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On January 28, 2019 By In Theology, Worship

Epiphany as the paradigm for discipleship

Epiphany is a season of growth represented by the color green which is a fitting way to train the Christian to see this season as a paradigm for discipleship. There is—I believe—a case to be made that different phases of Church life offer us different ways of growing in the faith. But Epiphany clearly establishes a pattern for discipleship. When we consider the gifts of the magi in light of the overwhelming biblical data, we can develop a model of discipleship that is both biblical and practical.

Training our Bodies

Our evangelical churches stress the importance of discipleship. It is good and necessary. But discipleship in broader evangelicalism is often discussed in the context of intellectual learning; a fact-finding mission. I propose there is more to discipleship than facts. Discipleship in the Bible is also the cultivation of bodily postures and biblical manners. The Bible trains us to move and live and to have our being in God. Any model of discipleship that does not include learning to kneel, raise hands, eat, sing, bless, receive, give, sit, stand is dishonoring biblical discipleship. When we formulate discipleship curriculum without incorporating common biblical rituals, we are secularizing biblical formation and turning it into an encyclopedic course fit for the Bible trivia team.

But discipleship is for the little babies and every person whom Jesus claims as his own. If we see discipleship as training in worship, then bodily actions make sense. This is the common thread of the Psalter and other prophetic writings.

Epiphany is training in bodily postures because worship demands our bodies as well as our souls. We have too often looked at worship as only an exercise in listening and gathering data. We want to listen; we want our children to listen and to learn facts about God, but more than that our goal in discipling our children and one another is to worship through bodily habits that form them into God-honoring saints.

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On January 20, 2019 By In Theology

The Circumcision of Christ

Luke dedicates one sentence to the circumcision of Christ Jesus. “And when eight days were fulfilled, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Lk 2.21). Why would Theophilus need to know this? Maybe he doesn’t know that male Jewish children were circumcised. Luke may just want to throw in the information for him. I doubt it. Though not given much shrift, the circumcision of Jesus is integral to the story of the gospel and Theolphilus’s catechetical instruction.

The story of circumcision begins where all human stories begin: in the Garden. No, circumcision wasn’t present in the Garden in the way that God prescribes it in Genesis 17 with Abraham, but its necessity and anticipation were there. When Adam and Eve sinned, their flesh was corrupted. This corrupted flesh was a source of shame before one another and before God. They sought to cover the shame by adding a new layer of “skin,” fig leaves. They knew that they needed new flesh.

The covering they provided for themselves wasn’t adequate. Ultimately, they need new flesh. The only way to create this new flesh is through the ripping apart of the old flesh. Death must take place. God demonstrated this by ripping the flesh of an animal and giving Adam and Eve new skin. This provision was effective for the time, but it only anticipated what needed to be done by the promised seed of the woman (Gen 3.15). Somehow, through this seed, the old Adamic flesh would be ripped apart and a new skin, a new body would be given.

History moves on. God unfolds his plan for the seed through the years and a certain family that draws down to a man named Abram. Abram, “exalted father,” is childless and married to a barren woman, Sarai. God promises them a child early on but waits until both of their bodies are completely dead in terms of procreation (see Rom 4.13ff.). It is at this time that God commands the tearing of the flesh of Abram, now Abraham. Once Abraham’s flesh is torn, then, and only then, can new life be produced. Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies are resurrected and are able to produce the seed, Isaac.

Like the skins in the Garden, circumcision was effective for the time, but it couldn’t bring about God’s full intention: a new body. In fact, circumcision further clarified the mission of death for the seed of the woman. That is, in order for new life to come, in order for corrupted flesh to be cleansed, the seed’s flesh needs to be torn. Only after this will resurrection occur and the needed new body be given.

For about two thousand years the children of Abraham through Isaac circumcised their male children, anticipating the time when the seed of Abraham would fulfill the mission of Israel, be ripped in half in death, and be resurrected with a new, uncorrupted flesh. Luke tells Theophilus that this time has come in the Person of Jesus.

