The Gift of Family
 
Those of you who read my Facebook postings know that my current status is “Looking forward to a house full of family! The invasion begins Tuesday.” We can hardly wait. It will be a very welcome invasion. This will be the first time all seven of us – three children, two children-in-law, and Becky and me – will be all together under our Langhorne roof.  We can hardly wait (or did I already tell you that?). Continue reading →

Joy
   
The third candle of Advent will be lit this Sunday.  By tradition it is the pink candle, marking what is known at Gaudete Sunday in the high churches.  Gaudete is Latin for joy and Gaudete Sunday signifiies the half-way point in the Advent season of waiting.  Especially this year our Advent preaching has focused on the lectionary texts from the prophets and the words have been strong words of anticipation that look more to the yet to come second advent of Christ than to the already first advent of the Savior. The day of the Lord is described as “terrible” and “bitter.”  “Who can endure the day of his coming?” Malachi asked in last Sunday’s text. Continue reading →

Three Short Takes
 
1. I am using the Advent devotions from the booklet provided by our Adult Ministries program. The daily meditations in “A Grand Miracle” are based on a verse of Scripture and short reading from Christian writer C.S. Lewis and then a paragraph or two by compiler of the book himself. I find devotions to be insightful and helpful in these early days of our journey to Bethlehem’s manger. There are still copies available in the Chapel and Sanctuary and it’s not too late to make “A Grand Miracle” part of your Advent preparations.
 
And speaking of devotions, I am planning to offer some recommendations for those looking to begin the discipline of daily devotions or who are looking for new devotional resources for the new year.  If you have found a particular source – online or hard copy – the be helpful, would you please let me know.  Author and title should be enough.  You can respond by using the contact form (click here). Continue reading →

Thanksgiving beats congratulations every time 
 
Thanksgiving Day is by far my favorite holiday.  There is something altogether good about it.  It is uniquely American and, if we do it right, inescapably God-acknowledging.  Two events define the American Thanksgiving tradition.  The first, of course, is that great three-day feast of thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation in 1621.  We moderns can deconstruct and revise the story all we want, but the fact of the matter is that those who were there remembered it as a time to offer thanks to God after a hard and bitter year: “Although it be not always so plentifull, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want,” wrote Edward Winslow. Governor John Bradford is the other who recorded his memories of the time.  (Click here to read to the two eye witness accounts of the feast.) Continue reading →

The Joy of Destruction
 
2012, the latest and some are saying the biggest if not the best disaster movie of all time opens everywhere tonight.  If you haven’t read a review yet, you can try this.  As best I can tell, lots of people will die and nearly every famous building in the world will topple; even the trailers have hints of bad new age theology. I can hardly wait to see it. 
 
I don’t think we’ll see 2012 tonight, though Becky likes watching disaster and destruction as much as I do. I’d really like to see it with our son Christopher. There’s no one better in the whole world with whom to watch the whole world end than our son Christopher. Oh, he loves the action and all the amazing techie effects, but what really makes it so good to watch a disaster flick with Christopher is his sardonic sense of humor. He’ll shred the over-the-top dialogue and the improbable plot turns with just the right comments.  But we won’t be seeing Christopher and his wife Katie until Christmas time. I’m not sure 2012 can wait so long.  Continue reading →