Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But...
Story Secrets
posted by DJL
If there’s a theme to this week’s posts, it’s probably that stories matter. The stories we care about we tell and retell, not always the same way but allowing the dominant media of our culture to help us tell them again and anew. Similarly, the truly great stories aren’t just continued...
Luke 1:46-56
posted by DJL
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His...
James Bond and the Gospels
posted by DJL
I should probably admit up front that I’ve been a huge James Bond fan ever since my older brother took me to see Live and Let Die at the age of nine. (I’m still not sure if my parents ever knew that.) So over Thanksgiving weekend, my wife and I planned an evening out and caught supper and the latest Bond flick, Skyfall. I should probably also admit that I think Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery created the character 50 years ago. Along with most critics, I thought Skyfall was terrific, one of the better films in the franchise. No small part of that was the evolution of Bond. As in Casino Royale (Quantum of Solace,...
Luke 1:39-45
posted by DJL
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry,...
Retelling the Christmas Story
posted by DJL
I don’t know about you, but when I think of the Christmas story, I think of, well, the Christmas story. There’s a kind of seamless whole that I have in my head made up of angels and shepherds and Mary and Joseph and the baby in the manger and the stable animals and the star and magi and all the rest. What I don’t think about is how I learned this story; how, that is, it was told to me. Certainly I learned a lot of it from the Bible, hearing the various – and distinct – portions of the story read from Matthew and Luke. But I also learned it from the Christmas carols. And from the manifold crèches in all shapes and sizes that I’ve...
Luke 1:38
posted by DJL
Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. “Here am I.” There is an openness in those three simple words, a complete availability, that is simply breathtaking. The rest of this Mary’s famous...
The Annunciation
posted by DJL
We are not yet at the point of Advent where we hear the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary. But, to be honest, I think we save that reading too late in the season to give it due attention. Perhaps it’s because, as Denise Levertov notices in her poem “The Annunciation,” we...
Luke 1:34-37
posted by DJL
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also...
Bible Story Jam
posted by DJL
We’ve grown pretty accustomed in the church to having someone – usually a pastor – teach us what the Bible means. Maybe that’s during the sermon or, if we’re adventurous or have extra time on our hands, during the an adult education class. But what would happen if we...
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