adriennehope

true repentance

I was reading in a book of Christian poetry this morning the words to several poems that have been set to music and become popular Christmas songs, as is the case with many hymns. And as is often also the case, one poem contained a verse I have never sung, or even heard before, andContinue reading “true repentance”

peace

A word, and a theme, that runs its way through a number of Christmas songs is that of peace. It’s a popular word, really, and one that even those without faith in our society can latch onto, especially at Christmas-time, and proclaim as a good thing. And true peace is a good thing, undoubtedly, thoughContinue reading “peace”

christmas words

I’m just starting to get involved with helping lead a youth group. It’s a pretty cool thing, one I’m excited about for a number of reasons. But more about that will have to wait for another post. Maybe. We’ll see. But anyway…the youth leader of this group just recently began a teaching series called “ChristmasContinue reading “christmas words”

song of the day (and some musings on worship)

The holidays and other travel have meant spending the last two Sundays in two different churches I had never been to before. They were both very large churches with multiple services and new, massive facilities, very obviously staffed well and run well and funded well. Flipping through the bulletins showed that they both had aContinue reading “song of the day (and some musings on worship)”

a childlike joy

Yesterday morning I sat doing some work while my two-year-old nephew played nearby. He had his favorite stacking cups all laid out on the chair next to me and would lift each one up in turn, loudly proclaiming its number and color, then run with it over to the next room, where he was carefullyContinue reading “a childlike joy”

a killing frost

I woke up this morning to this: I love living in a place with seasons. I love the way the cycle of nature; the death of fall and rebirth of spring; echo our death and rebirth in Christ. And I love that we can be reminded of this year after year after year. But thisContinue reading “a killing frost”

words

I debated about starting a blog for a long time. a really long time. I even wrote a fake blog post about why I decided to start a blog, and then saved it on a file on my computer that stayed untouched for over a year. It was full of attempts to be funny (whichContinue reading “words”