Jesus takes up the mission of the seed of Abraham, embodying the story, promises, and purpose of Israel. What has been foreshadowed in the circumcision of every male in Israel will reach its fulfillment in Jesus’ death and consequent resurrection. Jesus’ old creation flesh is ripped at the cross so that uncorrupted flesh would be resurrected.

For any of us to be rid of our corrupted flesh received from Adam, our flesh too must be torn. We all need circumcision. Those of us united to Christ in his death and resurrection through baptism have been circumcised. Paul tells us in Colossians 2.11-12 that, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Through our union with Jesus’ circumcision­—his death—our corrupted flesh has been torn and we receive a new body in Christ, a truth that will be fully realized in our bodily resurrection from the dead.

We look forward to that bodily resurrection, but we have new flesh even now. Our sins are forgiven. We are resurrected. Sin does not have dominion over us (see Romans 6). Therefore, do not allow sin to have dominion over you.  

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On January 16, 2019 By In Culture, Theology, Wisdom

Against Community

These days, everyone is talking about the importance of community, authentic relationships, and being part of a group. This is true whether you are a Christian or a neo-pagan. All sorts of groups are trying to build community: neo-monasticism, new urbanism, political parties, homosexuals, foodies, and socialists.

This desire to build and be part of a community is inherent in what it means to be human. From the beginning, people were designed to be part of something larger than themselves. We are made to be with other people. This reality is inescapable.  

Even though the desire for community is natural to humanity, this does not mean we are doing it correctly. In fact, our society mostly has it backwards and upside-down.  

Post-Modern Communities

The errors we find in today’s community projects stem from the Post-Modern ideology rampant in our society. When Modernism failed to build universal truth on human reason, Post-Modernism came in and began to question all universal narratives. This skepticism of universal claims, often fueled by the desire to be free from all authorities, encourages people to “find their own truth” and to live by that.

But once the Post-Modern project has demolished universal truth (or at least tried to), it leaves people with lots of unique, individual experiences and there is no way to connect them all. Francis Schaeffer says it this way,

“…if he is going to be really rationally and intellectually consistent he can only dwell in a silent cocoon; he may know he is there but he cannot make the first move out of it.”[1]

The Post-Modern project has left people in a lonely and desolate place but people are not made for that kind of desolation so they rush to build communities to push back against the darkness. And the Post-Modern myth urges people to build communities because groups offer the individual a chance to be part of something larger than himself. If universal truth is too hard for any one person to find and know, then that person must settle for what he can find: a group of other people who think and act like himself. In this way, people think they can find some meaning by being part of a community.  

The LGBT community is particularly strong in this kind of community work. Rosaria Butterfield testifies to this work in her book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. In some ways, the LGBT community builds community better than many Christian churches. But even these kinds of communities do not really last.

These communities do not endure because they are trying to build community on shared experiences and interests. Can there be something like “shared experiences” in a Post-Modern cosmos? Not really. The Intersectional Movement is reinforcing the loneliness: I have such unique experiences that no other human can know and understand what I have been through. When community is merely based on experiences and desires, then these communities crumble when these things change. If I no longer care for the current food trend, then I am no longer part of the foodie community. The common desire and experience that brought us together is no longer there.

In this way, we can see that the Post-Modern project of community building will fail. There is no way to maintain a vibrant community when there is no universal standard that both individuals and groups can appeal to. Inevitably, the individual’s freedom and desires will be swallowed up by the desires of the larger community. Without a universal standard, the community will either bully the individual into submission or kick him out of the community. In this way, the desire for community eats itself and the individual is consumed by the Post-Modern community.

Real Community

The only place real community can be found is in Jesus and in His Church. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, the Church is a real community because it is the work of the Spirit not the work of man. The Church did not come into existence because twelve guys back in Palestine decided they wanted to form an “authentic community”. The second point is related to this: the Church is not built around shared common interests or experiences like a club or interest group.

The Church, from beginning to end, exists because it is a work of the Spirit. In fact, the Church is the opposite of an interest group. If the people in the Church had it their way, they would probably pick a lot of other people to hang out with. But because it is the work of the Spirit, these people are brought together into the same community. In this way, the Church is the only place true and genuine diversity and harmony can be found. There is no other reason all these weirdos could be gathered together into one community. This kind of community just isn’t humanly possible.

