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           To most people the word tragedy denotes some terrible happenings – a plane crash, a grinding automobile accident, a catastrophic disease, a flood.  The   possibilities are endless, and each of these happenings can be accurately defined as tragic.  But tragedy has another meaning.   It can also denote something good that could have happened and should have happened but did not.          This understanding of tragedy should remind us that the power of God most often awaits the cooperation of people.  And the tragedy is that most of us are unaware of it. […]

          Commonly, we think of our Christian faith as a personal relationship between the individual and God.  It is that, but it is not exclusively that.  We need to remember that faith is also a family affair.            We came from homes, we live in homes, and some look forward to establishing their own homes.  This means that the success and happiness of our individual lives are deeply dependent upon the fate and fortunes of the family.             For that matter, so is the future civilization.  What happens in the home in large measure determines what happens on the streets, in the […]

         One of the best loved of all Christmas carols is “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, written more than a hundred years ago. The first part of the song is  primarily historical, celebrating those events that surrounded the birth of Jesus. But  the last verse makes Christmas a very personal thing. It says: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend on us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.”       We have never understood Christmas until it goes beyond a historical fact and becomes a personal experience. It is […]

         In the famous story of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare raised the now famous question, “What’s in a name?”  And in the next sentence he gave his equally famous answer, “That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”          In his poetic language, Shakespeare was saying that names, in and of    themselves, have no meaning.  And in our western culture that is largely true.  Names are simply labels that are applied to people for purposes of identification.  They are sometimes chosen by association as when a child is […]

       For most of us, Christmas is a time of happiness.  We have learned to love everything about it – the music, the lights, the giving and receiving of gifts, the fellowship of friends and family.  Year after year, we anticipate this season with great excitement and remember it with fondness, long after it is gone.         But amid all this happiness, we need to remember that for some people Christmas is the loneliest time of the year.  For some, Christmas festivities remind them of broken relationships, and the togetherness of others serves to accentuate their own sense […]