Today is the third Sunday of Advent. As I’ve been writing on Advent, I had to admit that I’m sort of new to celebrating it myself. My family didn’t have an Advent tradition as I grew up, so I’ve only been studying it for a couple of years. I shared some resources in my first post, here are two more good ones.
The Vanderbilt Divinity Library offers a scripture lectionary for each Sunday of Advent, as well as other resources. Mark D. Roberts has written extensively on Advent, and his site is indexed and searchable. Begin with his multi-part Introduction to Advent. He breaks down each Sunday with themes and suggested scripture reading. I would like to do something similar next year early on, instead of each Sunday as we go through the season.
Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah, saying that a virgin would conceive and have a child, and his name would be called Immanuel. When Matthew quotes Isaiah he adds that Immanuel means “God with us.” That’s the true meaning of Christmas.
As a small child, we are taught a few emotional expressions. We all learn happy, sad, angry and surprised at a young age. The natural maturation process eventually teaches us that all things are not so simple. Sometimes good news has a sting to it, or we take bad news and try to find the silver lining. When a terminally ill child passes away, sometimes there is comfort in knowing he will no longer suffer. Or the opposite may be true; a child leaving for college or getting married is an exciting occasion, but also sad in a way for the parents staying behind in the empty nest. I’m not sure MySpace or WordPress have an emoticon for bittersweet. 
This is part two of 
There are many people who are big fans of Jesus that fall just a little short of understanding him. I’ve spoken before of Hippie Jesus, Smiley Jesus, Mr. Rogers type Jesus, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. There have been a gazillion (pretty sure that’s the actual number) books on the “historical” Jesus. There’s now lots of those, too. I’m talking about people that have read or listened to things Jesus said and consider him to be a great guy. I’m talking about people who know that Jesus loved everybody, talked about peace, refused to stone the woman caught in adultery, fed the 5,000 and raised Lazarus. Yet at the same time those people ignore his command to “take up the cross” and follow. They almost get Jesus. 
It’s that time again. Time to add some new friends to the blogroll. New on the blogroll at this time is 
The Master's Table 