The kind of Christianity Christ blesses is on that is in harmony with the Beatitudes.

Like the Phial of Galadriel that was a light in dark places when all other lights go out, we pay attention to Jesus as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star arises in our hearts.

Four o'clock in the afternoon is just four o'clock in the afternoon…unless you encounter Jesus in some new and unexpected way. When that happens, that four o'clock in the afternoon will change your life. Divine encounters are real—and though they cannot be scheduled or manufactured, they should be expected. These divine encounters or mystical experiences need not occur at some sacred time on in some especially spiritual place—they can occur in the most ordinary places at a most ordinary hour, like four o'clock in the afternoon.

For people who are like broken reeds and smoldering wicks, the tenderness of Christ is good news.

The story of the Wise Men from the East led by a star to worship the Christ child is one of the most enchanting stories in the gospel. And for two thousand years this story has fascinated artists of all kinds—painters and poets, composers and writers.

In 735 BC Isaiah gave a prophecy to king Ahaz about a young woman giving birth to a boy called Immanuel—a prophecy that seemed to be fulfilled with the birth of Hezekiah and the destruction of Aram and Samaria. But there was to be a much deeper fulfillment of this prophecy—as deep as Sheol, as high as heaven—because the testimony of JESUS is the spirit of prophecy.

It’s very hard to take Messiah as he is, when you have your own expectations of what Messiah is supposed to do. But Advent is about waiting. So while we're waiting on the world to be saved, let’s take Christ as he is and not to make him do something or be something that isn't Christlike.