The main focus of Chapter 3 is John the Baptist.  We move quickly from his birth to his ministry in the wilderness.  The other day at Church someone was asking me why he spent the majority of his life in the desert / wilderness.  The best answer I have is that there was a community of people who thought the temple priesthood was so corrupt, that they moved to the desert to begin anew.  These people were called the Essenes and sought to return to the time of wandering, when Israel followed God completely for 40 years before entering the promised land.  John's parents joined this group, which was interesting since his father, Zechariah was a priest in the Temple.  Something must have happened - we're not sure exactly what, but Zechariah and Elizabeth felt that God was calling them to another way of life, so they left what they knew, with all of its security and predictability, and moved to the desert.  There John grew up, and eventually became a very lar...

It's been a long time since I published here - about 10 months.  My life has taken some twists and turns.  As I went along I reflected on last year's journey, and my plan to launch Parish Development Ministries.  When I look back at everything I intended to do, I do think I had a decent road map.  But I didn't do a lot of it.  As it turns out, my heart really is in parish ministry, and I'm really glad to be back in that role. Last summer I accepted a call to St. Mary's Church in Wayne, PA.  So we moved again, and I'm settling into this new and wonderful place.  Since it is a year of new things, I decided to launch an Advent Challenge for the new year.  Things worked out nicely.  There are 24 days of Advent this year, and it's Year C, when we'll be reading the Gospel of Luke.  Since Luke has 24 chapters, it just makes sense to read one chapter a day this month, and be prepared for Christmas. Luke is an interesting Gospel.  He has one...