Luke

The annunciation is analogous in my mind to the story of God's invitation to Abram to leave Ur and head to Canaan. Both stories have a bare, binary feel to them. These are hinge moments in the unfolding of God and God's mission with and for the world. Abram, yes or no? Mary, yes or no?

It has not happened all that often, but on occasions someone has been upset enough with a sermon I've preached to call me up and complain.

I decided our family's Christmas would be simple and spirit-centered. Green to parenting, I defined spiritual as anything that allowed me a minute to reflect on what, beyond the laundry, mattered.

"Occupy Wall Street may not come up with solutions, but at least it is asking the right questions in a nonviolent setting," says Shane Claiborne. "I don't believe that love can be forced, but I believe it can be provoked."

The pastor was prepared for questions about the Transfiguration. Instead, one first grader asked, "what does 'obviously' mean?"

At times I will again be struck by the smallness of the thing, of this bit of bread and sip of wine.

We love to celebrate the peaks of Jesus' life in worship, but how often do we remain with him during the valleys of his life?

We love to celebrate the peaks of Jesus' life in worship, but how often do we remain with him during the valleys of his life?

Learning to see in new ways is one of the most difficult tasks of the transformed life. Old habits of selective vision, old choices about what to leave out and what to focus on tend to dominate us, even as we search for new ways of living that are in closer communion with the life of the Spirit. Transfiguration--that mysterious transformation of vision that is narrated in today's readings--is a radical, if brief, way of illumination.

"Mary has chosen the better part," says Jesus, "and it will not be taken away from her." This is not what Jesus is supposed to say.

Here are texts that say to the church: "You are holy."

Here are texts that say to the church: "You are holy."

This month could be consecrated to all hidden preparations, to children in the womb and to those who long to conceive. In February all is potency, awaiting God's redeeming act.