Angels have made quite a comeback in the U.S. As I visited a local mall recently (my annual pilgrimage) I noticed how many cards, t-shirts, and trinkets are filled with celestial beings. You can get angel mugs, stickers for your car, figurines for the home, and stuffed child-like-doll angels. Testimonies on national talk shows abound [...]

Excerpt from an essay I’m writing on Simeon in Luke 2:25ff.
Christians believe, by celebrating Advent each year, that the God who crafted the cosmos also stepped into human skin—baby skin—and lived among us in the fullness of human experience. One friend recently challenged me to think about our planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe. Earth [...]

Dreams keep coming. Joseph is instructed to go to the pagan land of Egypt for Herod, true to form, has instituted genocide in Bethlehem. Herod’s set the threat level to “orange”—he can’t handle the presence of the baby in his kingdom. The people and places that should welcome God, do not. The people (Magi) and places [...]

The Bible knows of the human affection for showdowns.
After Jesus had already been born, pagan magicians came to one of the most powerful men in the world, Herod the Great (King Herod) and ask “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have [...]

I’m preparing for a four-week series at Otter Creek called Collision. In this series, we are exploring the way in which Jesus’ birth ushers in a collision between the realm of God (traditionally known as heaven) and the realm of humanity (earth).
In preparing for this first teaching (”Crazy John”) I’ve been doing research into the beliefs [...]

As I am preparing to preach/teach on Mary’s Song this weekend, I am reading these words that came to me last Advent.
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Advent reminds us that when God came among us in Jesus, he did not come as a ghost, hologram, vision, or media stunt. He came to us through a teenage girl not properly married. [...]

Advent reminds us that when God came among us in Jesus, he did not come as a ghost, hologram, vision, or media stunt. He came to us through a teenage girl not properly married. God came to us, not in the pomp and circumstance of royalty, but in the humility of a working class commoner. [...]