Christmas is the time of year when most Christians get to put their faith on display-angels dot the boughs of Christmas trees. Tiny figurines of Jesus, his family, and most unexpected visitors grace miniature (and sometimes life-sized) nativity scenes. And even the...
In the opening scene of The Lion King, hundreds of animals come to visit baby Simba. Crowds celebrate his birth and bow down to the newborn prince because, one day, Simba will be King of the Pride Lands. Sometimes, we talk about Christmas as the birth of a prince....
“We may not be big, but we’re small”. The motto of the Vinyl Café could be Bethlehem’s motto. I love Micah 5:2 because it reminds me that I really do belong in God’s Kingdom. God has a history of using and seeking out that which is small to do great things. Think...
We all know about darkness. How many people have been afraid of the dark? Darkness has shadows and uncertainty and hidden dangers. Sometimes the darkness is actual and tangible, like being stranded in the middle of nowhere on a cloudy December night, with an absence...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Human beings are dehumanized by fear. . . .” Fear makes us less than what we truly are, what God made us and calls us to be. Those shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem that night had a profound fear experience. An angel! And not the...
Recently, I heard someone on the CBC Radio program Quirks and Quarks, explaining that our brains are hardwired for bad news. Apparently, bad news is what we most readily receive and respond to. It’s an evolved form of self-protection, a way to avoid the perils of...
Just after my mother died eleven years ago, my family and I were invited to Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church for a memorial mass in my mother’s memory. We aren’t Catholic, but some of my mom’s friends had sponsored Mass’ for her during her time with breast cancer. The...
One of my professors at theological college was a Jewish rabbi. When we discussed this passage of scripture, he told the class that most Jews interpret “virgin” as “young woman”, but his understanding of the original Hebrew was that “virgin” was the correct...
The wise men came. They came and worshipped a child born into poverty. They came and worshipped a child with gifts of their very best. They came and worshipped for they knew that He was the King of all kings. As we prepare ourselves this holiday season to share gifts...
There we are, minding our own business, when the messenger of God comes. Abruptly, blindingly, terrifyingly. As much as we may yearn for a more tangible God, a more definite Presence, when it comes it can be altogether too real. And so we don’t go looking too hard. We...
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