During December we anticipated our Lord’s coming; now we celebrate that God-in-the-flesh has been born to us.
Many different meanings have been given to the four candles and the other parts of the wreath. None are right or wrong. Here is one common interpretation of the meaning of the various parts of the Advent wreath.
The Christian church follows a calendar based on the orbit of the Christian life around the Son of God, rather than following the calendar based on the orbit of planet Earth around the sun. Thus the Christian church year begins this Sunday, November 29, with the First Sunday of Advent.
Jesus said, “Keep watch, because you do not know the day or hour” (Matthew 25:13). He has promised to return in his fully glory and he wants everyone to be properly and adequately prepared for this great event.
God has vowed that man’s violence or human terror does NOT get the final word in the story he is unfolding. His promise to deliver his people from violence isn’t fulfilled by human governments, nor does it await favorable historical conditions, but it depends directly and solely on the act, timing, and will of God.
From time to time there have always been calls to censor the Bible and remove it from school libraries. But because we have homes filled with Bibles, it really makes no difference to the church if the school district leaves it out of the libraries.
This links to a good article over at logos.com responding to a widely shared social media post about how each Hebrew letter has a particular “meaning.” How can we evaluate claims for “deeper” or “secret” meanings like this?
This coming Sunday, June 25th, is the 493rd anniversary of the original reading of the Augsburg Confession—to this day still the primary statement of the theology of the Lutheran Church, and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Reformation.
“What would my life be like if God touched my mind as frequently as I touch my phone?”
Hurry sickness is a disease that virtually all of us have (except maybe people who don’t read blog posts).
This six-minute video about the Gospel of the Kingdom is a great primer for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter.