Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived. — Luke 2:21 I named the stray dog within the first hour of our not quite two hours of being together. Murphy. The name just fit…
If such things existed in his day, the Apostle Paul would have been a great guest to have on the air during an end of the year podcast or TV show. Those who embrace his writings know his wisdom, conviction, passion and prayer life changed the world because when he…
IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING as I send this. In addition to Christmas Eve services and what I hope you experienced as a quiet peace when you lit a candle and sang Silent Night or another great Christmas carol, I imagine you also remember reindeer and cookies and milk as a part…
You have thought what I have. How do they do it? The men and women who deliver packages to our homes for hours and hours and hours on end during this time of the year are incredible. Do they eat? (And by “eat” I mean at a table, not while…
Being the son of a fulltime Christmas tree grower, I can share that Decembers were what you can imagine. So my mom, ever the planner, asked us pre-teenybopper kids to create for her and my dad a Christmas list of what we wanted. That’s no surprise, right? Pretty status…
This is the record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: —Matthew 1:1 I have a friend to the North who deeply, truly and longingly aches for a larger family as he is an only child whose loving mom has died and whose…
Some think Labor Day was not that long ago. You know, summer, shorts and shades. And whoa, wow, here we are. Christmas. Already. For some, it’s way too soon, even though we have noticed merchandizers starting the retail rush around Halloween. Still, Christmas. Again. A woman in our choir was…
“The day will come, says the LORD, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.” —Jeremiah 33:14 We’ve all had those moments where at any second what is bad could turn worse. This is how we enter this scripture. Kathryn M. Schifferdecker,…
Tell me you weren’t expecting a traditional “We should give thanks to God this Thanksgiving” blog. You should know me better by now. In the sermon series I brought to my church this month, I invited the congregation to consider how (and when) God gives thanks for us. Think…
“I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.” —Psalm 16:8 The woman I am going to call Edina found scripture challenging. Some verses were direct for her, but like many of us on the journey to discovering God, she…