How Christians Mess Up Community

Christians are tempted to mess up Christian community in two ways. One is for us to think like the Post-Moderns and claim that Christians are the ones who build authentic community. The church is made up of Christians so it can look like it is made by Christians. The second error, which comes from the Post-Moderns also, is to think that Christians find their true purpose in community. We think, if only I can be with these people, or if I can worship with those people over there then I will be part of a real community and I will have a purpose. Both of these errors make an idol of community and these desires will destroy true community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it well, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter.”[2]

True Christian community can only be found when one is seeking the creator of the community: Jesus. Bonhoeffer writes, “Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim.”[3] The first place we must look for true community is the fellowship of Jesus. Only in Jesus can real Christian community be found. The only way to hold on to community is to look away from community and toward Jesus. In this way, Christian community is not like Post-Modern community at all because as Bonhoeffer says, “We are bound together by faith, not by experience.”[4] Jesus is the head of His Church and He is the one building the community with His Spirit. All other communities are shams and fakes. The key then is to look to Jesus first and then true Christian community will flow from that.

[1] Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, p. 124.

[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 27.

[3] Bohoeffer, Life Together, p. 30.

[4] Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 39.

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On January 15, 2019 By In Theology

John Owen on the Trinity

John Frame famously observed that “Theology is the application of Scripture.” Yet, theological discourse is often seen as the profession of the elite; an abstract conversation left to the academicians of Christian history. And even more so when we are speaking about the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity makes its appearance in those rare encounters with cultists, but it largely remains hidden from public eyes. We can speak of God generally, and we can even elaborate on the work of Christ or the Spirit as comforter, but to speak of the inner workings of the Godhead or the harmonious nature in which the Three Persons bring the world into existence, is another thing altogether. “Not practical.” “Too theological.” This lack of interest reaches its climax when discussing our union with God himself, Father, Son and Spirit.

Last year, I had the opportunity to teach a seminary class in Brazil on the Gospels. When we centered on our Lord Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17, we began to talk about the inner relationships of the blessed Trinity. I observed that understanding the Trinity is to understand the true God. One of my students replied, “Pastor, my people think studying the Trinity is irrelevant for his Christian walk.” My response was, “It is the only relevant issue in his Christian walk.”

In John Owen’s masterful Communion with God he notes:

“Our communion . . . with God consisteth in his communication of himself unto us, with our return unto him of that which he requireth and accepteth, flowing from that union which in Jesus Christ we have with him.”

For Owen, the relationship we have with God is not merely our attachment to one person of the Godhead, but with the Triune God through Jesus Christ. Owen later notes that this union also flows by the abiding power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Puritan Owen so marveled in our communion with God and God with us that he saw that motif everywhere. In fact, he was driven in his exegesis to use the Songs of Solomon as a template to explain our relationship. Our relationship with the Tri-unity is so personal and intimate that Owen lands on the exquisite Solomonic songs:

What shall I say? there is no end of his excellencies and desirableness;—”He is altogether lovely. This is our beloved, and this is our friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” (Works, 2:77–78 )

Owen saw the mystical union between Christ and the Church, the conjugal love of Solomon’s songs, as expressions of our deep union with God himself. At some level, as Owen so eloquently expounds, we must grasp that conversations about the Trinity were never meant to be left in abstract theological volumes, but to reach the pew. To speak of God is to speak of the Trinity. Therefore, God’s people need to see the Trinity not just on Trinity Sunday in the Church Calendar, but in all dimensions of life. It is the only relevant issue in our Christian walk. Indeed in the Trinity, we move and live and have our being.

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On January 13, 2019 By In Culture, Theology

The Gospel of Great Joy

Everybody is angry. When you read or hear the headlines or scroll through social media, the grievance machine is churning up anger at a head-spinning rate. Social justice warriors find racism, sexism, and every other kind of offensive -ism behind every comment. The #metoo movement (though seemingly losing some steam now) stands ready to interpret every male gesture as some form of rape. The Democrats are angry with the Republicans. The Republicans are angry with the Democrats. The Libertarians are angry with everybody. News talk shows feed and feed off of this anger for ratings.

