advent quote of the day (7 Dec 2018)
We are silent in the early hours of each day, because God is supposed to have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep, because to God also belongs the last word. We are silent solely for the sake of the word, not in order to show dishonor to the word but in order to honor and receive it properly. Silence ultimately means . . .
advent quote of the day (6 Dec 2018)
In the midst of the deepest guilt and distress of the people, a voice speaks that is soft and mysterious but full of the blessed certainty of salvation through the birth of a divine child (Isa. 9:6-7). It is still seven hundred years until the time of fulfillment, but the prophet is so deeply immersed in God's thought and counsel . . .
advent quote of the day (5 Dec 2018)
The coming of God is truly not only a joyous message, but is, first, frightful news for anyone who has a conscience. And only when we have felt the frightfulness of the matter can we know the incomparable favor. God comes in the midst of evil, in the midst of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And in judging it, he loves . . .
advent quote of the day (4 Dec 2018)
Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know that they are . . .
advent quote of the day (3 Dec 2018)
Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespectful hands . . .
advent quote of the day (2 Dec 2018)
Note: Part of our family Advent tradition is reading through a special Advent devotional. This year, we are reading through one of our favorites, "God Is In The Manger," by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This devotional draws on Bonhoeffer's many letters and other writings during his time in prison during World War II. Each week draws on . . .
new (church year), new bible reading habits
This Sunday marks the first Sunday in Advent and the start of the new church year! While many people are already thinking about what resolutions they want to make (and subsequently break) at the beginning of 2019 in just over a month, let me encourage the start of the church year (i.e. this Sunday, 2 December) to be the time when you . . .
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