a messy first Christmas
One of my favorite things right now is dwelling in the messiness of the first Christmas.
Christmas
Custom Infographics for Christ the King and Advent
I’ve created infographics about Christ the King and Advent for Facebook and Instagram free for any church or leader to re-share from my channel onto their own social media. I’m also offering paid customization options!
Family Plans: a poem for the longest night
I want it known I had a plan.
And this — this was not the plan.
The plan was small and simple and concrete:
a good life, a righteous life, a quiet life.
Now the plan is seven pounds of impossible weight
and screaming.
O Come O Come Emmanuel (Alternative Lyrics)
Rejoice! rejoice! Take heart and do not fear; God’s chosen one, Emmanuel, draws near.
A Blue-Collar Kind of Guy
Mary gets top billing, and Advent is blue for her robe. But I think Advent could just as well be blue for Joseph. We dress him in browns, in most nativity scenes, but he’s a blue collar kind of guy, really.
How the Grinch Learned the Magnificat
All the Whos down in Whoville loved the Magnificat, but the Grinch, still learning his lesson, did NOT.
“The Other Women”
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” She did not nod, but the whole of the universe nodded with her. “Let it happen to me as you have said.”
A Holiday for the Suffering: Today’s Nativity
At the heart of the Christmas story is a story of God’s total embodiment into suffering. God was not born into grandeur and palaces, but to an unwed mother sleeping in a stable and fleeing a murderous king. Christmas, at its core, is a holiday for the suffering.