What are you expecting for Christmas this year? The question isn’t exactly the same as, “what do you want for Christmas?” You see, in my family growing up, I might have wanted a Nintendo Gameboy or a cool toy. But I didn’t get what I wanted. Instead, I often got a book to read or a new sweater to wear, and eventually I came to expect those presents after recognizing the pattern year after year. So, what are you expecting for Christmas this year? What are you looking forward to? Maybe you … [Read more...]
Hope
Out of the Depths, Grace
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” These first verses of Psalm 130 are a haunting cry of desperation, coming from a place that I imagine many of us know. “Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord.” This past week I have walked alongside people both dealing with sudden and devastating illness, and people dealing with chronic and agonizing pain. The weight of the world has been heavy on my heart, and … [Read more...]
A Lament of Sorrow and Hope
Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down! Oh, that you would hear the cries of your people, the Israelites, as they return to Jerusalem after the exile, still under the grip of foreign oppression, finding everything so much harder than they expected. Oh, that you would hear the cries of your people, the Jews, as they suffer under the weight of Roman oppression, as they struggle to hold onto hope that you have not abandoned them after 400 years of silence since the last … [Read more...]