hope ⁽¹²³⁾

Psalm 89, Matthew 1:6–25, Matthew 2:19–23, Luke 2:41–52 David: the man (somehow) after God’s own heart. Imagine passing that down as your legacy. Even more, how about others passing it down for you. We “love” famous people. We “love” famous stories. Fame is fabulous. When…

Isaiah 58:1–12, Psalm 51:1–17, Matthew 6:19–21 Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, the reflective Christian journey to the cross. One of the symbolic pieces are the ashes themselves. The “official” tradition is that the ashes are from last year’s Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is…

Psalm 139; Isaiah 12; Matthew 1:1–12 The lineage of Jesus. How boring. Did you think that? You are not alone in that. Many people read the lineage of Jesus or just skip it. Wait, did you skip it? If so, please read it now… Why…

Luke:1:46b-55, James 5:7-10, Hebrews 12:1-2 Mary’s song/poem of praise is often called the Magnificat in the Protestant/Roman Catholic tradition, or the Ode of the Theotokos (Bearer of God) in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is a joy-filled response to God by Mary that appears to…

Job 33:14-30, Psalm 126, Luke 1:35-45 In many respects, joy is both easy and incredibly difficult to truly understand. On one hand, we understand that joy is something much deeper than the feelings of the moment. Yet, on the other hand, we use the word…