“The Infinite a sudden Guest” (1309) The Infinite a sudden Guest Has been assumed to be — But how can that stupendous come Which never went away? “Tell all the truth but tell it slant — “ (1263) Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind — + Emily Dickinson These two Dickinson poems are perfect meditations for Advent: The first as a provocative play on one of the season’s mysteries (How can we ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, December 8: December 9 is the birthday of poet John Milton, born in London in 1608. He spent his life studying and writing, supporting himself as a civil servant, penning radical political pamphlets, and supporting the Commonwealth in the English Civil War, which eventually led to ..read more

  Second Week of Advent (Year C): Luke 3:1-6 and Malachi 3:1-4 Listen to SALT’s “Strange New World” podcast episode touching on these two passages: “Understanding Christmas - Part Two: Silent Night.” Big Picture: 1) This year we’ll be walking together through the Gospel of Luke. The journey began last week with a kind of “flash-forward” from Luke 21: on the verge of his descent to the cross, Jesus warns of difficult days ahead, assuring his disciples that God will make everything right in the end. This week, we “flash back” to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, turning to Luke’s account o ..read more

  Advent means “coming.” It is a time of longing, watching, and praying for God’s healing, transformative presence to be ever more vibrantly present in the world. In this sense, Advent is a season in which we focus on that key phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come.” As Christians, the good news we strive to live by and declare is that love is stronger than hate, peace more enduring than war, hope more powerful than despair — and the light of God's love will dispel forever the shadows of shame cast by violence, suffering, sorrow, and contempt. To help proclaim that God ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, December 1: December 1 is the first Sunday of Advent. Here’s SALT’s commentary on this week’s passages — and here’s SALT’s Advent candle lighting litanies for Advent wreaths, at home and/or at church. December 1 is also the day in 1955 that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a wh ..read more

  As Thanksgiving and the season of Advent approach, here’s an excerpt from Truman Capote’s classic 1956 short story, “A Christmas Memory,” laid out as a poem for your reading pleasure: “My, how foolish I am!” my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. “You know what I’ve always thought?” she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. “I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty ..read more

  First Week of Advent (Year C): Luke 21:25-36 and Jeremiah 33:14-16 Listen to SALT’s “Strange New World” podcast episode touching on this passage from Luke: “Understanding Christmas - Part One: Hope Against Hope.” Big Picture: 1) Happy New Year! The Christian year begins with the season of Advent, and this way of beginning is itself significant. You might think the year would begin with the trumpets of Easter, or the softness of Christmas Eve, or the fires of Pentecost — but on the contrary, we begin in the shadows of despair, war, sorrow, and hate. For it’s precisely here that the God ..read more

  I, who live by words, am wordless when I try my words in prayer. All language turns To silence. Prayer will take my words and then Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns To hold its peace, to listen with the heart To silence that is joy, is adoration. The self is shattered, all words torn apart In this strange patterned time of contemplation That, in time, breaks time, breaks word, breaks me, And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended. I leave, returned to language, for I see Through words, even when all words are ended. I, who live by words, am wordless when I turn me ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, November 24: November 24 is the birthday of the philosopher Benedict Spinoza, born in Amsterdam in 1632. A descendent of Portuguese Jews, Spinoza studied Hebrew Scripture, the Talmud, and Kabbalah’s traditions of mysticism and miracle. He argued that everything in the universe ..read more

  Reign of Christ the King Sunday (Year B): John 18:33-37 Big Picture: 1) This week is Reign of Christ (or Christ the King) Sunday, which concludes “Year B” of the Revised Common Lectionary. Next week, “Year C” begins with the Advent season and the first step of a yearlong pilgrimage through the Gospel of Luke. 2) This is one of the rare times in the year when Christianity’s two major feasts — Easter and Christmas, Crucifixion/Resurrection on one hand, and Incarnation on the other — come into close connection. The one brought before Pilate in Jerusalem is the same one born in a forgotten ..read more