Advent: December 23
As I walked back to my car, I had joy in my heart and a bounce to my step despite the two hours of basketball I had just played. It was the Christmas season, which is a great time to share the Gospel here in Japan due to its commercialized presence, and a couple guys at the middle school gym we played at had asked about Christmas in the USA.
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 22
In my life, Christmas and the entire Advent season, along with Easter – the entire season of Lent and Holy Week – have been like two brilliantly shining stars, radiating God’s love and faithfulness. This is exactly what the songwriter teaches us here in Psalm 89.
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 21
Have you ever been so busy trying to accomplish something for God that you missed what God was doing? In 2 Samuel 7, David decides to build something great for God. He will upgrade the Lord’s mobile home (the tabernacle) to a more permanent residence (the temple).
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 20
When you think about reading Advent passages of Scripture, turning to 2 Samuel probably doesn’t come to mind. The book of 2 Samuel is an account of David and his reign as King of Israel. This passage in particular is about David communicating with Nathan his desire to build a more permanent structure for God to dwell in and be among the people of Israel.
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 19
In their book The First Christmas, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan write, “Do we think that peace on earth comes from Caesar or Christ? Do we think it comes through violent victory or nonviolent justice? Advent, like Lent, is about a choice of how to live personally and individually, nationally and internationally. Christmas is [. . .] about what means we will use toward the end [result] of a peace from heaven upon our earth.”
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 18
Last week I sat with a couple who were looking for answers within their marriage. A recent family trauma had led them into my office for counsel, but as we began to work through the layers of pain and fear it was clear the marriage union was already weak.
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 17
Peace has been a bit of a hard thing to come by for many of us in 2020, hasn’t it? On top of the pandemic that has contributed to so much inner turmoil, we’ve seen racial division deepened all over North America, important protests turned violent, one of the ugliest elections in recent memory, and armed conflict in areas where our beloved mutual friends and missions partners are at work.
Continue ReadingAdvent: December 16
Luke 1:46-55 is the Magnificat: the political, religious, and social manifesto that Mary, miraculously pregnant with the Son of God, declares in the home of a temple priest who is married to her cousin.
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