History, Real Life and Faith
How about an Angel Quiz if you’ve run out of ideas for Christmas entertainment? In the past, I’ve hosted Angel parties where people brought an exchange gift with an angel theme. I’ve served angelic food like Angel food cake and meringues as soft as angel’s wings. We played a version of the trading game, sang angel-related songs and told stories…
Read More
Advent Love is marked on the fourth Sunday with all four candles lit. At our house, we light all four and another big one in the middle on Christmas day–signifying Jesus has come. (We also put a candle on the Ule Log and sing Happy Birthday in honor of the Christ child). What does love have to do with the…
Read More
My daughter has held a cookie party to celebrate Christmas for the last 16 years. It started when she was in fourth grade. She invited four or five friends to join her the last day of school before Christmas break. I picked them up, we went to the movies and then came home to bake Christmas cookies and spend the…
Read More
Advent joy is looking forward to the birth of the Messiah. Most people understand Christmas and joy–with the music and the parties and the gifts, it’s a happy time. Advent joy, however, is about looking forward to joy to come. It starts in the past. Old Testament Isaiah 9:2 prophesied about the Messiah God would send into the world someday….
Read More
I’d never heard of Advent during my childhood. I knew about waiting for Christmas, but not that the month of December encompassed Advent. Advent, of course, is all about waiting for the coming of Christ into the world. A recent article by Eric Metaxas, does a fine job of exploring Too Much Christmas, Too Little Advent? The Joy of Anticipation. The…
Read More
The second Sunday we light a candle for Advent Peace. Peace is an interesting word with many possibilities: world, personal, shalom, spiritual. I love the Advent peace candle because it reminds me of the first year I understood who Jesus really is. Who is Jesus? “Peace on earth, good will toward men,” the angels sang that wonderful night outside of…
Read More