As Matthew actually tells the story, to be righteous is to have an idea of what is right, and then to have that idea utterly and completely dissolved. By a child. By a partner. By a messenger, who arrives in your dreaming or any other time when your guard is down. It’s not so much that Joseph was wrong. It’s that his imagination of righteousness was too narrow.

“…I’m not entirely sure what it means to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Is that the sort of thing one can ever really be sure about? Probably not. But my best guess after 28 years on this earth is that it has something to do with being able to find joy and beauty and goodness in the world. AKA, delight…”

Three members offered gratitude reflections from their lives this past year.

“…Jesus knew that who he was and the things he had done were the far greater testimony than all the logical arguments he might have tried to make. And I believe that here in our passage for today, he’s calling his listeners–and us–to a way of life that cannot be contradicted, a life of peace, justice, mercy, righteousness, and endurance in the face of all that would tear those things down. That is our greatest witness, our deepest wisdom…”