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And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” [Luke 2:…

Look, the young woman shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God is with us [Isaiah 7:14b, Matthew 1:23, NRSV]. Some years ago, a friend and I were engaged in a discussion related to Paul’s “Corinthian correspondence.” Specifically, we were examining the initial chapter of Paul’s first letter to the gathering at Corinth. Within that chapter, Paul sets the context for his overall communication. My friend had honed in on a particular verse that, depending upon your translation, reads something like this: But we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles [1 Corinthians 1:23, NRSV].…

Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near [James 5:7-8]. Our Mother would sometimes repeat a story from her youth, a story that was played out similarly in many houses across rural America in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1934, a month or so before her 10th birthday in late November, her parents had given her a strict price limit—less than half a dollar—and…

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots [Isaiah 11:1]. In September 1996, Hurricane Fran did “her thing” on North Carolina. As many of you will recall, Fran was so huge and so strong that despite “the Triangle’s” distance from the coast, the storm’s outer winds blew through our West Durham neighborhood at almost 100 mph because the storm’s eye was still offshore at Cape Fear. We “weathered” Fran better than most. We suffered no real damage. We didn’t even lose a tree. In our back yard, however, we did have a large pine that, while still well-rooted, was…

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left [Matthew 24:38-40]. Although more than 53 years have come and gone since that evening in March 1969, I remember it more vividly than I do today’s lunch. My term paper for Mrs. Johnston’s senior English class was due in about a week. Never one to…

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” [Luke 23:36-37]. Earlier today, I performed an Internet search on the popular web site that sells virtually everything. The site is named for the long, winding river in Brazil, the site whose name I won’t mention due to the power of its trademark. Searching only within books, I typed “self-help” in the text box and was not surprised when the site indicated there were more than 60,000 titles from which I might choose. The range was broad: The Hidden Doors to Success: Achieve More, Faster Stop…

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating [Isaiah 65:17-18a]. Some years ago, in a Bible study that I was leading at the time, we decided to take a look at the prophet, Isaiah. Realizing that if we followed an “A to Z” approach, we’d be “in the book” forever, I suggested that we take eight or ten weeks to examine some of Isaiah’s “big” text passages. One such passage was Isaiah 65:17-25, the OT reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday [the Twenty-third Sunday…

Although first century Sadducees are often conjoined with the Pharisees in New Testament discussions, there was but one issue upon which they agreed: their opposition to Jesus. As you know, the Sadducees, sometimes referred to as “scribes,” were the primary authority within and over the Jerusalem Temple. They recognized as authoritative only the five Books of Moses—the Pentateuch. The Pharisees agreed that the Pentateuch was authoritative, but they also revered the writings of the Psalmist and the Prophets (e.g., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.). Because the Pentateuch contained no reference to an afterlife—there are numerous such references in the writings of the Prophets–the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. And…

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? [Habakkuk 1:2]. As I comb through the “Matrix”—my electronic system that houses a long-running journal, my sermons, homilies, meditations (like this one), and notes on scripture passages, I see a hole. Over these many years, I have devoted virtually no time at all to the minor prophet, Habakkuk. My only reference is buried in some notes I’ve assembled on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Quoting from Habakkuk 2:4, St. Paul gives us one of his core theological principles: “the righteous shall live by faith” [Romans 1:17].…

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector [Luke 18:9-10]. In last week’s meditation, I allowed that Jesus’ parables are affirmatively unlike Aesop’s fables. They aren’t straightforward little vignettes, each with a clear lesson at the end to help us along in our everyday life. As Rick Lischer taught me so many years ago, if we seriously examine a parable, we’ll usually find that it tells us something we might not want to hear. Rather than smooth our feathers, Jesus’…