Sermons

“God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote these words to his wife, on one dark Advent night in his prison cell. In hunger and abandonment, the young theologian discovered a fresh wonder at Christmas. Christ was born into poverty. Christ was born into hunger. Christ was born in darkness, cold, and ugliness. Forever after, this means God is with us in our poverty. God is with us in our ugliness. God is with us

“The pains of hell came about me; the snares of death overtook me. In my trouble I called upon the Lord…so he heard my voice out of his holy temple…The earth trembled and quaked…There went out a smoke in his presence, and a consuming fire out of his mouth…He bowed the heavens, and came down” (Psalm 18:5-10). God’s coming is fearsome and sublime. Creation groans with anticipation for God. The stars foretell it. The earth forewarns it. Ants fortify their homes with mounds of di

"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? The donkeys had a care-free life until the 4th century B.C. A few lazy farmers got tired of doing their share of the work. “Eureka!” someone said, “I won’t have to work so hard, if I can get this donkey to do it” — the invention of the donkey driven mill. It was a little clumsy at first. The donkey did not see the point of walking in circles all day, and he and the farmer quarreled a good deal. Then the farmer had another idea