The beginning of the church calendar, Advent, takes you back to the beginning. The morning psalms, for example, go back to Psalm 1 and following. So I decided to go back to this reflection on Psalm 1 I published a few years back. +++ When you pick up a book of poetry or a book […]

So what can we do this Advent? How can we learn to live in hope and anticipation? Not through massive changes, perhaps, but certainly through tiny steps. 1. We can light a candle each morning and say, “God, as this tiny flame lights up the darkness, please light up my darkness.” It’s a tiny act, […]

I’m not from the tradition of Advent. I’m from a tradition that looks at the words of Jesus in Matthew (the Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent) and says, “We could disappear at any time, so don’t be doing things that you wouldn’t want Jesus to catch you doing.” There is an element […]

We’re now past Thanksgiving. We’re now into December. The fights about whether or not it’s too early for Christmas music and Christmas trees and Christmas advertising can end. Now there is a steady sound of Christmas advertising and Christmas lists and Christmas events. And the questions. What do you want for Christmas? Are you looking […]

God. This is the first Sunday of Advent. Some of us call this Hope Sunday. We read about salvation being closer than ever. And we very much want that to be true. Because it doesn’t always feel that way. In truth, God, many of us are uncomfortable with expectations. We have expected good things and […]