‘Tis the season for Incarnational Mysticism
One of the core theological ideas of Advent and Christmas is incarnation. In sum, G-d took human form in the person of Jesus. John’s Gospel has no nativity scene, but does contain this one-sentence incarnational Christmas story: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” John 1:14 Some streams…
Midweek Blog: Honoring Ancestors
This past Sunday, the Christian Education Commission put together an Intergenerational Activity to help explore our Advent theme a bit more. Each of the four basement classrooms was themed after one of the four women named in Jesus’ genealogy to match our worship series. Participants had the opportunity to consider…
Advent and waiting / not waiting
Expecting. Hope. Waiting. These are words and spiritual orientations that come with the Advent season. They are each, on the surface, future oriented, looking to the time, not long off, when Christ will be born. Or when we get to open the presents. Or when we round the bend of…
Gratitude, an antidote to consumerism
If we could design a holiday that would double as the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, I think it should be a holiday focused on gratitude. Practicing gratitude for the gift of being alive, for there being something rather than nothing, for wakefulness and breathing, for warm fires and…
Expecting Emmanuel
Advent came a bit early this year. This past Sunday Mark and I shared the sermon to preview our Advent theme and give some commentary on the foundational text for the season – The Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. It includes five women, each with outsider status. This coming…
