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“Miriam as big sister acts almost like Shekinah, the Hebrew word for the feminine in-dwelling of God, or the Holy Spirit. She watches over Moses as an infant, through and out of Egypt, and into the desert.”
“Ask yourself: What is my gift, knowledge, access, opportunity, privilege, connections, influence, or resources that I can lend to the cause of goodness, decency, and justice? Who can I call, boycott, or support? Where can I donate my time, talent, and money?”
“What does it mean for you to ABOUND in hope? Not a strip of hope, not a small piece of hope, not faking hope but overflowing, spilling over with, being filled with a brilliant testimony of hope. Advent hope is not quiet; it is contagious.”
These beatitudes from today’s gospel in Luke are more real, tangible and down to earth as they focus on real life issues of being poor, hungry, or deeply saddened by life. It is interesting that we never make beautiful posters, carvings or artwork out of the corresponding Woes, or what some call curses, found in Luke which come right after the beautiful often-quoted Blesseds.
Stillness comes with wisdom and age. It is in the later chapters of life you may come to realize you hear more and learn more when you make space and time for quiet stillness. In that place you can hear the soft voice of the Holy Spirit and what it has to reveal to you.
“I grew up with this quote weaved among the many southern sayings I heard the elders speak over us and into us as children. Until I became an actual student of theology I did not know that this saying, and many others, are actual scriptural references from specific texts. 1 John 2 reads in part: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'”
Rahab’s story raises some important questions, such as: who is worthy of being safe? Who is worthy of being saved? Who is deserving of God’s blessing and favor for generations? Could this be the destiny of a prostitute?
“In my black christian church culture there’s a call and response we say and most anyone of us will have the same response to friend and stranger alike, and it goes like this: One person exclaims the question, ‘Won’t He do it?’ and the immediate answer is a resounding, ‘YES, He Will!’ I envision a moment like that between Simeon and Anna.”
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