This is my annual post encouraging readers to be intentional about ending the year, and starting the new one, as well as possible. Every year, I spend my morning quiet time in the days between Christmas and New Years treating the process of looking back at the year that was and ahead to the year … Continue reading Year-End Practices, New Year Planning
There’s a story I think of often that comes from a former priest of mine. At the start of his ministry, he had an opportunity to go to Greece and visit with a respected monastic elder on Mount Athos. After describing to the elder all that he had done and hoped and planned to do, … Continue reading The Gift of New Beginnings: A Reflection for Christmas Day 2022
The Christian faith is full of paradox and irony, and the Christmas story captures this better than any other. God becomes a human, the virgin becomes a mother, the King is born surrounded by livestock and attended to by shepherds, the Prince of Peace is hunted down by the authorities. But the irony that strikes … Continue reading From Darkness to Light: A Reflection for Christmas Eve 2022
Today is December 21 and so we’re nearing the end of our Advent journey. The waiting and watching is almost over; the bridegroom is about to arrive; we can see the first inklings of morning light on the Eastern horizon. And yet, for many of us, what we actually find on Christmas morning isn’t exactly … Continue reading Joy and Sorrow, Excitement and Anxiety: An Advent Reflection on Isaiah 52-53
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
