Advent and Christmas Resources
Advent begins the church year and starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (December 25 ), which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
A series of Advent reflections from Deaconess Linda Douglas Smith motion us toward Christmas.
In today’s lectionary reading, Prophet Isaiah sees a vision. He sees the transformation of one set of tools into a new set of equipments, tools of war-making instruments made into farming tools.
One of the Bible Women leaders in the Philippines, a deaconess, once corrected me when I said this Isaiah passage presents an alternative vision of the world. She said, “It is the original vision of God for us,” and she is right.
Is not Advent all about making way for the birth of Jesus? A rail-wash train carries an Advent task: removing the accumulated slime and dirt. A rail-wash train blasts open a cleaner track for millions of people to travel safely.
Christmas is a story of people’s long walk home, under the Roman Empire, in order to register their existence and get proper personal identification. It is a story of the Holy family finding themselves homeless, and walking long distance seeking shelter and food.
