“Justice, biblically speaking, is about God taking everything that’s wrong with the world and making it right. In God’s kingdom, things are turned upside down. The least are now the greatest. The last are now the first. Justice is God taking what’s broken and bringing it to wholeness. In Advent, a season of longing andContinue reading “Sing of mercy and justice”
Tag Archives: Advent
Third Sunday of Advent
O Lord Jesus Christ, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient toward the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judgeContinue reading “Third Sunday of Advent”
“Come Up Here”
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me wasContinue reading ““Come Up Here””
The One who is WITH us
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isa. 53:3) We want a warrior Messiah. We want the Jesus mean and wild. We want the celebrity Jesus all too often. So, when JesusContinue reading “The One who is WITH us”
Advent and the Apocalypse
In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus speaks apocalyptically of “signs in the sun and moon and stars” and the “distress of nations,” he ends by saying that humanity “will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:25–27). He is speaking of himself and his Second Coming. He’s tellingContinue reading “Advent and the Apocalypse”
Happy New Year!
Over the years I have learned more and more about Advent and the Church calendar. I have known it was the beginning of the Church Year because the Church calendar doesn’t follow the regular calendar of the world or culture. In the U.S. we put so much stock in a “new year” and January 1.
In the wilderness
When the pandemic hit earlier this year, it was during Lent. A popular saying I heard among liturgical friends was this: “This is the Lentiest Lent I’ve ever Lented.”
Reason #317 Why You Should Be on the Church Calendar
Advent begins November 29. For those who are not familiar with the Church Calendar, this would be a good year to become familiar… and a fan.
As Advent approaches we are tempted to flood ourselves in light
By all measures it is probable we can all agree we want 2020 behind us… NOW. Why wait until December 31? We’ve lost loved ones. The world has lost heroes. We’re fighting over masks to slow down a pandemic… People are putting up Christmas lights and trees and flooding their lives with Christmas music andContinue reading “As Advent approaches we are tempted to flood ourselves in light”
Oh… hell
Some cheery Christmas thoughts from my favorite Advent writer, Fleming Rutledge:
Apprentice 2 Jesus 