Texts: Zephaniah 3:14-20  •  Isaiah 12:2-6  •  Philippians 4:4-7  •  Luke 3:7-18   Happy Hanukah! For those of you keeping track, today is the second of the eight days of Hanukah, which gets clumped together with Christmas and Kwanzaa around this time of year into a general end-of-year festival of lights cheekily called, Christmakwanzakah, which … Continue reading Sermon: Sunday, December 13, 2009: Third Sunday of Advent →

Text: Malachi 3:1-4   Almost two-hundred and seventy years ago the world was treated to the debut performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, a masterpiece that set words from scripture to music so profoundly that centuries later we are barely able to read the scriptures without hearing the music – so that this past Sunday, … Continue reading Homily: Wednesday, December 9, 2009: Advent Vespers →

Texts: Malachi 3:1-4  •  Luke 1:68-79  •  Philippians 1:3-11  •  Luke 3:1-6 Earlier this week, a man walked into my office off the street that I’d never seen before and haven’t seen since. My first impression was that he seemed a little disoriented, and then I smelled the alcohol. We sat down in the Lesher … Continue reading Sermon: Sunday, December 6, 2009: Second Sunday of Advent →