Darkened Glass Reflections

Category: Church Calendar: Holy Days and Seasons

  • Shepherds, Wise Men, and Ordinary People

    Shepherds, Wise Men, and Ordinary People

    A nativity scene depicts the main figures in the account of Jesus’ birth together in one location at once. It works as an effective story-telling device. However, the story of Jesus’ birth has become so familiar to most Christians that many of us miss a few key points.

  • Advent, Christmas, and Parallel Universes

    Advent, Christmas, and Parallel Universes

    Christians can often sympathize with the person who travels between parallel universes. We seem to do it all the time. This is most obvious during “the most wonderful time of the year.” Over the next month, we will be bombarded with “holiday savings” ads, Christmas songs on the radio (ranging from “Oh Holy Night” to…

  • A Few Thoughts About the Trinity

    A Few Thoughts About the Trinity

    This is part of walking by faith: We trust God and believe Him to be Who He says He is, even when we do not fully understand it. When I was a small child, I had faith that my mother and father were my parents, long before I learned what that meant or how we…

  • Looking Beyond the Hilltop—John 14:1–7

    Jesus’ promises are most completely fulfilled not in this world, but in heaven. Yes, we receive a foretaste of those blessings now, but our eyes need to grab the bigger picture.

  • The Christian’s True Identity

    How am I known in heaven? Who do I say I am? Who does God say I am? Such questions about identity guide our lives. A person with a distorted, diminished, or deficient understanding of who they are will act on that sense of self-identity. A person who views himself or herself as a “loser”…

  • No Easy Way—James 1:2–4

    Forgiveness and salvation may be immediate, but spiritual growth takes time. We want instant sanctification, or instant deliverance from sin, bad habits, and addictions, but this does not exist.

  • Feasting Daily on God’s Word

    If we want to please God by loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we need to feast on His Word. Read and reflect on God’s Word with family and faith-filled friends. Ingest it into your heart and soul frequently, throughout the day, every day. Keep it present before you.

  • Ash Wednesday: Fasting to Celebrate Christ

    Lent is a season of fasting with a purpose. The ceremony of imposing ashes on a believer’s forehead imitates the ancient Jewish custom of covering oneself in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of mourning or penance (Jonah 3:6; Job 42:6). While using the ashes to mark a cross on the forehead, the priest or…

  • The Holy Name of Jesus

    The Holy Name of Jesus

    It is important to consider the significance of the name of Jesus. His name tells us who He is and why He came into the world. It is the English transliteration of His Hebrew name, “Yeshua,” which means “The Lord is salvation.” He came, first and foremost, to “save his people from their sins.”

  • New Year’s Day: A Time for Change?

    This post is an updated version of an article I wrote on December 31, 2009. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the…