December 21/Third Friday of Advent Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love. ~ Zephaniah 3.16-17 On this sun-sparse day of the winter solstice, the dark night seems to be gaining the upper hand. Everywhere we look —…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Keeping Advent 19: Admissions Standards
December 20/Third Thursday of Advent Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. ~ Psalm 24.3-4 A young couple in my neighborhood who are about to have their first baby are already worried about getting the child on…
Keeping Advent 18: Do You Hear What I Hear?
December 19/Third Wednesday of Advent But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.” ~ Luke 1.13 A young boy once prayed every night for his beloved first-grade teacher, who had breast cancer. After remission and then relapse, the teacher died a year or so later. “I guess my prayer wasn’t answered,”…
Keeping Advent 17: Listening in the Dark
December 18/Third Tuesday of Advent When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the…
Keeping Advent 16: Skeletons in the Closet
December 17/Third Monday of Advent An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ~ Matthew 1.1 We look back at the tidy pattern of our family’s generational history, neatly delineated on the genealogy dot-coms, and it all looks so restrained, so civilized, so orderly. But as we start to probe into…
Keeping Advent 15: In the Thick of It
December 16/Third Sunday of Advent The LORD, your God, is in your midst; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.~ Zephaniah 3.17 There have been times along the way when I simply could not locate my connection to God. Many…
Keeping Advent 14: Vineyard Vine
December 15/Second Saturday of Advent Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; Take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted. ~ Psalm 80.15-16 Vineyard Vine The act of planting a garden, like the act of getting married, is the easier part: it’s the small daily acts of caring over the…
Keeping Advent 13: Can’t Get No Satisfaction
December 14/Second Friday of Advent Jesus said to the crowds, “To what will I compare this generation?” It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’” ~ Matthew 11.16-17 Can’t Get No Satisfaction Anyone who has spent time…
Keeping Advent 12: The X-Games
December 13/Second Thursday of Advent From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. ~ Matthew 11.12 The X-Games If I had ever managed to find time to take the divinity school course on “Troubling New Testament Texts,” I would have lobbied to include today’s Gospel…
Keeping Advent 11: Leaps and Bounds
December 12/Second Wednesday of Advent When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ~ Luke 1.41 Leaps and Bounds I will never forget the ten-week ultrasound for my fourth child (now a strapping high school senior). As Fred, the technician, zeroed in on the tiny image, I saw the…