This Sunday’s readings: Luke 2:8-14

Reflections

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945, Pastor-Theologian

Happy are those whose self-centered lives have been crushed and reshaped by the Master’s hand to be full of mercy.
~ John Hagee, 1940- , Pastor

I want God, not my idea of God. I want my neighbor, not my idea of my neighbor. I want my spouse, not my idea of my spouse. I want my self, not my idea of my self.
~ C.S. Lewis, Author/Professor

If we live in a denial of the realities of our need and we persist in this, we run the risk of existing in this forever. We will move towards something that’s like an asylum. Those in hell are diminished by the fact that they have denied the reality of themselves and the grace of God as well.
~ Dr. Jerry Root, Professor Emeritus, Wheaton College

If the only thing human beings needed were a little external tweaking of their life circumstances, then the coming of Jesus to earth wouldn’t make any sense. But if the greatest danger to all of us lives inside us and not outside us, then the radical intervention of the incarnation of Jesus is our only hope.
~Paul Tripp, author and speaker