Advent

One of the themes that has emerged in this Advent series on Isaiah’s oracles of hope has been new life appearing where you least expect it — lush green in the desert, a sapling emerging from a burned out stump — and from the most humble of beginnings — a seed, a remnant. The Old … Continue reading With Us Within the Ambiguity of Life: An Advent Reflection on Isaiah 7.10-17

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” These word from the prophet John the Baptist, and taken up by so many street-preachers of various degrees of sanity over the years, are hardly what we’d call comforting words. ‘Wake up!’ he’s saying. ‘Open your eyes and ears and hearts to what’s really happening around … Continue reading A Voice in the Wilderness: An Advent Reflection on Isaiah 40

When we are in the middle of extended periods of difficulty, whether on a personal level, such as ill health, a difficult relationship, or a prolonged bout of loneliness, or in the collective, like a pandemic or war, it’s common to fall into a state known as ennui, a sort of existential boredom and lethargy. … Continue reading New Life on the Way: An Advent Reflection on Isaiah 35

When I would go back to Vancouver Island to visit my mother, one of our favorite things to do was to go for walks through the island’s beautiful coastal mist forests. On these walks we would often find ourselves stopped in our tracks at the sight of a new sapling emerging out of an old … Continue reading Life from Death: An Advent Reflection on Isaiah 11.1-10