Not all of the anger is illegitimate. There are serious moral injustices in our society. There are reasons to be angry with the murder of the unborn, the violence that fills certain segments of our society, the continual and doubling down on sinful stupidity in the governance of our country, unjust wars, and oppressive tax laws. The world is, in many ways, upside down and inside out. Not to be angry at immorality is, itself, immoral.

Our anger is, at times, rooted in fear. Fear is what overwhelms us when we sense that we have lost control, when we come into the presence of something that overwhelms us. It is the hurricane that threatens our family, the unknown intruder that invades our home, or the earthquake from which we cannot escape. We feel a sense of powerlessness, that the world is coming apart, and nothing on the immediate horizon says that we can change our future.

In the face of all of the worlds perceived and real injustices, we fear, and that fear begins to lash out trying to regain some control over the situation so that we can feel at peace. We only want things to be right, and they aren’t right.

But in the midst of this world where we can be caught up in this tidal wave of anger, fear, and despair, we hear the angel’s word to the shepherds in Luke 2.10 that, in the midst of a world that is racked with sin and its effects, they bring the good news, the gospel, of great joy. When they bring this word Herod, the Edomite, sits as king of the Jews. The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests as a whole are leading God’s people astray. Caesar Augustus has brought “peace” through bloody subjugation and maintains it through fear. What is there to be joyful about?

The gospel is the gospel of great joy, not because everything is immediately made alright, but because it will be. Joy is not a superficial happiness that denies the harsh realities of life so that I can keep a smile on my face. Joy is rooted in faith and is that deep sense of satisfaction and contentment … even happiness … that is nurtured by the hope that we have that God is and will make all things right. This means that I don’t have to be angry all the time. I don’t have to live in fear of losing control because I and all that I am and have are in the hands of the one who is complete control and is for me. He has declared unequivocally in Christ that he loves me and, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with me. He is making all things right.

We Christians, we gospel of great joy people, should be the most joyful people on earth. Even while the world all around us seems out of control, upside down, and inside out. The good news of God’s promises in Christ are the source of our joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

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On December 29, 2018 By In Culture, Family and Children, Men, Politics, Theology, Worship

Extending the Christmas Season

Guest post by Steve Wilkins written on  December 23, 2016 & published by permission

Stretching Christmas
For many people Christmas comes on December 25 and is over December 26. The tree is taken down along with the lights and the other decorations, and everyone begins setting the house in order for the new year. No more Christmas hymns. No more celebrations (well, until New Year’s Eve). Christmas comes but once a year – and thanks be to God, because we’re exhausted!

So, if I were to ask, “How’s your Christmas going?” most people would give me the blank stare. But according to our calendar (and I mean the Church calendar), Christmas is just getting started on December 25. Christmas day is just the beginning of a “season” numbering twelve days (the “twelve days of Christmas”).

During this season of celebration we remember not only our Savior’s birth (the feast of the Nativity on December 25) but our first martyrs (St. Stephen, December 26), St. John the evangelist, and the murder of the boy babies in Bethlehem by Herod (“The Feast of Holy Innocents”). Then on January 1, we commemorate the circumcision of Jesus (circumcised on the 8th day). All that before closing out our celebration of Christmas with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6!

Christmas is intended to be a “season,” not just a day.

You say, “But who can stand this? By Christmas day I’m already worn down to my last frazzle!”

Well, granted, given the way things are presently, changing our practice and getting into the new rhythm of the Church calendar is going to take some time — and realistically, it may now be impossible to turn the culture away from the present “tradition.” I’m not quite sure how to go about it or what it would look like. But somehow, I think it would be good to try to get back to the old rhythm of the Christmas season.

