December 15/Third Sunday 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 Sometimes, as we make our way along the path of faith, we encounter a roadblock of doubt. This doubt may arise from some…
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…
Keeping Advent 6: Seek Ye First
December 6/First Friday of Advent One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek:To dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his temple. ~ Ps 27.4 What have you sought? What have you loved? To answer these two straightforward questions at…