On this first Sunday of Advent we begin a new liturgical year, Year C of our three-year cycle of Sunday Scriptures. This year many of our Sunday Scriptures will be from the Gospel of Luke. Today’s Lukan Gospel passage sounds frightening. Luke’s Gospel was written around the year 85 C.E.…

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At a recent liturgy, as I was reciting the familiar Trinitarian formula and signing myself, I became acutely aware of what I was actually doing. Too often these ritual signs become habitual and intentionality is lost. But this day I was struck by how an act of violence became a sign of…

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