18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and ...
There is an old story that sticks in my mind. As I remember it, a group of people step on to an elevator together in early December. A number of them are carrying packages that look to be Christmas gifts. As they politely visit with each other, one ...
The season of Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar (not New Years Day!) and calls us into a deep journey of faith to a Bethlehem stable. William H. Petersen, the founder of The Advent Project, comments, “The call is for the Church to ...
In his annual – and final – Advent message to the Central Texas Conference, Bishop Lowry focuses on the witness and example of who New Testament scholars regard as “the first and the ideal disciple” – Mary, the mother of Jesus. In his message, ...
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” May this great birth announcement ring out in homes, be twittered and tweeted in our communities, blogged about on websites, sent in our emails, and zoomed around our nation and world! Click on the video below ...
In my life, Christmas isn’t really Christmas until we sing two hymns as a part of Christmas Eve worship – “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World.” The words of “Joy to the World” sweep me away. “Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive ...
The first United Methodist Church to which I was appointed as a pastor on my own was St. Paul’s UMC in Kerrville, Texas. Just out of seminary, and not even married a year, I was excited and full of ideas. Practical reality landed on my desk in week ...
During my senior year in High School, I took a choral class to finish out my requirements for graduation. I recall spending most of the time sitting in the back, laughing and goofing off but then as Christmas came near something unusual happened. ...
There is something about the Advent time of year that evokes our interior longings and quiet reflection. Perhaps it is the music. Charles Wesley’s “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” settles over me. The lyrics, combined with the melody, reach deep ...
The signs and sounds of Christmas are all around. This year, the decorations came early. Locked down by COVID-19, we collectively, Christians and non-Christians alike, longed for a season of hope, joy and peace. Driving through our neighborhood, I ...
An Advent video message from Bishop Lowry is available for viewing and sharing at the end of this post. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2 CEB) I love ...
A video message from Bishop Lowry is available at the end of this post. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time...
Kathleen Crane, a Presbyterian pastor in Wisconsin, shared an incident that happened to her while flying a number of years ago. “Two Sikhs, men from northern India, with their heads in turbans, sat down beside me (on the plane). We had a pleasant ...
Behold the truth of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - we are the visited planet! God came down and took up human form among us. The Bible states this profound, universe changing truth in such plain words. Christ Jesus, the baby whose birth we ...
In his annual message for the Advent/Christmas season, Bishop Lowry focuses on the joy and hope shared by the angelic chorus with the shepherds outside of Bethlehem in the second chapter of Luke's Gospel. "10Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good ...
It seems like yesterday that the wildly popular Christmas movie Home Alone came out. It was so popular they made a sequel (four sequels actually, but no one can blame you for forgetting about Home Alone 3-5). You likely remember the original movie ...
Today, The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church released our annual Christmas letter. This year's letter was penned by the President of the Council, Bishop Ken Carter. I offer this letter as a guest blog post as we continue our Advent ...
One of the truly great passages from Holy Scripture that is often a part of the designated Advent lectionary (readings assigned by the larger ecumenical church) is contained in Luke’s epic first chapter and is simply called The Magnificat because of...
As we move through the season of Advent, I invite us to take a fresh look at the old story. Even more, I invite us to lay the Advent/Christmas journey alongside the trials and tribulations of our world today – and, more specifically, alongside our ...
Last week (Oct. 29), I began a four-part teaching series on The Incarnation - a key doctrinal element at the core of the Christian faith. This followed a live four-session teaching series entitled “Sin and Salvation.” that debuted earlier this ...
There is a story which comes back to me as I look forward to Advent and Christmas about a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys (and everything else imaginable), and after ...
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people (Luke 2:10 KJV) In his annual Christmas message to the Central Texas Conference, Bishop Lowry reminds all to set aside the hustle...
I confess that I am stuck. I come to Advent (the time of preparation for the Savior’s coming) with a deep awareness of the chaos around us. The darkness feels like it is closing in across the world. Conflict rages in the Baltic Sea and the Middle ...
As we move into the season of Advent in preparation for the birth of our Savior, I offer the Council of Bishops Christmas letter as a guests blog. The letter is written by Bishop Ken Carter (The Florida Episcopal Area) President of the Council of ...
Today, I offer a liturgy for the lighting of the Advent Wreath candles for both the fourth Sunday in Advent and for Christmas Eve. Traditionally (and usually) those are different days. This year, they fall on the same day. In the Methodist traditions...
Bishop Lowry shares an Advent message of hope for a bruised and battered world - a hope that comes in the form of a baby at Christmas. Please share this with your church, small group, friends and family by clicking either the share icon (second top ...
Today, I offer a liturgy for the lighting of the Advent Wreath candles. As I wrote in my blog “The Advent Wreath,” for our family, the lighting of the Advent Wreath and the sharing of the accompanying liturgy around the kitchen table became a central...
Even when announced and printed in the bulletin, as I turn in my hymnal to #211 “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 211), the words from this great hymn slip in on me and catch me by surprise. They manage to be at once both a...
I drove down to Kerrville, Texas for our family Thanksgiving gathering wearing my “Chicago Cubs World Series Champions 2017” jersey. That’s right; the shirt read “2017” not “2016.” It was a gift from Howard Martin back in early September at the ...
I readily acknowledge that one of my favorite Advent/Christmas hymns is “O Come All Ye Faithful” (No. 234, The United Methodist Hymnal). John Wade’s (ca. 1743) clarion words combined with the soaring music (credited to Wade and a number of others) ...
Sunday morning I went to worship with my wife. As usual the sermon was excellent, the liturgy challenging and the fellowship a blessing. What towered above the rest, as is often the case at this time of the year, was the music. The Hand bell Choir ...
It’s Tuesday morning, December 6, as I write. I am in Junction, TX as what we call “The Peer Retreat.” A group of us has been meeting together for forty years. Most of us went to Perkins School of Theology together, and over these forty years, we ...
So now that we are moving into Advent, what Advent devotional is guiding you? It is really an easy question. How are you spiritually nurturing yourself in advent anticipation for the coming of Christ? Think and pray carefully because griping about ...
Happy New Year! No, I’m not a month plus ahead of schedule. This coming Sunday, November 27th is the first Sunday in Advent. Many of us know that the advent comes the Latin adventus or coming. “This season proclaims the coming of Christ in the birth ...
I readily and honestly confess I am into babies right now. After an important meeting at the Conference Center this week, I stood around with other grandfathers swamping pictures. Monday night, December 21st, we shall fly to Washington D.C. to spend ...
Over the past three weeks I have had the privilege of attending three different Advent worship services that were structured around hymns and carols, choral presentations and contemporary praise, full throated singing and quiet prayer music. Each of ...
Amid all of the bad news we hear, often the good news gets lost. Many of us have experienced the reality of two manifestations of the church existing side by side within the same Conference. On the one hand there are those places of shrinkage, ...
After a great family Thanksgiving celebration, Jolynn and I went to church Sunday morning. I was still basking in the good family time; in the glory of holding my 4 ½ month old grandson (Simon); in the shared joy. I was unprepared for the Scripture ...