Advent means coming. The first coming of Jesus is celebrated beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Four candles are typically used, symbolizing Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. The first candle is lit on the first Sunday. Each following Sunday a another successive candle is lit with it. The spiritual focus of worship and preaching follows … [Read more…]
Blessing one another in word and deed conveys God’s love and our love, God’s grace and our grace, God’s peace and our peace. Thus, speaking or writing blessings is vital in our relationship with God and one another. They edify. When we verbalize God’s love and our love, we also share the inheritance God has … [Read more…]
The kingdom of God as Shalom. Excerpts from: Kingdom, Church, and World: Biblical Themes for Today, Howard Snyder. Shalom, usually translated “peace,” is one of the great words of the Old Testament. It occurs some 350 times and clearly underlies the concept of peace found in the New Testament, as we shall see. Shalom is so … [Read more…]