It is early morning, one sleeper turns to the other, an eye half opened, "Do you know what time it is? We've overslept!" Flying slippers rushing to the kitchen, the exclamation on the end of the sentence is placed by kaleidoscopic confusion at the beginning of the day.
Or imagine a dormitory room: a college coed leaping from bed, a rush to the desk, the alarm clock lifted very closely to her eyes...
Not long ago I encountered the father of five boys. I asked him about his secret for parenting, "Never let them see the fear in your eyes," he said, as he reached for a picture of his fellows. Four of them appeared to be elementary school age and one a preschooler. The image showed them all decked out in war paint and two in camouflage clothing holding toy rifles. "The guns were from Grandma and G...
"Descended from David ... designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness ..." so Paul writes of the One who is to come; the One we are expecting (Romans 1:3, 4); the designated Son of a designated God come to a designated people. God reveals himself in power; we humbly and imperfectly place names on what we see and feel. God designates a Son and the Son designates a people.
De...
4. Do you know exactly how I feel?
Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18
Illustration
Frank Luchsinger
A youth choir at a church was in rehearsal preparing a pageant which included some upbeat songs and choreography. One of the regulars in the group, Melissa, had brought a friend who was not catching on to the rhythm or the words. As sometimes happens, the regular had become focused on her own preparation and had forgotten about shepherding her friend. Also in the group was a boy named Cash Box bec...
"The grace of God has appeared ... training us ... to await our blessed hope" (Titus 2:11-13), and oh, how we have waited! The air is filled with anticipation, the Holy Night has come. We each wait for different things: the lighting of candles, the singing of carols, loved ones returning home, feasting, and forgetting ferment, for the Prince of Peace is coming. We wait for delight in the eyes of s...
A plane flies through the night. A winter storm howls as the pilot radios for meteorological information, trying to steer clear of the worst of it. All has gone well apart from the weather. The news that a heart was coming had reached the airport in plenty of time for the pilot to ready her plane for take off. By the time the ambulance arrived with sheriff escort, the engines were warm and ready t...
At the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:16-20). Once again, the Li...
Peter had long practiced a religion which required the separation of Jews and Gentiles, and following Christ's ascension Peter continued to be a practicing Jew. Through the example of Christ, Peter began to think differently about those who were considered ritually unclean and unacceptable to God. Earlier in Acts 10, Peter has been staying in Joppa in the home of one who practiced an "unclean" pro...
It is hard to know what more can be said about marriage. Weddings are stressors. The planning, the showers, the many opinions, the money, the lists, the social pressures ... who can survive a wedding? The summer before my teenage bride and I were wed in our September nuptials, we worked as lifeguards at a local swimming pool, making buckets of money. We were between our sophomore and junior years ...
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing," asserts Paul in First Corinthians. "But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." The word of the cross...folly to those who are perishing. To those who are being saved by it -- to us -- it is the Power of God.
Imagine, if you will, the scene in Jerusalem: devout Jews gathered from every nation under heaven. There is a sou...
When I was a child and my mother started thinking out loud about "going home," she meant driving to Grandma's house a thousand miles away. This trip from Ohio to Nebraska with two parents, five children, and sometimes a dog did not happen in our unairconditioned family sedan without considerable planning and effort. Just packing the car strained family cordiality and tested my father's training as...
Peter went to the mountain with Jesus. And what happened there was of such magnitude that decades after the resurrection, it still was of bedrock importance to Peter's witness for Christ. We know the story. Peter and James and John went with Jesus up to a high place, apart from the others. And while they were there Jesus' appearance before them changed. They saw him stand with Moses and Elijah. As...
How many people are helpful to us in a given stretch of time? How many are helpful to you in a given stretch of time? Folks whose names you may not know who go out of their way to help you out. A while back a mother was driving home, and an eruption of discontent came from the back seat -- two little boys who could not get along. She pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. Sensing there mi...
Oh, Christmas has come and gone, but its scent lingers: spiced cider, evergreen, bayberry candles, cookies baking, popcorn, ham and scalloped potatoes, chestnuts roasting, and hot chocolate. Christmas has come, and its scent lingers: the aroma of newspaper casually read by a crackling fire or the smell of a new book received as a gift; pungent chemicals of instant pictures developing, or tempera...
Oh, Christmas has come and gone, but its scent lingers: spiced cider, evergreen, bayberry candles, cookies baking, popcorn, ham and scalloped potatoes, chestnuts roasting, and hot chocolate. Christmas has come, and its scent lingers: the aroma of newspaper casually read by a crackling fire or the smell of a new book received as a gift; pungent chemicals of instant pictures developing, or tempera p...
For his sixth grade year his family moved to the new community. They made careful preparations for the husky, freckle-faced redhead to fit in smoothly. They had meetings with teachers and principal, and practiced the route to the very school doors he would enter on the first day. "Right here will be lists of the classes with the teachers' names and students. Come to these doors and find your name ...