The New Year is Here!

Thank you for journeying with us again this Advent season. We are delighted to share our reflections, practices and books with each of you.

As I look ahead to the new year, one image sticks with me. It is a simple picture. I can envision myself on one of my daily walks up and down our long Virginia driveway – and there walking beside me – is Jesus! I have many questions and there are so many mysteries in life that do not have clear answers. In the midst of life’s ups and downs it is a comfort to know I am not alone.

I hope you can place yourself in the midst of God’s presence and love in the upcoming year.

Sherah-Leigh and I are working on another book together in the year ahead, which will be published at the beginning of 2027. We haven’t decided on what new blog series we will be doing yet, but we will let you know as soon as we do!

Wishing you all of God’s abiding presence in the upcoming year!

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

A different kind of waiting…

from the conclusion of Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas (Herald Press, 2025).

Nature’s rhythms remind us that fallow times are necessary, that periods of dormancy bring growth. We are now invited to a different kind of waiting.

Throughout Advent, we have made our preparations. We have honed our skills for waiting, noticing, and anticipating. As we turn the page on the calendar to a new year, we are invited to mark Epiphany, a celebration of the arriving light.

The word epiphany means an appearance or manifestation, specifically of a deity. But it can also signify a sudden insight or intuitive perception. In mid to late winter, we look for the signs of illumination and revelation relating to the wonderings and worries we hold. This is now the season for honoring what has happened in the hiddenness of the dark, even as we welcome the dawn and notice growth, newness, and transformation. We can name where we have experienced the nearness of God recently.

Epiphany connects us to the ongoing story of God. We bear witness to the light that has come and notice where the light shines on. We join the long line of light bearers following in the way of Jesus, holding on to hope for redemption, restoration, and the revealing of shalom in all places for all people.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

“Embodied Christ”

from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2024)

Our embodied existence includes times of great joy and times of suffering—both can even be wrapped into one experience. Sometimes my middle schooler will exclaim, “I am so sore!” after a particularly taxing game of soccer or a demanding physical education class. When I comment that perhaps he could slow down his movements and lessen the hurt afterward, he disagrees. He experiences such joy when exercising his physical body that to decrease his efforts seems impossible.

Embodied living is a beautiful gift from God. Learning to listen thoughtfully to the messages from our God-created human form can increase our awareness of our whole being. And listening to our spirit and acknowledging our humanity can draw us closer to God.

The wonderful, holy event of God coming among us is the story and the promise retold each year during the Christmas season. God created us in
human form. Christ came as Emmanuel, God with us. Our bodies are holy and cracked vessels that are able to carry out God’s kingdom work in the world; the shepherds most likely had their faults, yet they are some of the first humans to respond to Christ’s birth by “glorifying and praising God” (Luke 2:20). They physically ran toward God and visited the Christ child.

As we turn our bodies toward the new year, may we reflect on the holiness of embodied life and listen to the messages our bodies send us. May we thank God that our bodies allow us physical expression of a spiritual existence. May we consider the gift it is that the advent of Christ happened in a body. And may we thank God again that each of us has been given the gift of a finite, beautiful, holy, created body.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

Blessing for the Dawn

from Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas (Herald Press, 2025).

As we mark the longest night and now anticipate the growing light…

Blessing for the dawn

On the wild edge,

on the threshold,

when you are unsure, longing, and vulnerable

may you be held with love.

In the distress,

In the defeat,

when you find that you dwell in the dust

may you find the hidden place of peace.

In the long night,

in the holding vigil,

when you are betting on daylight:

may you awake to joy.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

“Blessing to Love”

from Comfort and Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2025)

May we grasp
impossibly
the breadth of

God’s Love

May we be transformed
miraculously
in the height of

God’s Love

May we overflow
abundantly
filled with the depth of

God’s Love

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

Blessing for the Waiting

from Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas (Herald Press, 2025)

When the light is dim,

and I wonder . . .

Remind me that you come near;

for I am waiting.

I am expectant.

I am preparing;

for I know you work wonders.

For healing,

for reconciliation,

I am waiting.

You announce mysteries.

You choose the surprising.

You keep hope alive.

You fulfill your promises.

You transform the ordinary.

You make a way when there seems to be none.

And I am waiting.

And so may I not only know,

but also practice believing.

