As Luke came to tell the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus, he took pains to put them at a specific time and place so as to anchor them in this world.  At the same time, when he came to thinking about the meaning of the coming of Jesus, he often did it in the form of songs or poems, what we might call Dr. Luke’s Christmas Cantata.  We’ve mentioned a couple of these songs in past weeks:  the song of aging Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and of Mary the Mother of Jesus in chapter 1, which… Continue reading →

On further reflection, I would title this sermon “Isaiah, Mary, and Scrooge” (but not necessarily in that order).  In fact, the last shall be first.  Last Tuesday, Maxine and I went to the Twin Cities to see a stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ great little story A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater.  We went last year, too, and enjoyed it immensely, so we were looking forward to a repeat of this great performance.  Well, this was, as I was reminded by the program notes, the 44^th consecutive year for A Christmas Carol at the… Continue reading →

I was delighted this past week to discover research from an association of Pediatricians that held tha tfancy, battery-filled toys and computer games do not teach children as well as the old fashioned toys like Lego’s or blocks, puzzles, dolls, dump trucks,etc.  I was delighted not only because these are the toys I remember and I like to be affirmed (although both things are true), but because one reason the pediatricians gave for their findings was that the newer toys and games did not lead to the development of imagination and imaginative play in children as well as the… Continue reading →

Advent begins the new Church Year by preparing for the Messiah to come to us as,long ago, people prepared for the Messiah to come to them.  It seems that by the time we reach the end of each Church Year, we are ready to prepare afresh. And, today, we begin  our preparation with “hope.” This hope of which I speak is not wish-fulfillment,but is a hard-fought optimism that God can be trusted to come through in the crunch, so to speak.  Christian hope is the life-betting assurance that God in Christ is good, and so is the future.  None of us… Continue reading →