/fairfaxs-website/image-f878f-i65ab.png "Fairfax Presbyterian Church")
The Light in the Darkness… Here we are at a dark time – I don’t mean today – I mean about 4-6 BC in Judea (now Israel). It is occupied by the Romans, a first-ever census has been ordered requiring all to return to their ancestral homes (What about my job? No work, no income…), and Joseph is taking a 70-mile trek with his ‘nine-month pregnant Virgi...
Read MoreThe Birth Announcement We love to receive birth announcements. It is exciting to see the baby’s full name, day of birth, length, and weight. These days they even come with a picture. The birth announcement in the scripture reading arrived seven hundred and forty two years before the birth. There was no prediction of when the birth would actually t...
Read MoreAs humans, negative experiences weigh heavily on us. Oftentimes, it is easier to list things that didn’t happen that we wanted, or bad things that happened rather than the good. Even one small bad thing, can seemingly ruin an otherwise beautiful day. We are so fortunate to live for and be loved by God, yet we so easily dismiss the little wins, or...
Read MoreHannah's Prayer Hannah had lived the start of her adult life, languishing and living in the shadow of depression, waiting to conceive a child, that never came. In a final desperate bargain with God, she prayerfully committed her personal life to God, and that of her yet–to-be-born son to the priesthood, if God would grant her a child. From the day...
Read MoreThe Magnificat This passage from Luke is sometimes referred to as “Mary’s Song of Praise.” In the early Catholic church, it was incorporated into the liturgy and remains so today as part of the service of the “Visitation,” marking Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth. When each heard that the other was expecting a child, they rejoiced. It seems t...
Read MoreJesus is the Light of the World After Mary had been told by the angel Gabriel that she would give birth to Jesus, she went to visit her relative Elizabeth who was expecting the birth of John the Baptist Luke 1:39-45 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizab...
Read MoreIn September, I arrived back in Maine grateful to be returning to a place deeply soothing to my soul. But I didn’t experience the immediate unwinding I had when arriving in July. I felt tense and fearful and agitated and always one moment from tears. One breezy afternoon during our first week back, I walked down the gangway to the float in our cov...
Read MoreHebrews 1:1-4: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful...
Read MorePsalm 125 is one of a group of 15 songs of ascent in the Book of Psalms. These psalms were sung by the people as they climbed toward God's Holy Mountain, Mt. Zion. We might think of them as climbing toward God's Heavenly Light. God is steadfast and unmovable and guides us, even today as we in 2020 do our best to live in God's light.
Read More“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” This is the most common deathbed regret that palliative nurse, Bronnie Ware, heard, in the eight years she spent in dedication to caring for those who were dying. Haunting. Poignant. Heartbreaking. An awareness, a belief, a realization of a truth, vo...
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