Matthew 2:1-12 For many a season now I have read T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Journey of the Magi,” expecting it would bring deeper meaning to the Epiphany. The truth is, though, that while I referred to it 9 years ago now in On Magi and Journeys, many years it has fallen a bit flat for …
Month: December 2021
On Stars and a Borrowed Baby Jesus and Making Room
Luke 2:1-20 John 1:1-14 I sit to write on Christmas Eve, trying, and trying again as I have for days, to bring words to the meaning of this day. For myself, of course, yes, but also for those who will gather in a few short hours now. Last Christmas was almost unrecognizable for all that …
The Christmas Shepherds
Luke 2:1-20 It was going to be a quiet Saturday. I had planned to spend it in the kitchen baking and making toffee with Christmas carols accompanying me as I measured and stirred and kneaded. Only a text pinged at 7:30 and the phone rang again not much later with the news of first one …
And the Child Leaped for Joy…
Luke 1:39-55 As I sit down to write today, I realize that I began the experiment of this weekly writing in this format ten years ago this month. Such anniversaries seem worth acknowledging and as I do so, I would take a moment to thank you for walking alongside through this last decade as week …
Jesus Will Burn the Chaff Away: A Word of Promise
Luke 3:7-18 This old story comes to mind today as we hear John’s words about unproductive trees being thrown into the fire and being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. This old story comes to mind as I consider first the damage that fire can do and …