From the Anteroom of Christmas, by Lanier Ivester. I am learning, to embrace the stark solemnity of the great universal waiting for the Messiah and to find a parable of it in my own desires. Advent is the place for you. Advent is where the “now” of God’s active and present love for us meets the “not yet” of our unfulfilled longings, and it is specifically set apart for the wounded and the waiting, the weary and the jaded. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/the-anteroom-of-christmas-advent-reflection/ Several years ago, I found myself hating December. The darkness, the disruption, the expenses. I have bad memories of Christmas as a child, ones I don't need to go into here and have never really talked about. But now, ending my seventh decade, I see that December should be overshadowed and conquered by Advent, with its promise, its journey, its outcome, and yes, its longing. Plus, after Christmas the days start getting longer again--something my Scandi...
I recently was sent to these words from the daughter of John Wesley, about his death. “…some of those who were most used to hear our dear Father’s dying voice would be able to interpret his meaning; but though he strove to speak we were still unsuccessful: finding we could not understand what he said, he paused a little, and then with all the remaining strength he had, cried out, ‘ The best of all is, God is with us” ; and then, as if to assert the faithfulness of our promise-keeping Jehovah and comfort the hearts of his weeping friends, lifting up his dying arm in token of victory and raising his feeble voice with a holy triumph not to be xpressed, again repeated the heart-reviving words, “The best of all is, God is with us!” The Journal of John Wesley , ed., Percy Livingstone Parker, (Chicago, IL: Moody Press), 419. Yes, the best of all is Immanuel, God with us. That is the message of Christmas. From Matthew 1 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ ...