As we hear the Christmas story over and over and over again, we sometimes become numb to what it really says. Why? Because we’ve heard it all before… But, have we? When many of us think of the town of Nazareth, that we talked about extensively last week, we tend to think that Nazareth is the town where Joseph & Mary are from—where Jesus was raised from his youth into adulthood. But, is that right? Last week, we listened to the start of the Christmas story from the Gospel of...
So, what’s the big deal about Advent? Two words: Black Friday (and some of you thought I was going to say, ‘Pepper Spray’)! Today, folks, it seems that Halloween is now the new unofficial beginning of the Christmas season! Yet somehow, even though we’ve extended the season of Christmas, we’ve also moved further away from the real meaning of Christmas… Christmas, all too often today, seems like an orgy of overindulgence. Many families go into debt to make sure their children have “enough” under the tree at Christmas … and...
