Tag: Advent 4A
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Managing The Advent Crisis
In my previous post I suggested that Advent is less about a countdown to Christmas and more about a crisis. I’m not talking about our usual understanding of crisis as one of those “Aw, shhhiiioot!!” events in which something has gone wrong. I’m talking about the older, original understanding of the word. It comes from Read more
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Emmanuel And The Messiness of Life – A Sermon On Matthew 1:18-25
What do you make of today’s gospel? (Matthew 1:18-25) It’s a beautiful story but does it make sense to you? I doesn’t to me. I have some doubts about it. It doesn’t sound or feel real to me. Does it to you? I struggle with today’s gospel and wonder if that’s really how it happened. Read more
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The Scandal We Long For – A Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25
What is the most shocking part of today’s gospel (Matthew 1:18-25, Advent 4A)? What’s the thing that makes you wonder whether it really happened the way Matthew describes? What’s the hardest part to believe? For most people, I suspect, the thing that raises questions, controversy, and debate is Mary’s virginity. Aren’t virginity and pregnancy mutually Read more
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Scandals, Wombs, and Emmanuel – A Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25
The collect and readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent may be found here. The appointed gospel is Matthew 1:1-25. Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Read more
Interrupting the Silence 