Entering the Temple’s sanctuary to light incense for prayer would have been a once in a lifetime experience for Zechariah.  The cohort of priests he was part of would have served at the temple two weeks of every year, but there were enough men in the group to make entering the sanctuary a rare...

Angels show up all over the place in stories of this season.  We’ll be seeing quite a lot more of them over the next month or so.  The best-known appearance is in today’s scripture: Gabriel shows up to tell Mary she will bear a son.  In other appearances: an angel tells Zacharaiah that his aged...

Land must lay fallow every six years, left to rest, unplowed and unplanted. All of it, as well as the vines and the olive trees.  Let it all rest, untended, God says.  That will leave enough for the poor to live on. Likewise, rest entirely every seventh day.  Don’t make anyone else work either. ...