Blog Journal

This year we chose to celebrate a Who Christmas… A Who Christmas, what is that? You know the kind of Christmas patterned after the movie, How the Grinch stole Christmas, in which the Who’s of Whoville gather around a tree without presents and sing anyway. To be honest, I found it refreshing not to be…
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I have been seeking the perfect gift for you to unwrap this beautiful Christmas morn. And, at long last, on the eve of Christmas, our pastor reminded us of where it was hidden. The most perfect gift is Christ, the Messiah sent from heavens bliss. His name is Immanuel which means God with us and…
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The fullness of time (Ephesians 1: 10) had come and God became a human being (John 1: 14), born of a woman (Galatians 4: 4; Luke 1: 35), wrapped in swaddling clothes (Luke 2: 7) and born for us (Isaiah 9: 6; John 3: 16-17; Luke 2: 11). This event was long predicted. “God Himself…
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There is nothing better than good news. It doesn’t matter how it comes, by mail, telephone, face to face, television, instant messaging… we love good news. Better still, is getting good news when it’s unexpected. We love surprises even more, if it is good news. The birth of a child used to be one of…
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Christmas can happen… because the Star is shining bright. Every year in December, I look forward to the day when they turn on the star. It is quite breathtaking actually, 20 feet tall and 200 foot candles shining brilliantly over the Elizabeth River. It takes my breath away… Bright white against the stark and empty…
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Hope. Hope is such a little word… It is just four letters and yet this little, one syllable word conveys such powerful meaning. If we were to take away the letter on the end of the word hope, we would find our word altered and yet, the change is ever so slight. Hope facilitates joy…
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When you hear the word Christmas, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? In America, many of us think about twinkle lights; merry Christmas wreaths; or the smell of incense burning while candle light flickers onto lofty wooden beams or high stone arches laid together by pious ancestors long dead but still…
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Season last, long past showers of leaves swirling in kaleidoscope colors and after warm autumn breezes turn bitterly cold, I wrote about Advent; with candles aglow, meteors blazing and Italian Renaissance artists creating beautiful frescos to encourage us from below, to look upward. Many of us during this season, hold dear thoughts and imaginings that…
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Proverbs are pithy maxims; many of which are similes or comparisons, and are delivered in metaphors and allegories. Solomon and Jesus used this venue of communication to teach… Why? I don’t really know, but perhaps they did it because they knew we as humans are curious, imaginative and creative and therefore would be drawn into…
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“Who doesn’t watch the news and howl? Who doesn’t breathe through wounds and grieve for what was or dreamed and isn’t? How do you sit around a table and bow your head in thanks when parts of this world and bits of you are somewhere crushed?…giving thanks is only this: making the canyon of pain…
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