Monthly Archives: December 2021

December 25, 2021 Putting Christmas together every year has always meant organized chaos in decorating, baking, buying and wrapping, meeting shipping deadlines, and on and on.  Lots of pressure trying to meet the perceived expectations of others.   One of my favorite parts – a centering and calming part – of the season has been setting upContinue reading “Christmas – It All Comes Together”

Luke 2:7-20 December 19, 2021 Advent is a time of self-emptying and preparation: emptying of who and what we have been apart from God in the past in order to prepare to receive the who and what God intends for us to be in the days, months and years to come.   The emptying is neverContinue reading “Fourth Advent: The Response of the Imperfect”

Luke 1:57-80                     Luke 2:4-6 Over these past weeks of Advent, I have immersed myself in the lives of those who lived on the periphery at the time of Christ’s birth. I have also begun to see the essential participants in the holy birth with a new perspective. I have begun to realize that perhaps the mostContinue reading “Third Advent: The Response of Townspeople to the Miraculous”

December 5, 2021 Luke 1:24-56 Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist and Mary, the mother of Jesus I find Elizabeth and Mary so relatable and not just to women!  The women’s responses to God’s miracles transcend gender and age. As we go through the self-emptying of Advent in preparation for Christmas, I believe they haveContinue reading “Second Advent: Two Women – Two Responses to the Miracle”