ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 23, 2024Prayer for the Week:There is hope within us, a peace that is changing us, a joy that is bringing life to us, and a love that is liberating us. O Gracious God, we have learned a great deal in this Advent Season, but most importantly, we have intentionally prepared ourselves by making space for your presence to dwell more deeply. We are different because Christmas
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 22, 2024Everything is coming to completion. I’m not talking about Christmas, but football. Yesterday, we saw multiple college division playoffs take another step toward their Championship Games. The NFL’s playoff slots are dwindling, and the path to the championship is becoming clearer with each game. Similarly, the Advent season is leading us on a journey toward the fullness of the Christmas experience, with Bethlehem’s destination coming
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 21, 2024I am really excited about Sunday and the sermon I will be preaching. A number of years ago, I said something similar, and it ended up being a really bad sermon—mostly in the delivery. For that reason, I am hesitant to “jinx” this Sunday’s sermon. Also, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to set expectations too high. Of course, it would be
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 20, 2024In Luke 2:3-4, we read: Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled. Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. Mary and Joseph followed the laws of Rome, in spite of facing an arduous journey. Even in ideal circumstances, such a trek would have been
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 19, 2024Willa Cather, the famous Nebraska author, said, “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” Willa Cather understood the power of love to not only produce miraculous happenings but to be a miracle itself. As we read in 1 John, the act of loving one another is the means by which we pass from death to life—a miracle! At the same time, the act of
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 18, 2024In my Etching yesterday, I asked the question: What part of your world needs to know that it is loved? Today, I wish to pose another question: Where do you need to show yourself a little mercy and kindness? In this Advent season, as we eagerly await the arrival of God’s manifestation of mercy and kindness, where do you need to create space for those
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 17, 2024What part of your world needs to know that it is loved? For most people, answering this question is a bit complicated. Or maybe the answer feels as if it is constantly in flux. I might have responded differently yesterday morning, but now, in light of another school shooting, I am changing my answer. In a country where, contrary to what politicians would like us
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 16, 2024Prayer for the Week: Let the divine joy pulsate through my veins with a sacred insurgence as I strive to present an alternative vision of life to a world consumed by the devaluation and dehumanization of others. O Great God of All, grant me a clear understanding of the love that was born into the world and, for the sake of the world around me,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 15, 2024Have you ever gone to the grocery store for just one item, walked out with $70 in groceries, and not picked up the one item? It is probably just me. While in the grocery store, I remembered a wonderful Christmas dessert my mother used to make, and with some slight allergy-mindful modifications, I can eat it. Well, I can make that dessert but was not
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSDecember 14, 2024Recently, I have been thinking about the time I spend determining what streaming services I should purchase as compared to the time I spent adjusting the rabbit ears on top of the tv 45 years ago. And along with the rabbit ears, I often spent time trying to find the needle-nose pliers that we used to change the channel after the nob broke off. How