The rugged shepherds approached the newborn baby with the care and tenderness of a big sister awestruck by the arrival of a sibling. READ MORE
Bethlehem
A Christmas Prayer
One of the features of any Christmas celebration is the longing many of us have to carry the spirit of Christmas into the many long days and weeks and months that follow. How often is it that we think to ourselves that we want to experience the meaning of Christmas ten days out, or twenty, READ MORE
Make Way for the Kings and Queens
This time of year the headlines are full of familiar references to churches and those who claim to follow Christ. There will be stories about “pilgrims” making their way to Bethlehem, the “faithful” flocking into the Vatican, and “believers” gathering for Christmas Eve in churches aplenty. Within the musty corridors of numerous tiny churches scattered READ MORE
Bethlehem’s Solitary Savior: A Poem
From the empty streets, wailing, weeping heard. Rachel’s hot tears falling on trembling hands. In darkness she there sits, moaning, heaving; hurt. A solitary, empty cradle in black corner stands. “The King, the King,” they did laughingly scorn Herod’s treacherous, brutal band In dark rage they sought one not long born, A solitary boy with READ MORE
A Rustic Stable
When the rough and tumble shepherds gathered into the rustic stable Joseph hardly knew what to do. No doubt, fear gripped him as they assembled around the little boy in the manger. Mary—startled from her much needed sleep by the commotion—looked up with bewilderment. What do these men want? The answer came quickly. With an READ MORE
Old Guys Rule: Naomi and the Balm that Heals Bitterness
The next stop in our series “Old Guys Rule” takes us to a precious older woman named Naomi. Her story is the story of many of us: an uneasy life made so because of the multiple traumas of death and destitution. By the end of the Book of Ruth—the Old Testament book that tells her READ MORE