by Josh Waltz | Nov 24, 2019 | A Pastor's Heart
How a story begins shapes everything that follows. Consider A Christmas Carol: “Marley was dead, to begin with.” What better way for Charles Dickens to set the mood, shape readers’ expectations, and foreshadow the themes of his ghostly tale than with that eerie...
by Josh Waltz | Dec 23, 2018 | A Pastor's Heart
The word “advent” simply means “coming.” When used in a Christian setting like ours, it refers to the arrival of Jesus Christ in the world. For the people of God, however, Advent usually has much more to do with waiting than arriving. The four outer candles on the...
by Josh Waltz | Dec 4, 2016 | A Pastor's Heart
In a word, Christmas is about humility. Consider again the circumstances of Jesus’ birth: the scandalous pregnancy, the low-income family, the stable, the manger, the shepherds. These details seem warm and wonderful to us now, all dressed up in the hues and hominess...
