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What We Assume about the Assumption of Mary, Mother of Jesus
For skeptics and believers A guest post from my friend Kelley Mathews: Just about the time we kids were trying not to think about school starting, a holy day of obligation would roll around to remind us our time was short. Every August 15, we trotted off to church for an extra Mass dedicated to remembering how, after Jesus’s mother died, her body was snatched up to heaven. Or, was it that she didn’t really die but got to join Jesus in heaven body and soul when it was “her time”? Most of all I wondered why I should care. The Assumption of Mary seemed … unusual. I had questions.…
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The Lord Says, “Listen and Pay Attention to My Female Prophets”
Did God commission men and women to prophesy—to speak authoritatively on his behalf? Is there evidence that the Lord says, “Listen and pay attention to my female prophets?” Ancient Near East scholar Christopher Rollston notes, “The fact that certain biblical texts presuppose that there were women prophets, there can be no debate. There were women prophets in ancient Israel and in Early Christianity. And the term that is used in Hebrew and in Greek for women prophets is the same as the term used for men prophets.”
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Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in Mary’s Story
As we head into the final week before Christmas, we expectantly anticipate the coming—the Advent—of the Son of the Most High as his mother, Mary, did. Consider with me the traditional Advent themes as seen in Mary’s story. HOPE “Listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” —the angel Gabriel to Mary of Nazareth (LUKE 1:31-33) The Bible defines hope as patiently…
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Do Not Be Afraid, I Am With You
Since my word for the year 2023 is “with,” I’m sharing a chapter entitled “With You” from my devotional Favored Blessed Pierced: A Fresh Look at Mary of Nazareth in preparation for the upcoming Advent season. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid.” Luke 1:30a The angel’s preface to his commissioning, “Do not be afraid,” is the most commonly repeated command in the Bible—with good reason, for we are people of fear. Last year, I finally admitted that I feel anxious when I travel. While I have the privilege of traversing the globe in my ministry to cross-cultural workers, I rarely travel alone. Still I worry. Will we make…
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Asking God Questions
In the past, irreverence and disrespect tended to flood my mind when I thought about the rightness of asking God questions. Who am I to ask the sovereign, good, wise, loving God questions? However, I have been reflecting on the idea of asking God questions and now am growing to view it differently. The best place to go when you want God’s perspective on something is to prayerfully look at the Bible. So, I started there. In the New Testament, Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) after hearing the message from Gabriel (God’s messenger) about bearing a son in his old age, asked “How shall I know this?” Gabriel…
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With God, Nothing Is Impossible.
The story of the first Christmas begins like many others, long ago in a faraway place. Dr. Luke has a special friend, and he wants him to know the story of the birth of Jesus. We don’t know much about this friend, but Dr. Luke wanted him to understand how it all took place. So what friend do you want to know about the Christmas story? Dr. Luke begins by telling us that long ago, in the reign of King Herod, a man named Zechariah was busy serving as a priest in the temple when an angel named Gabriel appeared. God had sent him to tell Zechariah that God had…
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The Gift of “God With Us”
A wailing scream pierces the air. The new mother cries tears of sheer exhaustion and joy. The father stands speechless, astounded, holding a wriggly bundle in his arms. Mom and dad lock eyes and they silently ask each other, “What should we name him?” (Para español, lea abajo.) A name means something. Depending on the culture, a name implies family respect, honor, and tradition. In the Latino culture, for example, parents typically name their firstborn child after the father or mother. If the father is Luis, the baby boy is Luis. If the mother is Elizabeth, the baby girl is Elizabeth. In doing so, the parents preserve their family legacy.…
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Even my Christmas Chicken is Sideways
Sometimes life feels sideways. Recently, my husband and I parted ways to attend various Christmas activities at our respective places of work. He was fortunate enough to take our three children with him to his event while I sat through a quiet adult evening. When my husband came home, he informed me that the front door to our house had been left wide open for the duration of his two hour trip. I am happy to report that we did not acquire any new neighborhood cats during that time. I came home from my event later in the evening to find our decorative Christmas chicken lying on its side in…
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No Room in the Inn
The angel affirmed, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Yet Mary gave birth to God incarnate in a barn because there was no room for them in the inn. God chose not to make room for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in comfort. Why…
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Blessed: I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
Ever since I studied the life of Mary of Nazareth, Jesus’s mother, and wrote a 31-day devotional study, I choose my words with care around the concept of blessing. I think twice now before using the phrase “I am blessed” or the hashtag “blessed.” In the western world, blessings typically refer to our good fortune or whatever makes our lives comfortable. We feel blessed when a new countertop graces our cabinetry, the trip goes without delay, our children make us look good, or the Wi-Fi is strong. However, problems arise when we equate material blessing with God’s favor. If we are blessed because we possess physical comforts and live in…
