John's purpose was to get people's attention by his rude appearance and his harsh preaching of the Law and then to divert that attention away from himself and toward the One whose way he came to prepare--the One of whom he said:  "After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie"

"How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on."  It seems that, when we are anxiously waiting for something, it takes forever for that thing to arrive, but then when it does finally come it is gone almost immediately. 

Are you ready for Christmas?  I doubt it.  Neither am I.  But that's okay.  The far more important question is: Are you ready for Jesus? 

We hear about the terrible condition of our society but instead of hearing about the need for repentance and the Good News of forgiveness made possible through the blood of Christ, we hear instead about who needs to be elected to office and what laws need to be passed and enforced

 We insist on doing things that we are not able to do while at the same time we refuse to do the things that we can do. 

     There's a word that we like to use a lot in the Church.  The word I'm talking about is fellowship.

  The Gospel for this day is without a doubt one of the most popular passages in the New Testament.  Even people who aren't Christians will quote these Beatitudes (along with various other statements found in our Savior's Sermon on the Mount) to define the virtues to which people of all faiths and stations in life ought to aspire.