While I am waiting.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

“Grace and Peace to You”

from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2025)

In Matthew 1, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream. Most likely Joseph did not have access to written scriptures. He wasn’t part of a culture where the wonders of dreaming were explained through psychology. God used an avenue to communicate that Joseph left open, a dream, to send him a message. This is amazing, since on his own Joseph would have done the kind and culturally appropriate thing of “dismissing Mary quietly” (Matthew 1:19). Instead, God pursued Joseph through a dream to bring about God’s loving plan to save God’s people. By God’s loving grace, Joseph was not left alone to discern the correct path before him.

God still pursues us today. Maybe not with dreams . . . or maybe so. But God’s love does search for us and find us, inviting us to participate in bringing God’s plan into the world. Our job is to listen with the door of our heart open, be willing to wait, and trust that God will come with grace and be with us. Knowing that God—in an effort to share love with us—seeks us has brought a sense of peace to my spiritual journey. We, like Joseph, are invited to accept God’s gracious gift of love and the peace it can bring this Advent season.

God, thank you for seeking and pursuing us with your love. May we accept the grace and peace you extend to each of us. Amen.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

Waiting with hope…

From the introduction of Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas (Herald Press, 2025).

In an Advent sermon on hope, the preacher began with examples of things we wait for: a baby to be born, test results, voting outcomes, the storm to pass. I leaned forward in the pew, reaching for my bag. In the bottom, I found a crumpled receipt and uncapped pen. Using the back of the hymnal as a makeshift lap desk, I scratched out my grumble of a response.

What about the things we wait for with no guaranteed resolution, change, or outcome? Not everything we wait for comes to be. How do we wait for the unknown?

The experiences and questions that bring people before God are less often those of hope and joy and more often because of loss and desperation. The gap between what we profess and preach and what we need spiritually is often wide. As a result, the holiday season can be a particularly tender time when our experience is out of sync with the good tidings and great joy of the Christmas message.

While Advent is for all of us, it is particularly for those who have questions, for those with need, and for those sitting in darkness. Advent is a time when we offer our experiences before God. We remember and celebrate God’s faithful action in the past as we await the arrival of the light and anticipate transformation in our own situations and circumstances.

Whether you are grieving or waiting for something with little hope of resolution, no guarantee of healing, or assurance of what is to come, Advent is the season for you. For out of chaos God creates, and into darkness the light shines. It is in the silence that the Word arrives, and out of death that resurrection comes. Thanks be to God.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

“Welcoming Joy”

from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2024)

Children bring a special wonder and delight to Christmas endeavors, especially to creative projects. There’s plenty we can learn from their carefree, experiential attitudes.

When my now-grown son was a preschooler, I dreaded going into any store with TVs, computers, or any appliance with buttons. He wanted to touch every button. “Mom,” he explained, “You don’t understand. That’s what buttons are for—pushing!” He experienced joy by pushing all the buttons regardless of the outcome. For him, joy was about the process.

Acknowledging that joy has restorative work in our lives look for ways to foster this in yourself and others. Part of welcoming joy into our lives involves releasing control and worry about others’ perceptions of us. Children do this so well because they haven’t yet learned all of the social rules and constraints that inhibit us adults. Remaining open to joyful surprise is a worthwhile spiritual discipline, no matter what your holiday surroundings might be.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

Take Heart

from the introduction of Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas (Herald Press, 2025).

Despite the doctors’ earlier estimates, we now knew this would be our final holiday season together. After one last Christmas morning on the farm, we would move my mother-in-law into a facility where she could receive round-the-clock care as her body slowly shut down.

The cursor blinked on the blank page of my computer screen as Sunday morning drew nearer. What words of hope and peace could I offer when my world didn’t feel merry and bright?

The liturgical calendar reminds us that as Christians we do not live on the world’s time. The church has its own rhythms and rituals to nurture our souls along the discipleship journey and through the worship life of the community of God’s people.

So, I stood before my congregation on the first Sunday of Advent that year and said:

This morning, we light the first Advent candle, in anticipation of God’s justice breaking in. God longs to free us from all that holds us captive to fear, confusion, and even despair. We light this candle as a reminder to take heart. God is coming to make things right.

The heart of Advent is an invitation to renew our commitments to the spiritual practices that form and inform our faith. It is the season for those of us who are weary, for those burdened by grief and loss as we are invited to make space in our hearts and minds to receive anew the many gifts of incarnation.

We hope this brings you some comfort and joy. You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.

Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.