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Psalm 148 Read this psalm aloud and hear your voice grow louder as you do. Read this psalm aloud and notice your vision grow; notice how the psalmist leaves no one out and invites every being, every realm of creation, to praise. Feel the joy in this poetry. Remember again how good it feels to […]

Isaiah 9:2-7 One of the most telling scenes in The Muppet Christmas Carol happens after Scrooge, played by Michael Caine, is visited by the first of three different spirits of Christmas. The spirit of Christmas Past resembles a child, filled with a bright light and flying around the bedroom. “What business has brought you here?” […]

John 1:1-4 With everything that fills this Christmas season, John keeps our focus on the gift that matters most. The Word that is born to us this day. The Word that becomes flesh and lives among us. The Word in whom life comes into being and becomes the light of all people. This Word whose […]

Luke 2:8-20 Connor was born nearly a month early. My husband and I had just visited the weekend before to help my brother and sister-in-law assemble the crib, wash onesies, and set up the changing station. About 36 hours after we left, Connor entered the world in wrinkly, red-faced glory. We let his ecstatic grandparents […]

Luke 2:1-7 My great-aunt Helen and I bonded over crocheting. She favored intricate lace cloths for tables that seat twelve. I preferred to make chunky hats and scarves. After Aunt Helen died, her children gave me her crocheting supplies—patterns, yarn, hooks, and several partial projects, including a pale blue baby blanket. I decided to save […]

Isaiah 52:7-10 Last year I stood in line at the Post Office, eleven people in front of me and several more behind. My bundle of tiny hats, mittens, and blankets was bound for a small charity in Texas that was assembling care packages of warm, handmade items for homeless newborns. I’d learned about their effort […]

Luke 1:46-55 Musical theater has a rule about when to include songs in the plot. When a situation becomes too emotional for characters to simply talk about, they sing. When their emotions become too intense to just sing about, they dance. “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast is my favorite example of this. […]

Luke 1:39-45 As my friends and I followed the salesman down the hallway to see where the rugs were being made, I realized this was the first time I’d see a group of Moroccan women since arriving in the country two days before. A woman had decorated my arm with henna at a family-run apothecary […]

Psalm 80 I didn’t have the money or space to buy any of the handmade rugs being offered in this showroom in Fez, Morocco. Coming to the corner where I sat with a few friends, a salesman asked, “You don’t intend to buy anything?” I confirmed this as politely as I could. “Would you like […]

Isaiah 7:10-16 My nephew Connor is the first grandchild on both sides of his family. We’ve all delighted in doting on him, sending cute onesies for each holiday, handmade hats for the winter, and enough bath toys to sink a ship. He’s a pandemic baby, born in hard and frightening times. His parents’ decisions about […]