What about Advent?

How clever of our theological forefathers to establish, in our church year, respectably long waiting periods [Advent & Lent] before the two most important holy days all year! They aren’t specified in the Bible, but how important they are in giving us breathing room to prepare our hearts and souls for the arrival, then the crucifixion, of our Savior. This Advent invites—nay, beckons—us to even more wonder of the miracle of Christmas. Fret not: NOBODY nor NOTHING—not even commercialism in all its forms—can take Christ out of Christmas. We won’t let them!

What about Epiphany?

The Rev. Tom Ehrich writes: “Faith has hopes and dreams, but faith has no control. Even the most ancient act of control—the naming of people and the naming of the created order—merely gives labels to things that will spin out of control.” In the face of that, do we dare to announce our faith by celebrating a whole season—Epiphany—dedicated to spreading the faith, proclaiming the good news? What good news? Not the birthing of a newborn in a barn, but his love and power when we the open our hearts to let him run our lives, an entirely different matter. Now that’s faith in spades! This is so huge, so important, that it leads naturally to telling others the good news, always and everywhere, not just a few weeks a year. Do we do this, or is Epiphany just another recurring ho-hum church season?

Dark Brown Feeling

A few decades ago I would often feel a particular emotional uncomfortable sensation which I described as “a dark brown feeling.” I had no clue how else to label it, nor what it meant; I only knew that I didn’t like it. I’ve since recognized this as an indicator of anxiety [which is always fear-based]. As the years passed and I began to appreciate how much God loves me personally, I noticed that I was experiencing many fewer dark brown episodes. When this became hard to ignore, I figured out why: if God REALLY loves me enough not only to die for me, but to have brought me through the challenges of a rocky life relatively unscathed, nothing anyone can say or do is anywhere near so important. I have NOTHING about which to be anxious! This was no ecclesiastical gobbledegook, but a real interiorization of the theological propositions which I’d been taught, but had only given lip service. Once this dawned on me, my life was forever changed!