The readings this week are full of paradoxes about where to look for great things. 

People love the Christmas story. The prospect of God choosing to come to us as an infant makes all our hearts leap within us.

What makes Christians different from other holiday shoppers during the month of December? That’s not a trick question. What makes believers different from party planners, pageant organizers, or mere Santa fans?

The young couple would sit on their small patio at the rear of their small house. They sensed they were blessed to be present at a slow-motion miracle, the nine months waiting for their first-born child.

New jobs, job promotions, acceptance at your first-choice school, straight A’s, getting engaged, the mortgage approved, the account you were vying for, front row tickets to the game of the century—these are all extremely exciting moments in the course of any life, but they pale in comparison to giving birth—at least for most people, under even the worst circumstances.

This weekend usually is one of the busiest travel times of the year. Airports, bus terminals, train stations, and, of course, highways will be filled with people laden down with gifts, all trying to make it home for the holidays.

As the time of Advent waiting reaches its fulfillment, we call upon the name of God, who gives us new life.

Scripture today brings to a close the season of Advent watchfulness by speaking of the coming birth of Jesus.

Our King and Savior is coming; let us run to meet him! . . . In the words and spirit of Elizabeth . . . . my spirit leapt for joy within me in eager longing to run ahead to meet my God and savior.