Into the Darkness with Children

Into the Darkness with Children

Many Christmas carols exalt nighttime: Oh Holy Night, Silent Night, O, Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night…. Christmas carols are probably the reason I love nighttime and darkness. When the nights start to...
Into the Wilderness

Into the Wilderness

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.   Luke 4, 1-2 NRSV Our goal in the wilderness was not forty days, nor a run-in with the devil....
Advent Week 1–Jerusalem Snapshots

Advent Week 1–Jerusalem Snapshots

On a walk through the Old City on Friday about sunset, we went to the Jewish Quarter to see lights for the sixth day of Hanukkah outside people’s homes. The Christian Quarter near St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church was beginning to display its Christmas...