Tagged: Advent

Luke 21:25-36

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on November 29, 2015.

a1My oldest son and I walked into a home improvement store in September and were confronted by the first of the signs of Christmas’ distant arrival, a giant air filled Santa greeted us at the front door. Halloween decorations were side by side with Christmas decorations.

Our American culture is skilled at anticipating Christmas. This is not a skill that is lacking. We so engorge ourselves on Christmas spirit that we are bloated with the stress of the season, and nearly sick of Christmas music by the time the twelve days of the Christmas season actually arrive. All anticipating the arrival of Santa… er, Baby Jesus.

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Luke 1:26-38

This text is used for the Lectionary Year B on December 21, 2014.

When the angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her that she will have a son who will be the Son of God, her response is, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34). It’s a fair question! In this passage, Luke shows us that God is about to do something completely new – something that’s never been done before. But in order to understand more fully the extent of what God is about to do, we first need to read this text in light of other call narratives throughout the Bible. Continue reading →

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

This text is used for the Lectionary Year B on December 21, 2014.

Have you ever tried to do the wrong thing for the right reasons? In the 7th Chapter of 2 Samuel, David says to Nathan the prophet “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent” (2 Samuel 7:2). David, now comfortably settled in a palace in his newly conquered capitol of Jerusalem, realizes that he is living in a place far grander than the God whom he worships. So, setting out to address the imbalance, he has in mind to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, so that God too may have a permanent home in Jerusalem. Continue reading →

John 1:6-8, 19-28

This text is used for the Lectionary Year B on December 14, 2014.

As we continue in this season of Advent, we are watching and waiting and hoping for Christ’s presence to break into our world and into our lives. But will we know Christ when we see him? What if we’re looking for Christ in all the wrong places, or missing him in all the right ones? In today’s text, John says to the priests and the Levites, “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal” (John 1:26-27). Everything I’m doing is to point toward this person who is standing right next to you, he says, yet you don’t even recognize him. Continue reading →