“God Becomes a Helpless Child”
Dear Friends, In the church in which I grew up, I recall being fascinated by the church crèche. We didn’t have any kind of nativity scene at my home, so this immense crèche, dragged out from storage each year, was…
Category Worship
Advent: Steady, Decent, Kindly, Brave
Dear Friends, We’re almost there. The air is charged with excitement. Children can barely contain their anticipation. Cookies are flying out of stoves. Wrapping paper and gifts are coming together. Salvation Army bells ring out to remind us to care…
Advent: Building the Dream in the Wilderness
Dear Friends, God has put a dream in our hearts. It is a dream of a world where hatred, prejudice, conflict, and violence will have cease. A world where the “enough for all” is actually shared among all. A place…
Advent: Abandoning Illusion for the Real
Dear Friends, Advent is about expanding our vision. It is about aligning ourselves with God’s dream for the creation. Amidst the rush of our lives, it is all too easy to imagine there is no alternative to the daily struggle.…
Advent: The Stone in Our Shoe?
Dear Friends, In a world in which the rhythm of life is no longer dictated by the movements of the church year, Advent sounds a strangely discordant note. Amidst the buying of presents, decorating homes, parties, and preparing for family…
The Powerless Power
Dear Friends, Next Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year, is kept as the Feast of Christ the King. It seems strange to use the title “king” about Jesus in a world with a long history of corrupt and…
From Whom Has Our Wellbeing Come?
Dear Friends, The words of next Sunday’s gospel will seem disconnected from our own experience of life. Despite ourselves, we are already responding to prospects of Christmas, warm fires on dark nights, Christmas gift lists, and good food. Meanwhile, Jesus…
The “Least” of Us
Dear Friends, Scripture is very concerned about the least among us, because God is very concerned about the least among us. Jesus directs hard words at those filled with self-importance, who say long prayers but then steal from the poor.…
Jottings: Re-Entering the Upper Room
Dear Friends, Sunday we will join at the table in Eucharist, sharing holy bread and holy wine, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This common meal is an intimate affair. The word “Eucharist” is, in fact, a…