When most of us think of Advent, or of Christmas, pretty soon our minds start thinking about the crèche, the advent scene. Mother and father, dressed in pristine, royal robes, beaming proudly down …
The Candle of Love
I love that line in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln where the title character, in a rare assertion of his authority to acquire badly-needed votes to end slavery, loudly declares, “I am the President of …
The Candle of Preparation
‘A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall …
The Candle of Hope
My children are older now, but I was reflecting on Christmas past, when they were little. Two memories in particular haunt me in vivid detail. The first was when one of them wanted a …
Good Receivers
It is more blessed to give than to receive, so they say. But, it is much easier to give. We like being givers, especially at Christmastime. Christmas helps us think of ourselves as we like to …
An Unlikely Hero
Think about it. You’re born two thousand and some odd years ago in some backwater region of a great empire. Even in that backwater region, your town is small, tiny, insignificant, the “sticks” of the …