The fact that we have lost the rhythm of the various “seasons” has contributed, at least in part, to the fleeting joy (and often extended depression and disappointment) we have during these times — and here, I’m speaking especially about Christmas — the celebration is simply too brief to be appreciated fully. The traditional Christian calendar gives us a different rhythm for life and time — especially Christmas time.

And following the Christian calendar is not just another way to thumb our noses at secular ideas of the “Christmas season.” The twelve days are important because they give us time to reflect on what the incarnation and birth of Jesus means. We need the twelve days to celebrate the wonder of God becoming man and all that was accomplished by our Savior.

Why twelve days? No one knows for sure. Perhaps this was to be an analogy to the twelve tribes of the old Israel that have now been transformed into the new Israel. Or maybe the 12 days signify the twelve months of the year pointing to the fact that Christ is with us not just one day but year-round.

Whatever the intention, the twelve days give us an opportunity truly to rejoice and reflect on the great mercy and grace of God in giving us His Son.

We have been baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection and have now entered the “new heavens and new earth” (though not yet perfected). Whether we are called to martyrdom, or to prophetic witness, or simply to faithful living in the joys and sorrows of our daily lives, we must live all of our days in the knowledge of our blessedness: redeemed by Jesus and in Him made acceptable and beloved in God’s sight. We are part of the society of people whose world has been turned upside down, and we are to live out this truth that overturned the old world and made all things new.

Observing Christmas as a season helps us to move beyond the sentimentalism that has become so much a part of “Christmas” and commemorate the true significance of Jesus’ birth. It enables us to see that Jesus’ coming truly transforms all things. It marked the end of the old world (under the dominion of sin and death) and the beginning of the new. And it reminds us of our new identity and purpose. We are now children of the King and are called to rejoice and give thanks and show the world the new destiny that now has come in Him. To celebrate for twelve days (as opposed to one) enables us to realize afresh the significance of what happened in Bethlehem and it declares to the world the remarkable reality that Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil and established a kingdom that shall have no end.

So, I don’t know exactly how to begin to do this, but it sure seems like a good idea to me. Stretching Christmas out over a number of days — making it a more full (and perhaps a more relaxing and refreshing) celebration — might bring far more benefits than frustrations; it just might bring us more joy than worry; more peace and less hustle and fuss. Whaddaya say? I think we should give it a shot.

Steve Wilkins is Pastor of Church of the Redeemer in West Monroe, Louisiana.

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On December 16, 2018 By In Theology, Worship

Singing In The New Creation

In the beginning there was God and nothing else. Then Word carried by Spirit begins to pulse in harmonious tones into the nothingness. A world outside of God himself begins to appear. The song sung by the Triune God creates and begins to shape the world. As each element in the cosmos comes into being through this song, the song continues to reverberate in each created thing’s existence. The morning stars created by the song echo back and enhance the song as they become millions of voices (cf. Job 38.7). Mountains and hills, raised from their watery darkness, break forth into singing as they emerge. The trees that spring from the earth clap their hands (cf. Isa 55.12). Sea creatures, birds, and land animals all take up the song and sing the song of their Creator. Then the song shapes the dust of the earth into the form of a man and breathes the song into him. And when the woman is created from the man, the song is then sung in praise to God for the woman.

God is musical. God is a singer. His speech is glorified, and his glory cloud is made up of angelic hosts who surround him with music. The prophet Zephaniah says that he exults over us with loud singing (Zeph 3.17). Is it any wonder why, then, from the beginning of our existence, music and singing have been so prevalent? We are images of the Great Musician. His song, his image, vibrates through every fiber of our being. We are intended to continue this song, continuing to shape and create the world in harmony with God. (more…)

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On December 10, 2018 By In Theology

Are Christmas Trees Pagan?

Guest Post by Gary Demar

Every Christmas there is the inevitable talk about a “war on Christmas.” Not all opposition comes from secularists, atheists, and Muslims. Some Christians believe the Bible does not set aside the birth of Jesus as a special calendar day to honor His birth. Such a celebration violates the “regulative principle of worship.” Others believe Christmas has a pagan origin and that the Roman Catholic Church turned a pagan celebration into a Christian holy day (holiday). Because of this religious metamorphosis, Christians should not celebrate Christmas. A subset of this opposition is the Christmas tree. It, too, is said to be of pagan origin, thus, Christians should not bring them into their homes.

