Advent

Jason Byassee describes Mary as a sign that God is scandalously enfleshed.

Nathan A. Smith encourages Christians to identify themselves with the waiting that is commemorated during the season of Advent.

In death, we enter into the tomb on Friday with Jesus, and like the disciples on Saturday, all we can do is to wait in the darkness, hoping for the miracle we were promised on Sunday.

This essay argues against sentimentalized images of the nativity for a more realistic rendering of the birth of Jesus.

God’s longings for us always seem connected to a bigger picture that includes others.

When we ground our spirituality in the church’s liturgical calendar, says Hunt Priest, we experience ancient patterns of preparation, encounter and celebration that can make us more fully aware of God’s active presence in our lives and the world around us.

Chris Hoke learns something about receiving the Messiah from towering and tattooed Teddy, a former gang member in Skagit Valley, Washington.

In this meditation on Joseph’s discovery of Mary’s pregnancy, Melissa Skelton urges us to embrace the voice of God speaking in the depths of our souls, and to not be afraid.

In this Meditation on Matthew 3:1–12, Will Willimon reminds us that we are not right, that our worlds are out of kilter, and that Jesus presents us with the most difficult, demanding bad news that ever was called good, bad news that can set us straight.