Christmas Eve 2021 Chances are he won’t recall the holiness and awe of candlelight, “O Holy Night,” the beauty of it all. Perhaps he will, but memory’s strange (my history is a haze); it snatches moments randomly, misplaces years and days. I won’t soon lose the image of his sweet, illumined face, his lips’ attempts to join the song of Love’s divine embrace. My heart … Continue reading One Christmas Eve
A Christmas Message Tatya was a sweet girl, a typical teen with plenty of homework, friends and text messages. Her parents were model citizens by all appearances. They were almost too busy to recognize Tatya’s increasing silence. They noticed that she was more withdrawn, but they thought it was a normal teenage thing. They hoped it was just a phase. … Continue reading A Way in a Manger
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and … Continue reading The Last–and First–Word
Need ideas for the lectionary (RCL) text this week? Go to “Menu” and “Lectionary Sermons” for my weekly posting. It was a fiercely cold, December Sunday afternoon when my four-year-old granddaughter Rydia spent a few hours with me, stirring batter for Christmas bread, listening to the Advent IV Bible story, hunting for objects in an “I Spy” book, playing “you can’t catch me.” We … Continue reading She Knows
Need ideas for the lectionary text this week? Go to “Menu” and “Lectionary Sermons” for my weekly posting. In Jesus’ conception, there is one virgin being prepared. In a haunting parable (Matt 25.1-13) about the end times, there are ten virgins, five of whom are properly prepared. In the manner of armchair lectionary critics, I might have placed the parable in Advent. But there … Continue reading Advent Oil
saint sinner seeker 