Who is God, and what is he like? How should we look for his image in children and young adults? What does that mean for our parenting, our teaching, and our interactions with kids in our neighborhoods and congregations, whether those kids are well known to us or unfamiliar faces?
That seems to me to be just the right response to the gospel. The Bible is replete with announcements that should stop us dead in our tracks with amazement.
Although Arrival is another multi-million dollar spectacle aimed at mass audiences worldwide, it tries to infuse its first-contact scenario with cognitive and mystical problems that challenge moviegoers who might want only to be entertained. Those problems rest, unavoidably, on theological and philosophical assumptions about human life itself.
When thinking about Advent and this season of waiting, I often ponder on what it was like in the Old Testament: to know the promises of God, and yet to be in a time of intense waiting.
No matter what is going on in your story at the moment…no matter the pain, the sorrow, and the hurt, there is always something to be grateful for.
As we begin the season of Advent, consider that we are waiting not just for the Christ child, but also for his sacrifice as symbolized by the water of baptism.
