Luke 2:1-20 In her book, Breathing Space, Lutheran pastor, Heidi Neumark tells a story that will probably sound remarkably familiar to most parents and grandparents. It is a story about her four-year-old son, Hans, who had a question he kept on asking. Heidi writes: “He used to ask me about heaven when I put him to bed. I told Hans everything I knew about heaven, which didn’t take too long. ‘Will we have a body there?’ he wanted to know. ‘Yes’, I said, ‘a new body’. ‘But will

Luke 2:1-20 It was Christmas Eve evening in 1980. Most memories of that first Christmas season away from Virginia are now largely a blur. The very idea that I call it “Christmas season” betrays my religious upbringing. For earlier that same year when I was ordained me as a Presbyterian pastor, the church did not celebrate Advent, that haunting season of active waiting that ends tonight. No, in my younger years, once December 1st arrived, if not earlier, the Christmas season h

Matthew 1:18-25 I am a big fan of Joseph. Not so much the Joseph with the coat of many colors from Genesis, but the Joseph we meet in the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. Little is said about this Joseph in Scripture, but what is said makes me a fan. I imagine him to be a person who listens first and then speaks, a person who thinks carefully before he decides on anything, a person who genuinely cares even when caring is costly. Matthew is obviously a fan of Joseph too. The

Text: Matthew 11:2-6 I have moved far too often in my life. Though each move was different, they all shared something in common. Moving is one long, extended headache. Along with all the “getting the house in order” matters, when you move, you spend a ridiculous amount of time tending to the basics – finding doctors, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and the list literally goes on and on. The first thing I look for in each search is credentials. I don’t want to entrust my ey

Matthew 3:1-12 In the Charles household, Uncle Willy was the family enigma. No one knew him very well because he kept to himself and he surfaced occasionally, mainly for a holiday meal. Southern manners dictate that you sit at the dinner table until all have finished their meal. For Uncle Willy, though, even the most fervid, table manners legalists would insist on breaking that rule. In fact, most holiday meals with Willy resembled a college fast-food eating contest, because