Mark Knows It All

I have always overdone it at Christmas. At one point in our lives, my wife and I would put up five Christmas trees, including a brown one with orange lights and orange bird ornaments. It actually was my favorite tree, but a bit much. As the years have gone by, so has our motivation. Add that to being just plain too pooped to pop, we have cut back a lot. Of course, cutting back is a relative term…and for the most part our house still looks like it has barfed Christmas, not to mention a completely filled cabinet of Christmas CD’s! This year has been marked by significant losses in my family, the latest happening at 7:30 PM yesterday, Christmas Eve. It is hard for people from large families to “downsize.” As my family has died off, or moved away or moved on away from me by choice, this is the first year I face the holidays without an extended family…just us chickens, so to speak. I am fortunate that I have a great wife and son. I also have great in-laws who will be visiting us this Sunday...

Do you understand the importance of freedom? If you think you do, try to express it in your own words. Having difficulty? I am not surprised. The word Freedom is ingrained in us and our culture at an early age. We are Americans. Of course we are for freedom. Okay, then! Tell me what it is. Webster’s Dictionary defines “freedom” as follows: “The quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous." If we are a free people, can anyone explain to me what is going on today? It is with disdain and concern that I watch the mentality in our country today. How much freedom are you willing to give up…and for what? Let’s start with the health care proposal in the Senate. If it passes, the government will then tell the health insurance companies what kind of insurance ...

This is the season of Advent. It’s a peculiar time in the church calendar because although it marks the beginning of the church year, the lectionary readings assigned to Advent for the first two weeks focus on Christ’s second coming, and then morphs into anticipation of his birth. The Feast of Christ the King celebrating Christ as the all triumphant King of the universe, falls on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, right before Advent. The Advent readings almost act as an epilogue to the church year looking at the end times, and the origin of times. I am the Alpha and Omega… Included in the story mix of end times and Old Testament Messiah prophecies, we hear the story of John the Baptist, Matthew’s voice in the wilderness. This leads, in turn, to many ministries using this as a teachable moment, a time for new baptisms and baptism reaffirmation by those already baptized. This past Sunday, my church did just that. The baptismal font is set up right in front of the altar so all can w...