Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a negative experience at church? We all have, right? Often the moments of disappointment and pain are easy to recall, even years later.
“You want to go outside Mogadishu?” Yusuf gave me a guarded look, his fine-boned Somali face conveying no emotion, but his voice...
It’s a Monday in December, 7:30 a.m. I’m staring out my car window, driving the same streets, passing the same buildings, avoiding...
The Christmas Eve play was going so well. Adam and Eve came out first, wistful in their exile from Eden, pining aloud...
Advent may cause you to think about holiday sales and twenty-five-day calendars filled with chocolates, or maybe candled wreathes illuminating promise-laden symbols on Sunday mornings throughout...
If you’re ever in Rome, you might visit the Piazza del Popolo (the People’s Square). This large square is famous for, among...
After his son, John, was born, Zechariah “was filled with the Holy Spirit” and uttered a “prophecy” (1:67). His prophecy is often...
During Advent, we are waiting for the one who is the Son of David, the rightful king of Israel. Psalm 89 accentuates...
For many Christians, we experience the same rhythm in our worship services each week we go to church. ...
Perhaps one of the clearest prophetic texts in all of Scripture appears in Isaiah 9. I cannot read Isaiah 9:6 without imagining...
I have a friend who tends to look on the dark side of things. No matter the subject, he'll say something negative. Now I like my friend, but I wish he was more positive.
Ordering a coffee used to mean answering two questions: “Regular or decaf?” and “Black or cream and sugar?” Today Starbucks offers over...
Standing about three feet tall, with little braids bouncing around her head, Christina was ridiculously cute. And she was clearly undone by her family’s sudden move from a home to a shelter.
Between the broken beauty of birth and the resolved silence of death is a promise. It’s like a Phoenix rising from ashes. But first we wait. This middle ground is where we live...
Every Christmas Eve throughout childhood until I left home, my family clicked through the same ritual. Timing our departure so he could...
Every now and then while I’m channel surfing on TV, I pause to listen to a preacher. It’s not uncommon to hear televangelists talk about how faith is the key to being blessed...
On December 6th when my anxious nature woke me early, demanding I scrub the bathroom, order my nieces and nephews their presents...
In yesterday’s reflection, we consider Zechariah’s hesitant and doubtful response to the angel’s news that Elizabeth, his elderly wife, would bear a son.
Where I live in the Texas Hill Country, hundreds of creeks meander through the oak-covered hills, canyons, and ranches. A few of...
Advent is a season of preparation for celebrating the birth of the Savior. The main mood of Advent is one of serious...
