ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 6, 2024There are some exceptionally beautiful passages found in Isaiah that are highlighted during the Advent season. Throughout the centuries, many preachers have offered insightful commentary on these passages, and I have tried to emulate their work. However, there is a complication that is often ignored during Advent, especially when it comes to Isaiah. One moment, Isaiah is full of hope, and just a few
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 5, 2024In Bruce Reyes-Chow’s book, “In Defense of Kindness,” he writes about how kindness is not weakness and it should not be misconstrued as simply being nice. He goes on to write, “While being nice is not a bad thing in general, often being nice is an outward action that is more about not rocking the boat than about acknowledging the human dignity of others. Being
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 4, 2024To be honest, I feel a bit apprehensive about sharing what I’m about to share, but I’m going to do it anyway. A week ago Sunday, I had finished putting together the worship material for this past Sunday. I had two pages of notes, thoughts, quotes, and other random stuff for the sermon, but it didn’t even remotely resemble a sermon. I didn’t look at
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 3, 2024On this day in 1938, the Nazi party signed the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property. This was just one of many steps to legalize the dehumanizing and disempowering of the Jewish people, all in a systematic program of ultimate annihilation. Sadly, human history is littered with such stories, and they all begin with someone who is driven by greed and a desire for
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 2, 2024Prayer for the Week: We sing together, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” We sing those words, yet we appear oblivious to the inherent connection between the failure to find peace on earth and the lack of peace within each of us. O God whose perfect love casts out all fear, anger, and violence, we seek to make room
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 1, 2024It’s the first day of December 2024, marking the beginning of the last month of the calendar year, but according to the Christian calendar, it is the new year. Advent, a period of preparation for the birth of Jesus, signifies the entry point into the new cycle in the Christian year. It is here that we see the story of Jesus unfold, beginning with an
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 30, 2024In the opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we are introduced to Mary, Elizabeth’s relative. There we find a few important words: “In the sixth month, an angel named Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth. There, an unmarried woman named Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph, who was descended from David. Mary’s name was Mary.” The Bible has
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 29, 2024I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I sure did, but it’s Friday, and we have just a couple of days to get ready for the first Sunday of Advent. Depending on the year, we sometimes get a true Thanksgiving Sunday after Thanksgiving, but not this year. Our household has all the fall Thanksgiving decorations outside, but inside, we’ve already started the transformation. The cornucopia
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 28, 2024“You couldn’t help but notice how her life was dripping with gratitude.” Those words were shared by a minister more than two decades ago at a funeral I attended. The funeral was for a relative of one of my church members, and I was asked if I would come to be supportive. I was so captivated by the line that I went to my car
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 27, 2024Today is that important holiday we call Thanksgiving Eve. Though I don’t know the story as well as I should, I believe it was the fall of 1621 that some of the Wampanoag people joined the English separatists (others would call them Pilgrims) for a multiple-day feast. This happened after the Wampanoag people had assisted the ill-prepared separatists in navigating their new surroundings, teaching them