Letter from the Pastor

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  As we know so well, the word simply means ‘coming’ or ‘arrived’.  We use it in this context to refer to the coming of Jesus into the world.  Most of us have celebrated Advent many times and are quite familiar with its meaning.  But what many sometimes fail to recognize is that the coming of Jesus is a three-dimensional concept.  Our usual habit of thought is to limit it to only one meaning or two at the most. Characteristically, we think of Advent in terms of the Christmas story.  This is when we […]

Some say that people today are losing, or perhaps have already lost, a capacity to be deeply moved by human suffering.  The kind of world we live in inevitably has a numbing effect on the human spirit.  One hour with a newspaper or thirty minutes in front of the television exposes one to an overwhelming amount of tragedy.  Day in and day out, we are served a steady diet of war, murder, terrorism, kidnapping, rape, robbery, and torture.  The more we see of man’s inhumanity to man, the less we seem to be shocked by it. Then we come to […]

Do you recall several years ago reading about an 18-month old girl, Jessica McClure, who had tumbled down an abandoned well shaft?  Nobody knew how she managed to fall through an 8-inch, coffee-can size opening into the 22-foot shaft in the hard rock.  For 58 desperate hours people rallied round and literally clawed their way to rescue her while the eyes of the nation prayerfully watched the effort.  When, finally, a paramedic emerged with the child, there were shouts of joy and thanksgiving.  Someone held a banner and the cameras relayed its message to the nation: “Stop weeping, America, Jessica […]

How long has it been since you attended a formal banquet?  For some it has possibly been a long time.  Maybe it even goes back to high school and the senior prom.  However long it’s been, I suppose there are certain things about the occasion that you still remember – the  person with whom you attended, the dress or suit that you wore, the flowers that you kept and may even still have, pressed between the pages of a book. I hope everyone has at least one memory like that.  For one thing, it’s just good to have fond memories.  […]