December 17/Third Tuesday of Advent The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ~ Matt 1.1 Who are all these people? Upwards of fifty ancestors of Jesus are mentioned in Matthew’s extensive genealogy, and while a few of them are “boldface” biblical names whom we readily recognize — Abraham and Isaac, David…
Category: Keeping Advent
Keeping Advent 16: The Center Holds
December 16/Second Monday of Advent “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” ~ Matt 21.22 Since about fourth grade, when I first encountered the challenge of word problems, math has not exactly been my strong suit. A geometry exercise I loved, however, was using the compass to draw a perfect circle. As I…
Keeping Advent 14: Conversation Starter
December 14/Second Saturday of Advent As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ~ Matt 17.9a-10 It is well and good for us to set aside dedicated time every day to pray, but we don’t have to stop there. Weaving an ethic of awareness of God’s…
Keeping Advent 13: Dust in the Wind
December 13/Second Friday of Advent Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. ~ Ps 1.4, 6 Most of us are so removed from agricultural realities that we fail fully to embrace the image of chaff…
Keeping Advent 12: The We Generation
December 12/Second Thursday of Advent When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice. ~ Luke 1.41-2 The intensity of the bonds of friendship risks attenuation in the iAge. We cancel dates (and even entire relationships) through screens, we let a text message bleat out…
Keeping Advent 11: Take Five
December 11/Second Wednesday of Advent Jesus said to the crowds: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” ~ Matt. 11.28 As a little girl, I had more than occasional trouble getting to sleep. Hearing me as I tossed and turned in the darkness, my mother would come to my bedside and…
Keeping Advent 10: Whither Wander You?
December 10/Second Tuesday of Advent If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? ~ Matt 18.12 What if you are that stray sheep? Perhaps you have gradually drifted off from the flock of your friends, family, and faith community…
Keeping Advent 9: Finding Our Way Home
December 9/Second Monday of Advent [The angel said to her], “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” ~ Luke 1.30 Finding favor with God can mean being asked to follow a path we had not even considered, and no desire to undertake. Whatever future the young Jewish peasant woman had imagined for herself, it surely did…
Keeping Advent 8: Coattails
December 8/Second Sunday of Advent [John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,] “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” ~ Matt 3.8-9 Complacency is an occupational hazard of participating in a two-thousand year old belief system. If we are fortunate to have been…
Keeping Advent 7: Sheepish
December 7/First Saturday of Advent When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. ~ Matt 9.36 As a child, I was often admonished not to “toot my own horn.” In the social media era, this seems a quaint and even archaic attitude. From TikTok to Instagram, self-promotion…