Should we stop using wood because some people seek out for themselves “a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter” (Isa. 40:20)? Are all trees pagan because pagans have used trees to create idols? Of course not. The Bible tells us, even in a post-fall world, that “everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4-5; cf. Gen 1:31). For millennia idol worshippers have bowed down before heavenly bodies — sun, moon, and stars — calling them their gods. There were people in Isaiah’s day who looked to “astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons” seeking guidance (Isa. 47:13).

The people of Israel were warned by God not to lift their “eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19). God created the heavenly bodies to “be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years,” and to “be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth” (Gen. 1:14).

These heavenly bodies were not to be worshipped or given divine status. They are created things that point back to God as their Creator: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20; see Ps. 19:1-6). Even with the misuse of the heavenly bodies, it did not stop God from choosing the sun, moon, and stars to symbolize His chosen nation Israel (Gen. 37:9–11; Rev. 12:1–2). And neither did it stop Him from using a star to announce the birth of Jesus (Matt. 2:2).

Pagans believe there is power in inanimate objects like the sun, moons, and stars, but we know better. Notice how the Bible ridicules those who turn God’s good creation into divine objects they claim should be worshipped (Isa. 44:12–20). God’s people know better. We are not fooled or intimidated; it’s just a piece of wood created by God to be used for our benefit and enjoyment. We can burn it for heat or fashion it into a tool. Should we cut down the trees in our yards because Jesus was crucified on a tree?

Some will turn to Jeremiah 10:1–10 to make a case against “Christmas trees,” actually, evergreen or more technically conifers, because idol worshipers used them in their religious rituals. Jeremiah is describing idol worship, and he ridicules it: “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good” (10:5). Who among us believes that a “Christmas tree” is worshipped today? When people put packages under the tree, they are not bowing down to worship the tree. The gifts are not for the tree gods. (more…)

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On December 10, 2018 By In Theology

Mary: Serpent Head-Crusher

Since the fall the woman has played a vital role in the war with the serpent. When God pronounced his curse on the serpent, he first stated that there would be enmity between the woman and the serpent (Gen 3.15). Through grace given to her in child-bearing, she will be saved by the serpent’s head being crushed (see 1Tim 2.15). Child-bearing is the preeminent tool, you might say, given to the woman to play her role in taking dominion over the serpent.

Throughout the Scriptural record we hear of women participating in this war and crushing heads of serpents. They use various tools of their dominion to accomplish this. For instance, when Abimelech, the son of Gideon and self-proclaimed king, approached the Tower of Thebez to defeat the people of Thebez, an unnamed woman throws an upper millstone–a tool for grinding wheat, a tool of dominion–down upon the head of Abimelech (Jdg 9.50-57). (more…)

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On December 8, 2018 By In Art, Culture, Family and Children, Scribblings, Theology, Wisdom

Advent and the Art of Arrival

Guest post by Remy Wilkins

“The best way that a man could test his readiness to encounter the common variety of mankind would be to climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside. And that is essentially what each one of us did on the day that he was born.”

~ G.K. Chesterton, On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family

I love it when the hero arrives. I get chills when a fedora appears in shadow or when a farmboy watches two suns set. I get tickled every time someone knocks on Bilbo’s door. And although the joy of my introduction to the dear Baudelaire siblings that grey and cloudy day at Briny Beach was mingled with sadness, I still cherish the miracle of their lives.

The season of Advent, the time just before Christmas, is all about arrivals. It is a preparatory season for the celebration of the incarnation, his first coming, and it is looking forward to his second coming. The Messiah’s first arrival was both inauspicious, sleeping in a feeding trough, and universally portentous, declared by astronomical signs. His second coming is also grand and mysterious: no man knows the hour or day in which he comes. It’s a good debut. As a reader, I can get excited about this story. Anticipating the end is also great fun. I love it when stories are interrupted by better stories. (more…)

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