Emmanuel. God with us. Really. In the flesh. The incarnation means that in the most real and concrete way, God is connected to the physical reality of this planet. God has inhabited a human body with skin, hair, blood, bone. God has had dirt under fingernails, has drunk thirstily from the offered cup. God has…
We don’t often think of these opening verses of John’s Gospel as a nativity story, but it is, in it’s own way. It may not have the narrative flair of Matthew or Luke’s version, but it makes up for that with its theological heft. Despite their differences, the Gospel nativity stories all address a core…
Ron Adams is pastor of Madison Mennonite Church. This piece was originally published on December 12, 2014. – – – – – Have you ever wondered what God was thinking when coming up with the plan for the incarnation? I think you have to admit the entire concept is pretty out there. God coming…
Last Thursday I was preparing for today’s service of communion and anointing. I pulled out the little bowl—hand-formed and glazed a brilliant blue—that we use for anointing oil. To my surprise, the bowl still contained ashes from Holy Week. So there I was in mid-December, trying to pour the ashes on our lily plants and…
The first Sunday of Advent this year, our worship service at Peace Mennonite focused on the issue of time–particularly the distinction between Chronos and Kairos. During December, Chronos, or chronological time, is emphasized in many ways. The secular world tells us how many shopping days we have until Christmas. At home, many of us use…
It’s probably bad form for a pastor to post her “first thoughts” about Sunday’s scripture passages on Thursday night. I know I should be well past the “first thoughts” stage by now . . . but it’s been one of those weeks. Here’s part of what we read this Sunday from Isaiah: “He will strike…
Spacious Faith 