Barnabas File

One of the challenges of Advent is keeping the events and persons fresh and relevant.     There is a tendency to come up with some basic ideas and become stuck there.     In an effort to get some new perspective, I reading Adam Hamilton’s book The Journey. He combines biblical reflection, observations about the places mentioned, and some preaching imagination to bring new insights to Mary, Joseph, and others in these familiar stories.   As he writes about Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (which probably lasted several months), Hamilton identifies the mentor and protégé relationship that was established between the two women. It is one worth unpacking.   First, when Mary finds herself miraculously pregnant, she must have thought of her kinswoman Elizabeth who also had been unexpectedly blessed.  Through the family grapevine, Mary learned that elderly, revered woman was expecting.  Although their circumstances were different, Mary identified eno...

One of the challenges of Advent is keeping the events and persons fresh and relevant.     There is a tendency to come up with some basic ideas and become stuck there.    In an effort to get some new perspective, I have been reading Adam Hamilton’s book The Journey in recent days. He combines biblical reflection, observations about the places mentioned, and some preaching imagination to bring new insights to Mary, Joseph, and others in these familiar stories.   As he writes about Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (which probably lasted several months), Hamilton identifies the mentor and protégé relationship that was established between the two women. It is one worth unpacking.   First, when Mary finds herself miraculously pregnant, she must have thought of her kinswoman Elizabeth who also had been unexpectedly blessed.  Through the family grapevine, Mary learned that elderly, revered woman was expecting.  Although their circumstances were differ...