The Second Week of Advent Second Sunday of Advent Sing: Lo! He comes with clouds descending, once for our salvation slain; Thousand Thousand saints attending swell the triumph of His train: Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ the Lord returns to reign. Reflect: Jesus came and so Jesus will come again. Advent, the time before Christmas, reminds thinking people that history is not eternal. The circle of life will come to an end and all life will enter Eternity. We take for granted... Read more
Following the historic events of the first Christmas: Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. I would have been tempted to run out and shout everything I had seen and what I thought it meant. Mary, who said “yes” to God, treasured the events and pondered them. Americans cannot even let forty-eight hours pass before we wish to understand and endlessly discuss even the most complex event. Mary waited until an ancient historian approached her and then... Read more
Education is possible, but not if we lack integrity. Isn’t it obvious that we need integrity in education? Don’t we need integrity everywhere? Being against a lack of integrity seems as fatuous as the position of the pastor my family knew who summed up a sermon as being “about sin.” When asked to summarize his views on sin, the pastor said he was “against it.” Indeed. Jesus was right: we cannot serve God and money. A result of this truth... Read more
When something bad happens, the very best thing a person can do is pray. Even when we must act quickly, prayer is possible if we learn to “pray without ceasing” lifting our feelings up to God with every breath. I had a pastor who did this very thing and to his last evening on earth, he was praying for all of his beloved people. And yet when most Americans began to pray for a crisis in California, we were mocked.... Read more
Three cheers for anyone outside the immediate area of a crisis who refuses to pontificate or politicize, but pauses, ponders, and prays. We do not know what motivated the massacre in San Bernardino. While we do not know, there is nothing worse than saying we should “do” something . . . by which people mean something governmental. For some reason, waiting to see what motivated an act, where the weapons were gained, and who the killers were is no longer... Read more
The United States of America has always sinned and one of her sins was nearly fatal to her existence: slavery. The Republic survived the purge of our original sin, barely, because a great leader led good men and women to emulate Christ. As Jesus died to make men holy, they lived and died to make men free. By the start of the nineteenth century, there was little fear that the United States of America would be conquered by an external... Read more
“Never surrender! Never give up!” Perhaps one should not get cultural advice from a science fiction parody, but the advice fits American Christians. We are in a Constantine moment. What does that mean? Constantine the Great, emperor of Rome, faced a nearly impossible political situation. The Roman Empire was in decline, the wealthy Greek East splitting off from the West. Civil war was nearly constant and outside barbarians threatened the peace of Rome. The City of Rome herself was broken,... Read more
First Sunday of Advent Sing: O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! Reflect: No matter how much beauty, goodness, and truth we find here, Eternity is in our hearts. We can no more reach the Eternal than we can wish away death. The good news is that God came our way and appeared at a bleak time... Read more
The world is hurting, but we cannot always be looking outward. I have hurts, death in my family, assorted failures, but I cannot always be looking inward. Instead, following the example of Jesus, I try to go apart. Sometimes the cares follow me, as they did Jesus, but often I can stop and rest. Just now, Hope is in the kitchen making something delicious for dessert. Lewis is setting up our Christmas village. The other adult children are reading, napping, or... Read more
Civilization is hard to build and easy to lose. Without courage and conviction, much we now take for granted, peace, relative liberty, and civility will be lost. One mark of the health of a civilization is the value it gives the liberal arts. At every level of education from kindergarten to college, we need the arts and humanities to be strong. This Republic depends on knowledge of philosophers such as Locke, scientists like Newton, writers such as Shakespeare, artists like... Read more
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