Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas, and ends on December 25th. The word “advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or “arrival.”  Advent is a season when Christians look ahead to the celebration of our Lord’s birth on Christmas. We also anticipate the second coming or “advent” of Christ. And finally, we… Read More

Anything built with human hands can fall to ruins. The Eaton and Palisades fires drove this lesson home to us in 2025. But for millennia, our scriptures have proclaimed this bitter truth as well. The books of Second Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah all recount the time in 587/586 BCE that Babylon besieged Judah’s capital… Read More

During my family’s recent residency at Monte Vista Grove, I would often walk our dog Fitz to nearby Eaton Blanche Park. Located on Del Mar Boulevard near El Nido Avenue, the park hosts a basketball court, shaded concrete tables, two playgrounds, public restrooms, and a large grass lawn. I would visit that park frequently when… Read More

Soon after the Eaton fire, Jill and I visited the ruins of our former neighborhood.  Jill directed my eye to one prominent object still standing upright amid all the destruction.  It was a sculpture by our neighbor, the artist Christopher “Kit” Davis.  Every house surrounding it had been reduced to ash.  How striking it was… Read More

According to the latest numbers from LA County, the combined Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures. One of them was a Tudor-style house at the end of Norwic Place in Altadena. Since 2011, Jill, Lucy, and I had called that house our home. On January 8th, 2025, it burned to the ground.… Read More

At the age of 35, Kate Bowler was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  The doctors told her that she likely had only two years left to live.  It was 2015, and Bowler was working at the time as a professor of Christianity at Duke University.  She had a husband and baby son.  And she… Read More

A small group of us performed an a cappella song at Knox back in 2008. The chorus began with the words, “I’m working on a building.”  And the song ended with this line: “It’s a Holy Ghost building for my Lord, for my Lord.”  Over the years of ministry that have followed – all sixteen… Read More

Now that Covid restrictions have eased, there are so many ways to connect with people.  You can go to a sporting event and cheer on the local team.  You can play a sport yourself – like doubles pickle-ball at Farnsworth Park.  Alumni gatherings may beckon, as may events put on by your children’s school.   You… Read More

The brick in front of me was 4,475 years old.  Jill, Lucy, and I were at the Louvre Museum in Paris this past May.  And before heading to see Leanardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, I went to check out an exhibit on ancient Mesopotamian artifacts.  On a placard next to the glass case was a… Read More