The story goes that two frogs fell into a tub of cream. One looked at the high sides of the tub which were too difficult to crawl over and said, “It is hopeless.” So, he resigned himself to death, relaxed, and sank to the bottom. The other one determined to keep swimming as long as…
We entered in the darkness tonight, friends. On the longest day of the year, we entered into a dark room. Already, we have lit together two candles. We light candles to remind of God’s presence. We light candles to call our own attention to God. Pay attention tonight to the light. It might be easy to look for the darkness, but look…
Gabriel: Sharing God’s News As I was setting up for the Blue Christmas service on Thursday, one of our young Daisy friends came into to see what I was doing. She was very taken by our nativity over here. She came over and we talked about all of the characters in the Nativity, from animals…
Thank you for joining me up here to help me tell the story of Christmas. You have been doing a great job with your bells so far. Hopefully, you can keep helping me, because we have an important job to do. We have some shepherds to wake up! Does anyone know what animals shepherds take care of? (sheep!) I will need you…
Have you considered that Christmas might be more about shattering stillness than securing it? Hear me as an introvert, who loves quiet moments. Travel with me for a moment to the hillside outside Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, where sheep are resting in the dark, shepherds are settling in, and the stars are overhead. Frederick Buechner imagined the shepherds in the…
The Museum of Architecture in London held its annual Gingerbread City exhibition with public voting again this season.(1) The new special exhibit features more than 60 gingerbread buildings built around a masterplan developed by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design. The architectural masterpieces made of sweet confections are designed and built by some of the most prominent firms in the world. Gingerbread City…
The prophet Isaiah foretold that Messiah would be called: Prince of Peace. Jesus – the Prince of Prince. Peace, not as the absence of conflict, but a deep and abiding authority over chaos and presence of justice. In a world filled with war and conflict, it is almost impossible to imagine peace. Peace is a stark and opposite change from the daily…
“All I want for Christmas is a teddy bear,” the eight-year-old daughter of vicar of Christ Church in a small Welsh village requested. Nothing wrong with this request. In fact, very reasonable request, indeed. It was only the timing that made it wild: 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve. As the vicar recounts the story, he…
Father: Resolute and God-Trusting There is a legend about the life an Elizabeth of Hungary from the 13th century. I was reading this story to my children this week. The story goes like this. This royal princess in her own right marries another royal at the tender age of 14. While she had grown up…
Today, might be the first the Sunday of Advent, but the decorating and preparing for the event of Christmas has begun! In our house, fresh eyes saw the decorations anew as the train set came out. Hours upon hours have already been spent transporting countless Nativity people, Paw Patrol pups, and firetrucks from point A…