I hope you’re having a Joyful Christmas. You can have a merry one, too, and a happy one, but it isn’t always, and a few weeks back, I said that I would wish for everyone’s Christmas to be “joyful.” I mean that, so … Joyful Christmas to you. And no,...
Hope, Peace, Joy, and this week, Love. The fourth Sunday of Advent explores how we feel and express love, an emotion and force that can’t be explained or defined but must be experienced, lived and shared in order to be understood. After this week we’ll be taking a break from...
This year, I plan on wishing everyone a “Very Joyful Christmas.” I’m planning on it. I’ll probably forget every now and then and go with the old standard “Merry Christmas.” Some people like a good “Happy Christmas.” Or the new (relatively) “Happy Holidays,” to be more inclusive. Or even a...
It’s the 3rd Sunday of Advent. We’ve been exploring Hope and Peace the last couple weeks, and now it’s time to talk about Joy. Just like Peace is so much more than “the absence of conflict or violence”, Joy too has so much depth and meaning to explore. Maybe by...
“Peace is what’s inside you that allows something creative and life-giving to happen.” Sometimes, to get to that place of creating a sacred moment that lets Peace in, some hard work, conflict and difficult conversation, is required. This 2nd Sunday of Advent, Ben and Rev. Robin King explore what Peace...
I’m very grateful that there are people willing to get up in front of a room full of other people and help lead by reading something. Especially when that something is scripture. Even if you invite people to read from the translation or version that they’re most comfortable with, sooner...
The first Sunday of Advent is this week, hopefully. Yes, hopefully, as in “it definitely is happening and we’re so excited!”. Is that how we’re approaching Christmas this year? Is that how we bring Hope to others all through the year, and into our own times of joy or pain...
The new church year begins this week. Not with a festival, cards, a big party or a special dinner. There’s not much decoration that’s for new year’s day, maybe even just a single candle on a wreath. A wreath with four other candles on it, and this first one isn’t...
He’s not the “King” they were expecting, and the image that we have of Jesus even today is likely very different from his actual physical appearance. Our depictions of Jesus say a lot more about us than they do about him, and that’s worth exploring as we come to the...
Is that still a cool word to use, “phat?” It means excellent, cool, awesome. It’s african-american slang that comes out of the beginnings of hip hop music in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. Like, “a phat beat” means a really cool tune. Yeesh, trying to explain the meaning of...