Advent Devotionals

Today is how the church disrespects one of her own, and let’s put that right.  We considered the Apostle Thomas, hung with moniker “Doubting,” some time ago in the Great Fifty Days of Easter…

Well now, this is interesting.  As if 2020 didn’t throw us enough, here comes cosmology too!  How many times does God have to wave a divine astrometric hand right in front of us?! 

Mother Emily and I agree.  We both consider the Collect, or gathering prayer, for the Fourth Sunday of Advent to be one of our favorite prayers of the Christian year…

Today, the Fourth and final Sunday in this too-brief Advent, we finally meet her.  The Queen of Heaven, Mother of all, Eternally Virginal, Luke’s first Apostle, Theotokos…

The second of our Advent hymns is brought to you by the letter “O,” as in the well known O Come, O Come Emmanuel! 

Yesterday we met fiery John the Baptizer, calling 1st century Judaism to radical repentance to prepare for the coming of Messiah…

Dear readers, may I introduce you to John the Baptizer, the enigmatic 1st century Jewish seer who singlehandedly resuscitated the great Jewish prophetic tradition from its near hibernation…

With all due respect to Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Third Sunday in Advent is often nicknamed “Stirrup Sunday” because of the fantastic Collect for this third week of our Advent journey.

On this Third Sunday of Advent, we mark our third significant Saint’s Feast Day in Advent, the Feast of Saint Lucy or Lucia. 

About 100 pounds, rep #8, 3rd set, bench press straight long barbell medal rod….dangling precariously above my exposed head and throat. 

The traditional theme of the Third Sunday in Advent, noted in your Advent bags, is Joy. 

One of the pandemic’s most ravaging larcenies is depriving us of shared musical experiences, and not in some furtive, pilfering manner either.  From concerts to live theater, from choirs to festivals, from hymn sing to children’s’ holiday performances, it seems...

So, let’s do our thing here dear readers ‘cause I want to know some more about honey!  Pure honey, which begs me to ask if anyone would dare to market “slightly compromised honey’ after all?!

Wait for it... Undergirding our weekly Sunday Advent themes are several implicit, transcendent Christian cornerstone experiences.  In Advent, as God’s future comes graciously towards us and into view, we are called, literally, to wait.  To receive God’s gifting on...

Infamy As we move into this second week of Advent, we pause for what has become a civic version of a saint’s day.  Sadly, like so many of our national days, this day marks a tragic and traumatic 80th anniversary.  In the early morning of Sunday, December 7th, 1941,...

The Great Theme of Advent Week One : Hope. Each week in Advent is characterized by a grand biblical theme emblematic of God’s gracious attention to us.  As we light the first candle of Advent each day this week, we reflect together on Hope. 

We interrupt this newly launched Advent devotional blog to mark one of the great festival days on the Christian calendar, the first of several we will celebrate together in the coming weeks.  November 30th is the Feast Day of Saint Andrew…