Advent feels paradoxically heavy and elusive this year. Jan. 20 looms large on the horizon beyond Dec. 25. Many people I know, including myself, are hoping against hope things won’t be as bad as we fear. That Trump’s retributive, hate-filled…
Christmas is about worshiping Jesus
How are we to celebrate Christmas this year when Gaza is being bombed, children are being murdered, and the city is being demolished into a rubble? It is hard to fathom the immense heartbreak, horror, fear, anger, hopelessness and suffering…
Advent, Gaza and the coming of Christ
As the cold winter months are upon us and we are now approaching the third Sunday of Advent, we want to stop and reflect upon the coming of Christ into a broken and destructive world. This Sunday’s Advent worship carries…
On building walls
There are many famous walls from our world history. We are familiar with the Great Wall of China, built 770 to 476 BCE. It was a fortification built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and imperial China…
Worldliness and wistfulness on the way to Bethlehem 2021
This Advent season, I determined to follow the lead of the BVM, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in “pondering” the Bethlehem story in my heart. So I went back to Luke’s Gospel in the King James Version where I first heard…
The plight of the Palestinians
As you know from my recent article , this month I made a week’s visit to the country of Israel. My daughter Karen, who is a professor at the University of Arizona, was going to an academic conference in Tel…
Marching to a different drummer
The poinsettias are ablaze with holiday red. The Advent wreath is in place and we are on our countdown toward lighting the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve. Among the poinsettias, the wreaths, and the candles, there are numerous Christmas trees…
The original Christmas village
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.” This past summer Amanda and I did a lot of walking while we were in the United Kingdom…