The world rushes forward, lighting up screens and decking out storefronts in a mad sprint toward the next thing, but Advent pulls us back.
In Scripture, laments are raw expressions of grief, but they always point to hope. What if our culture’s obsession with holiday lights is an unconscious way of crying out, “We need good news, and we need it now”?
Below is an excerpt from the personal devotional included in this year’s 1517 Advent Resources.

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Right now (and I would add, for quite some time) there has been a debate within Christianity about the whole issue of culture.
I have found that if I want to get people talking (especially guys), all I have to do is ask them about their father.
Over the last few weeks it’s been painful and disappointing to hear the stories of victims that have been abused and assaulted by powerful celebrities, executives, and politicians.
Summer is almost over! School has started, vacation is done and it’s time to get back to the grind. Do you feel well rested? I suppose that depends on what I mean by rest right?
The common knock against “grace people” (or to put it another way, “Christians”) is that preaching too much grace will encourage licentious living.
Have you ever wondered, of all the adjectives we could use to describe this day why in the world we chose the word “good?” Yeah, me too.
If I'm honest, when I survey my life I don't exude much contentment.
Over the last 11 months I’ve spent the bulk of my time working to plant a church in New York City.
It seems that no matter where we look in this world, we never quite find what we really need.
Surely everyone reading at one time or another in their lives has heard the popular phrase I’m writing about today.
It had just been a few weeks in my friend’s life since he had been converted to the Christian faith. He was very much still learning the ropes of what it meant to be a Christian.
I’m pretty sure that right about now everybody is offended about everything (including this article). At least that’s the way it seems on social media and in various news stories these days.