Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. Read more
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness– on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the... Read more
Where’s Santa? Read more
We’ve not done a Weekly Meanderings on Christmas, at least that I can remember, so this is a Special Edition of Weekly Meanderings that will focus on Christmas links. And it comes a day early! Two reindeer were mysteriously spotted in the area … Gary Stratton takes on Ricky Gervais over It’s a Wonderful Life. Syler Thomas on the Christmas tree tradition: “Needles are the glitter of the Christmas season. Glitter is the bane of my existence. It is Satan’s... Read more
On the back of his new book, Discovering Our Spiritual Identity: Practices for God’s Beloved, my blurb reads: Trevor Hudson is one of South Africa’s contemporary spiritual masters. … If I had one person I’d choose to be a pastor to my children, it would be Trevor Hudson. This new book could become a standard textbook for spiritual formation classes and it will be a book deeply loved by pastors and Christians. I will begin a series next Monday on... Read more
From Timothy Dalrymple: When my daughter has grown old enough to articulate (what I’m convinced she already secretly believes) that my every parenting decision has been wrong, thoroughly damaging, and clear grounds for lawsuit to cover therapy costs, I will at least be able to explain why I did not raise her to believe in Santa. “Christopher Hitchens,” I will say, as her eyes well up with tears. “Christopher Hitchens killed your Santa.” This, of course, will take some explaining.... Read more
This week leading up to Christmas provides opportunity for another reflection – one related to the story and discussion in Tuesday’s post (Discrimination?). The sermon this last Sunday at our church was centered on the texts in Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 … in particular the reaction of Joseph to the discovery that Mary was pregnant. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had... Read more
Yesterday’s post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman’s book proposes that the Book of Revelation is a manifesto and a summons to “uncivil” religion. As we have been saying, Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation discusses this theopolitical reading of Revelation. So, his point: “Revelation is a manifesto against civil religion and a summons... Read more
A new article by a 20something in WaPo’s On Faith discussion examines Christmas shopping for 20somethings. My question: What are you doing for Christmas shopping? What does this mean for our consumer habits? This Christmas, how are twenty-something Christians engaging in the requisite shopping/buying/gift-exchanging? Fed up with the consumerist excesses of Christmas and the maddeningly widespread association of celebrating Christ’s birth with going in to credit card debt, some young evangelicals are opting to spend less on presents and instead... Read more
Lynne Hybels doesn’t post on her blog that often, but the failure of the DREAM Act brought out this post, and I clip the first two paragraphs. What do you think of the DREAM Act? Like many of my friends, I am profoundly disappointed by Saturday’s defeat of the DREAM Act by just a few votes in the Senate. I have to confess this is the first time I have actually called the offices of politicians to ask for their... Read more
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