Category: Advent 2017

  • The Wondrous Gift

    Isaiah 9:6; Luke 2:1-7 Jesus has come. The final advent candle, the Christ candle has been lit. Today is a time for joy and celebration. Christmas is not about family, though it brings families together. Christmas is not about doing good things for others, though we should rightly seek ways to be kind and charitable.…

  • Hope of All the Earth

    Christmas Eve enters the scene. Amid all the songs and decorations, the wonderful aromas and flavors of once-a-year indulgences brewing in the kitchen, I hear the sounds of a world that is no different than it is any other day of the year. There are still wars, still diseases, still famine, still crime…. What’s different,…

  • All Is Calm

    Luke 2:17-19 Tonight, the distinction between the shepherds’ response to finding Jesus and Mary’s response to being in the presence of God has made an impression on me.

  • They Looked Up

  • Hush the Noise

    Luke 2:8-10

  • The Weary World Rejoices

    Luke 2:8-15a

  • Give Back the Song

    Luke 2:1-20; Revelation 19:1-6 There was a beautiful, majestic song that the angels sang on the night that Jesus was born. It was a song of redemption- the Savior was born. It was a song of peace and restoration, of companionship with God, of joy. When Jesus returns to take us home to Heaven, we…

  • Come to Us, Abide with Us

    Luke 2:1-20 Christmas is in seven days. Are you ready? Are your cards sent, gifts wrapped? Are your travel plans made? Many think of Advent only as the season leading up to Christmas. There are a prescribed number of days that we count down to the special day when we celebrate Jesus’ birth. We know…

  • Jesus Our Emmanuel

    Today begins the final week of Advent. This is a portion of the poem that I love to meditate on every Advent. It’s a poem by Christina Rosetti called, “The Christmas Carol.” It’s most familiar to us as a Christmas hymn called “In the Bleak Mid-Winter.” Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him Nor earth sustain;…

  • Bless All the Dear Children

    Matthew 18:2-5, Mark 9:36-37, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 10:19 I have so many great memories of Christmas from my childhood. All the Christmas pageants, the socials we went to during December, watching all the Christmas cartoons, and, of course, making out that all-important list.