Prophecy is an indispensable part of the Nativity story – with good reason. God has always spoken and acted in real history, through actual events and real human lives. He has made promises and kept t...  Read More

Stop for a minute and think – you have great news, the best news ever. Who do you want to tell? Who do you go to first? I don’t know about you, but I’d tell my spouse, my closest friend, someone I tru...  Read More

Angels serve a variety of roles in Scripture: they advocate, they protect, they make war, they announce, they teach, they comfort, and they guide. All of those roles can be seen in the Christmas story...  Read More

In his book, An Angel’s Story, Max Lucado sets the scene for the animals.“I’ve heated the water!””No need to yell, Joseph. I hear you fine.”Mary would have heard had Joseph whispered. The stable was e...  Read More

In his book, An Angel’s Story, Max Lucado imagines the scene at the Inn in Bethany when Mary and Joseph arrive.“But don’t you have just one room?” Joseph pleaded“To be honest, I did. But only moments ...  Read More

The prophet Micah prophesied 700 years before the birth of Christ that he would be born in Bethlehem. Have you ever thought about the fact that God caused a worldwide census to be taken by the emperor...  Read More

To understand Joseph’s perspective of the Christmas narrative, we need to understand the customs surrounding betrothals/marriages of the time. In biblical times, people were married in their early you...  Read More

Gabriel shows up a third time in the Christmas narrative, this time to reassure Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, that she was not unfaithful to him but was carrying the Son of God. It was the first of two ti...  Read More

ADVENT DAY 5Imagine the delight and joy in the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth! Not only would they become parents after decades of despair and disbelief, but they would parent the last of the Old Te...  Read More

ADVENT DAY FOURThe Old Testament ends with this verse from the book of Malachi:See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts ...  Read More

ADVENT DAY 3The first time we hear about an angel called Gabriel is in the book of Daniel, an angel sent by God in answer to Daniel’s prayer that was delayed for three weeks due to fighting with the d...  Read More

ADVENT DAY 2As we celebrate this season looking through the eyes of all the characters of Christmas, there is none so unlikely to be at the center of this divine story as Mary. As a young, poor woman ...  Read More