkness will swallow the light... God's new thing is the vision of "something more," a...
The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
Immanuel means ‘God with us.’ And not in the sense that God just showed up or arrived on the scene. A thousand times no. In spite of the fact it changed everything, the birth of Jesus didn’t technically create a new reality for God or us; rather, it was simply and...
In Christ’s incarnation all of humanity regains the dignity of bearing the image of God. Whoever from now on attacks the least of the people attacks Christ, who took on human form and who in himself has restored the image of God for all who bear a human countenance....
When we read about John the Baptist during Advent, we sometimes mistakenly see him as the wild one preparing the way for the mild one, when what I think he may be actually saying is "get ready for one who is even wilder than I am--wilder for love, wilder for justice,...
Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.
Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
If Christmas is about being happy, jolly, and untroubled and therefore able to celebrate, few can participate. But Advent is about broken people in a broken world, yearning for a long-promised redemption.