One way to prepare appropriately for the coming of Christ in this Advent Season is to move away from all the glamour and glitz and into a deeper commitment to the Christ Child. To rededicate your life to His will and way. After all, that is what this Holy Season is all about.

Santa looks up and says to himself, "It used to be a lot easier to know if they've been bad or good."

Jesus' timeless "Parable of the Last Judgment" provides Santa with an easy answer to his problem. The parable is Jesus' once-and-for-all, definitive, foolproof way of knowing "if they've been bad or good."

So there are a few scriptures that lead us to our life of gratitude. And where is the God of THANKSGIVING?  We know that God dwells in two places:  in heaven, and in a humble grateful heart!

"I give my tithe to my church because I know that it will be used wisely to help my loving community of faith and that knowledge enriches my life. I’ve discovered how important it is to be with joyful and faithful people and to be of service to them as much as possible.”

Let’s never forget the sacrifice of all veterans and their families and most especially those who gave their last full measure of devotion.

Here is our Supreme Allied Commander in World War II with thoughts as June 6th, 1944, known as D-day arrived:

He had such trust in God. He had sunk Himself so deep into the being of God for that period of refreshment that He was sleeping right through the storm. You can look at this painting and say to yourself, “WOW I wish that I could sleep like that, I've really got to learn that from Him: to have complete trust in God."

By historical consensus, October 31, 1517, is the day Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in the German town now known as Lutherstadt-Wittenberg. The sound of his hammer would soon be heard throughout Germany and the rest of the world. 

I tried to share with him that Christianity is not nor ever will be “all about him” but instead Christianity is all about JESUS!  Now of course centering on Jesus does bring many spiritual blessings but that is not the reason for finding faith in Christ or believing in the Jesus of the New Testament.

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I have come to uphold those laws," Jesus said. But then He added, "There's more to My ministry than that. I have come to fulfill the Law. I have come to enrich your understanding of the basis of the Law. I have come to demonstrate for you the spirit that underlies the Law.

In the Book of James he states: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”(James 1:22) It's one thing to dream about being good, and quite another to do good."

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The world can be a frightening place. There is so much corruption and crime displayed on our TV screens at home and around the world. Think of what would happen if everyone who called themselves Christians set out to change it all!

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A funny thing happened several years ago in New York City: five new pizza parlors with five different owners opened in the same block. It soon became apparent that there wasn't nearly enough business on the block

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Each year on the anniversary of 9/11, the families of victims gather for a ceremony on the 9/11 Memorial Plaza to read aloud the names of the 2,983 men, women, and children killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks

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With the arrival of “Labor Day”, it seems that employment and unemployment are often topics of conversation and interest.  I would like to think of a celebration we might refer to as “Calling Day” or “Vocation Day.” Vocation is simply the Latin word for To Call in a spiritual sense.

For me evangelism is telling a story, “My Story,” of where I have found bread that for me is the bread of life. And that story is simply planting a seed, which with care and nurture God, the Holy Spirit will use to produce fruit. But for that to happen the seed must be planted.

If we believe, we must act. Belief is the starting point, the place where the race of new life begins and the starting gun has fired.  Hear its sharp sound, run the course and He will run beside you - but you must run. Be doers of the WORD not hearers only!

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Fake News is a term that we all have seen thrown around. It is used for news with clear facts to support the news story and for news stories that are made up of fabrication and deception.  This idea of “alternative facts” seems to be a fevered pitch since the war in Ukraine. 

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Ambrose of Milan became the Bishop of Milan more by the desire of the general church members that by any Papal decree. He was popular as a scholar and mediator in the church. So, let me begin with the words of Saint Ambrose.

Each year on the anniversary of 9/11, the families of victims gather for a ceremony on the 9/11 Memorial Plaza to read aloud the names of the 2,983 men, women, and children killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks

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One day a man was driving down a country road when he noticed a chicken running ahead of him. He glanced at his speedometer and couldn't believe his eyes: he was topping 50 miles-per-hour , and the chicken was outrunning the car!

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Do you remember how Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd?” Can you recall that Jesus claimed, "The sheep that belong to Me listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me." (John 10:27) Sheep must follow because they hear and trust the shepherd’s familiar voice.

Remember the story of Jesus, hungry and looking for some fruit to eat on a
nearby fig tree? Unfortunately, it was not the right season for the tree to produce fruit ready to eat. Jesus cursed the fig tree and with that curse, it died.

We live in an age of divisiveness. People have become tribal; banding together by ethnic, religious, orientation, cultural and heritage. It also seems that being suspicious of others is commonplace and being hostile toward any supposed
threat is normalized.

Keeping up church attendance in the summer has often been a real challenge over the years but it is especially true since Covid-19. The pandemic started a new level of reasoning that made not going to church more.

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One day many of us wake up and realize that we have become our parents. A  recent commercial on the television is about a man trying to coach younger men  and women how not to be like their parents!

With the beginning of June, we head into the summer doldrums with its “dog days.” There is an old phrase as ancient as Egyptian Pharaohs and Greek mythical stargazers called “Dog Days”.

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Yesterday was Trinity Sunday. How do we understand the mystery called the Trinity? The idea is expressed in the Apostles’ Creed: From “I believe in God the Father” “and in Jesus Christ His only Son” and “I believe in the Holy Ghost”.

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In my younger days in the church, we would sing a song with lyrics that went: “Love, love, love the Gospel in a word is Love.” How true! I love that expression
that states: 

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In one of his novels, E.M. Forster gives us an emotional interpretation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He describes, in rather frightening terms, how the music gives one the eerie feeling that there are shadowy

A national magazine ran a story that began with a picture of a man lying prostrate on subway stairs. This was followed by a series of images taken for thirty minutes.

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Motherhood is the greatest “Hood” which one can inhabit. To one mother who prayed for Jesus to bring healing to her child, Jesus said clearly, "Woman, you have great faith! Let your wish be granted" (Matthew 15:28). 

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