The words of the Advent wreath...Peace, Hope, Joy and Love. Isn’t that what all of us want in our lives? If we had those, could we feel like we had it all? I thought that I would spend my midweek blog for the next 4 weeks of December reflecting each week on one aspect. Let's light the candle of Hope.
Advent and Christmas have both been such long traditions and celebrations in the lives of most Christians. So as we once again enter this season of the year, how well versed are you really in some of the details that we hear in the stories and in the music of the season??
During those 40 days, Elijah was instructed by God to stand in the mouth of a cave. A giant wind, a strong earthquake and a fire went by but God was not in those. Following those, there was silence and a still, calm voice of God that spoke to him. It was in a calm and silent moment that Elijah experienced the small voice of God speaking to him.
I shared a video clip of a moment in 2003 that reminded me of what that small voice speaking in his ear must have felt like. If you would like to see that experience,CLICK HERE for the clip.
This last week I made an unexpected, last minute cross country road trip moving my son, Dan, to Phoenix for a new job. All of his furnishings and belongings were loaded in a 16’ U Haul truck towing behind his car.
After a second night’s hotel stay, we poured into the U Haul at 3 am. It was pitch black out and I was the designated driver for that leg of the journey. It is really eerie driving an unfamiliar vehicle into the sheer darkness of the night. This was new territory for me and so dark.
Archived Posts
One More Piece of Unsolicited Advice
I had one too many examples yesterday. Here’s the "Ask Pastor Tim" scenario that didn’t make the cut for Sunday’s sermon: (read more)
Not If, But When, the Crisis Comes
One of the best Bible commentators alive today is N.T. Wright or Tom Wright. When reflecting on the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, he wrote this:...
What I wanted to say
but ran out of time this Sunday
Here is the benediction I was going to use before discovering the excellent MLK Jr. video.
The Storm that Comes To Us as Helplessness
I want to share with you a small portion of my conversation with Artificial Intelligence online. Some of you know, I use Chat-GPT as a thoughtful sounding board for the questions and insights I’m working with on whatever scriptures I’m studying each week. What follows is an example of those discussions...
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....