Nestled into the hills of Lower Galilee, the historic city of Nazareth today is the largest Arab city in Israel. Though not mentioned in the Old Testament, New Testament Nazareth is connected with the boyhood home of Jesus. Nazareth (Arabic an-Nasira, Hebrew Nazerat) draws tourists from the Christian faith wanting to connect with the heritage…
Real Good News: A Baby
Here is the good news of the birth of baby Jesus from Luke’s gospel. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to…
Christmas This Year | 02 | Christmas Courage
The two words don’t seem to belong together, do they? Oh I suppose there were years when it took courage to get up at 3:30am on Black Friday to shop at Walmart, but some would say that is more craziness than courage. Surely it doesn’t take courage to get through Christmas. Let’s continue our thoughts…
Christmas This Year | 01 | Pandemic Peace
My youngest daughter Rachel was a part of the worship service at Eastside Christian Church last weekend. The role of participating in worship services is not foreign to Rachel. On many occasions, she has played a piano keyboard, an electric or an acoustic guitar, and a violin to help provide instrumental music in our praise…
Gifts of the Magi
This week as we are counting down the days until Christmas, let’s look at two verses from the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus to center some thoughts. The verses focus on a group of political and religious leaders who followed a star to meet the newly born child in Bethlehem. Many trace the…
Christ of Our Christmas | 01 | The Christ of Advent
Advent is the season of the liturgical year that focuses on the celebration of the coming of Christ at Christmas and looks forward to His return at the Second Coming. The word “advent” comes from a Latin word for “coming.” Typically, the Advent season either begins four Sundays before Christmas or on the first of…