December 19/Third Saturday of Advent The angel replied [to Zechariah], “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” ~ Luke 1.19 Wouldn’t it be nice to have a visible envoy from the Lord bring good news, as Gabriel brought the aging Zechariah…
Category: Keeping Advent
Keeping Advent 20: The Best Laid Plans
December 18/Third Friday 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 19: Branching Out
December 17/Third Thursday of Advent The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ~ Matt 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 the…
Keeping Advent 18: Undoubtedly
December 16/Third Wednesday of Advent John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” ~ Luke 7.18 Residing comfortably in ambiguity — or to put it more colorfully, living amid the gray — is one of the most challenging tasks we…
Keeping Advent 17: Actions > Words
December 15/Third Tuesday of Advent “Which of the two did his father’s will?” Matthew 21.31 Having had at least one teenaged son in the house for the past 15 years (at the peak there were three at once), I have developed a keen appreciation for the comic strip Zits, which chronicles the lives of the teenager Jeremy and his long-suffering…
Keeping Advent 16: On the Spot
December 14/Third Monday of Advent They discussed this among themselves. . . And they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” ~ Matthew 21.27 As this contentious election year draws (thankfully) to a close, I have come to the conclusion that the apotheosis of inauthenticity is a political debate. The throwaway lines, the cheap posturing, the refusal to…
Keeping Advent 15: Supporting Roles
December 13/Third Sunday of Advent He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. ~ John 1.8 Having been a second soprano or an alto in every choral group I’ve ever sung in, I have a keen appreciation for what it means to play a supporting role. Rarely do altos get the show-stopping numbers; their job is…
Keeping Advent 14: Leaps and Bounds
December 12/Second Saturday 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 I will never forget the ten-week ultrasound for my fourth child (now in college and with several inches on me). As Fred the technician zeroed in on the tiny fetal image, I saw…
Keeping Advent 13: Eliminate the Negative
December 11/Second Friday of Advent Jesus said to the crowd: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,…
Keeping Advent 12: Blessed are the Peacemakers
December 10/Second Thursday of Advent “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” ~ Matt 11.12 The events of the last several months — the relentless advance of the corona virus, the civil unrest as our country has reckoned anew with acts of racism, the…