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Reflections During Advent, Christmas

Reflections During Advent, Christmas

Luke 2:18-19: And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Years ago, facing a divorce, one of my greatest worries was not being able to “do Christmas” the way I had before. I was already sharing my grown sons and their families with their in-laws. What would a further sharing of them mean? Hearing me fret (obsess, really) about such matters, a friend, who is also a priest, sat me down and

Reflections During Advent, Part IV

Reflections During Advent, Part IV

Luke 1:35a, 37–38. The angel said to her…. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Here is a confession. Back in October, there came a moment in our national experience when everyone—and by “everyone” I mean people as unlikely as news anchors and as expected as church leaders—was talking about how we as Americans should pray in response to a particular thing that had happened.

Reflections During Advent, Part III

Reflections During Advent, Part III

Psalm 126:5. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. John 1:22–23. Then they [the priests and Levite] said to him [John the Baptist], "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those [the other Jews, including the Pharisees] who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" He [John] said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said. In Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, Pádrai

Reflections During Advent, Part II

Reflections During Advent, Part II

Isaiah 40:3. A voice cries out: “…make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Mark 1:2–3. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way: the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths [in the desert] straight.’” In some ways, my life in 2020 changed very little. Group activities—Master Naturalist meetings, Education for Ministry, Sunday worship—all simply mov

Reflections During Advent, Part I

Reflections During Advent, Part I

Isaiah 64:1. O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—… Mark 13:24–25, 37. [Jesus said to them….] “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken….And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake." The year 2020 has been a year of dislocation. For people who have lost lov