Commitment isn't easy. But if we commit ourselves to Christ, He can do miraculous things, and He blesses the world through the committed.

Even Jesus had a holy discontent for the showy and fake religiosity of the leaders in the Jewish community. Being spiritual but not religious isn't a rejection of Christ, it's a faithful dissatisfaction with fake Christian leadership.

The celebration of Christmas is about a reminder that the world today does not need a new savior. We have a Savior, and he doesn't live in a gold-adorned high-rise.

Jesus is God’s material gift to humanity even still today. What if we used this giving model for our giving to others at Christmas?

If we cannot identify ourselves as wilderness people, we will have a hard time understanding the context of Advent. The advent of Christ is to bring good news to the poor, release captives from slavery to sin and death. If we can't claim our own wilderness, perhaps we should align ourselves with those in the wilderness.

In this season of Advent, we may want to question if we have put too much attention toward the temporary and seasonal gifts, bows, trees, parties, and lights. But perhaps getting rid of them is not the most faithful way.

Saying the Jesus Prayer is not about your personal relationship with Christ. It's about your becoming part of the Body of Christ.

This well known parable offers more than we might first realize. Take a fresh read, and see how the master-slave relationship demands us to "Let it Go!"

In a week where hope seemed hard to find, and the prophet bemoans the worship of God's people, it is God's "but" that indicates the promise of God's justice.

Beloved, we are children of God. Let us claim the identity we have been given, and faithfully commit to follow in the footsteps of the saints who have shown us the way to live as God's beloved.