29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30 He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’ 34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34)
Context. We begin the new liturgical year’s ordinary time with the beginning of John’s gospel. What precedes our Sunday gospel is the very rich and complex Prologue to the Fourth Gospel. Where Mark begins with the gospel message, Luke and Matthew begin with the birth narratives, John takes us back to the time before Time to reveal the eternal purpose of God. Continue reading
In the beginning – the Garden of Paradise, all is pristine, pure, good, whole, and holy
The Netflix series “Black Mirror” (which is a digital age Twilight Zone and not exactly my cup of tea) had one episode I found endlessly fascinating, terrifying, and a bit like a train wreck: you want to look away, but just can’t. “Nosedive” is an episode in which the character Lacie lives in a version of America where every tiny interaction is ranked on an app. Everyone has contact lenses/retinal implants that are synced to the app. The moment you see someone, their ranking is displayed, and a whole society has morphed into a pastel-colored nightmare of aggressive cheeriness, as citizens attempt to out-nice each other and bump up their ratings. Everything is connected to your rating: if you are in the 4.5- to-5-star level, the world is open to you: lower mortgages, club memberships, airline reservations, and more. If your rating tanks, so does your life. It takes a nosedive into a world with no access, no privilege, no nothing. Thanks be to God we don’t live in such a world! 
Here is the 
Unless you happen to be like my muse, Calvin, in the comic strip, I suspect you are about to make some New Year’s resolutions. How did you do on last year’s resolutions? About the same as the rest of us? One ad hominem wisdom saying defines “insanity” this way: to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Perhaps 2017 is a time to consider changing the way resolutions are considered, made, and hopefully, kept. 
I wasn’t too sure what to expect for my first Christmas in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Certainly, the slum in which I lived was devoid of any of the commercial excess. There were no malls, no black Friday, none of the things mark our Advent season. Occasionally, you could hear Christmas carols, traditional and tribal, float out of one of the wood sheds/tin roofed stores. But most the familiar signs and markers that Christmas was coming were missing. 
The days of Christmas are quickly approaching, your shopping isn’t finished (…. maybe not started!), the end-of-year activities at work are reaching deadlines, the tree is not up, the kids have a school Christmas play tomorrow night (… “Mom, is my costume ready?”…what costume?), the toy drive at the church is ready to wrap and deliver packages (I think we signed up to help as a family? …. maybe?), and…and… oh my gosh, the in-laws are coming to stay with us this Christmas. Even amidst the momentary panic of “how will all this get done,” there is an ever-present awareness that we want to be hospitable, warm, and welcoming – not only to the in-laws but to all who come to our door during the holidays. 
