The trappings of the holidays try to convince us that all is well when in reality it is not. But Advent reminds us that these are but falsehoods. Truth, instead, is embodied in the baby born to Mary of Nazareth in the town of Bethlehem in Judea.
Believe
Remember God Is With Us
The nation of Judah faced an impending invasion from two neighboring nations. This threat left them shaking like the trees in the forest in a windstorm. So King Ahaz made an alliance with an even larger nation—Assyria—rather than run to the Holy One, God Almighty. Then God gave Ahaz and Judah a promise, a sign, a reminder that he had not abandoned them and they should rely on him alone.
At-Risk
John-Mark D. Burkholder "I can feel that," I told my obstetrician as he pricked the left side of my abdomen on December 11, 1992. I was on an operating table in an outdated birthing clinic in Bandung, Indonesia, prepped for a C-section. As with my first pregnancy, I had pre-eclampsia but this baby was also breech. The … Continue reading At-Risk
Pondered Treasures 