In our world that has become so heavily imbalanced towards ideas like economic growth, efficiency, and hard work, joy is often neglected as something frivolous or superfluous, at best icing on the cake of life. But what marginalized communities know deep down from experience is that joy is far a ‘bonus’. It’s actually at the … Continue reading Apocalyptic Joy: A Reflection for the Third Week of Advent 2025
Last week, as we turned the page to a new liturgical year to the start of Advent, we saw how apocalyptic — that is, revelatory, unmasking — times, require apocalyptic measures: not just hope, peace, joy, and love, but apocalyptic — that is, unlikely, tenacious, creative — hope, peace, joy, and love. Today, as we … Continue reading Apocalyptic Peace: A Reflection for the Second Week of Advent 2025
Earlier this Fall, there was about a two-day period when the media was obsessed over a ‘rapture’ prediction by some Christian Fundamentalists that had gone viral on social media. Naturally, these predictions came to nothing. I say ‘naturally’, not only because is the idea of the rapture a pretty new idea with a very weak … Continue reading Apocalyptic Hope: A Reflection for the First Week of Advent 2025
It is one of the sad realities of Christian history that the Roman Empire conquered Christianity — not by persecuting it, but by adopting it. Despite the valiant efforts of monastics, mystics, and reformers, who have offered up a 'minority report' in every generation, for the most part, Christianity has been enmeshed with ideas of … Continue reading The Song of the Lowly: A Reflection on Luke 1.39-55
All too often, it seems to me, as people of faith, we want the big, bold solution to the problems of the world, instead of the simple things right before us. And perhaps that’s why the teaching of John the Baptist, which was later echoed and expanded upon by Jesus, resonates so strongly with me. … Continue reading Sons of Abraham: An Advent Reflection on Luke 3.7-18
Matthew Root 