Advent Week 4: Love Begins at the Manger

I wonder how many among you are, like me, feeling a bit hurried or overwhelmed on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas.  This week of the year is synonymous with stress.  Perhaps you have presents left to buy, packing or cooking or cleaning to do, and with a few days left it […]

Good Morning.  Happy New Year to you!  I know you think I’m a month early, but I simply wish to remind you that in the church year, today is Day 1.  This is the first Sunday of Advent.  It probably sounds irrelevant or out of touch for me to remind you about the church year, […]

Thanksgiving is this week.  I wonder if you are feeling thankful; I wonder if some of you are feeling a bit stressed.  Perhaps you’re hosting a family gathering, anxious about someone you’re going to see, or not see, or worried about getting everything done in time.  Even the little things can be stressful.  I’m in […]

This week there was an election—perhaps you heard about it.  And as of today, a large part of the electorate is really pleased, an equally large part is really disappointed, and a significant group in the middle are indifferent, and had it gone the other way, those characterizations would have been much the same.  Throughout […]

It can be overwhelming to think about the numerous, immense problems that confront us in each day in the news.  Foreign conflicts, global warming, electoral politics, poverty and gun violence, and the list goes on.  You can’t possibly do something about all of these problems; you might be able to do only a little about […]

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  Those are the beginning words of today’s scripture lesson.  They are words foundational to a faithful life.  They were true long ago, they are true today, and they will […]