Something was terribly wrong with the makeup of the traveling party. For Mary and Joseph, the festive occasion, focused travel, and familiar companions all conspired to prevent their recognition that “the...

One of the difficulties of hope is it can seem like an abstract, future occurrence. Today’s demands prevent far too many people from knowing the privilege of dreaming that far ahead....

Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests at Shiloh. They are synonymous with worship gone wrong. They commodified worship and used their authority to take advantage of women temple workers. When...

Facilitated by the priests, Israel’s sacrificial system of worship impacted how people conceived of God. The loss of trust in the leader of the system, caused by Eli’s corrupt sons, could...

O come, Emmanuel, and turn us toward Love. Whenever I read this song of Mary, I hear the musical setting of the Magnificat by Rory Cooney. The chorus of “The Canticle...

O come, Emmanuel, and illuminate the shadows in our hearts, in our world. Here in the northern hemisphere we have arrived at the winter solstice. After sunset tonight, we enter into the...

O come, Emmanuel, and let our spirits leap for joy at your promised coming. I love this story of Mary and Elizabeth, cousins descended from King David, both pregnant in miraculous...

O come, Emmanuel, and guide us through our wilderness. Psalm 80 is a communal lament. Commentators are not certain about when this psalm was written. It could have been from the...

O come, Emmanuel, and show us the path that we are to follow. Today’s passage describes new rules for discipleship that Christ has ushered into the world. God no longer desires...

O Come, Emmanuel, and fill our world with peace. The prophet Micah lived in Judah in the eighth century b.c.e. Israel was under assault from the invading Assyrians, and its army...