There's a potentially new development in President-elect Donald Trump's plans for mass deportations. With Border Czar Tom Homan taking point, Texas continues to come forward with the assist in hopes of cleaning up the mess that is President Joe Biden's invasion of illegal immigrants. After the New York Post reported...

I wonder if the participants in the original Christmas story ever dreamed that the celebration of Christ's birth would become so hassled and hurried. The shepherds? The angels? The wise men? Mary and Joseph too?

Clinging to our faith encourages us to trust God wholeheartedly, therefore giving us the endurance and strength to care for and serve our loved ones.

Some life experiences are disorienting and overwhelming. Maybe it’s your first day of a new school or job or your first time in a new city. You look around and don’t recognize anyone, so you don’t know what to do. To see a familiar face can make a huge difference, bringing relief and comfort. Suddenly, unfamiliar situations don’t seem so strange, and the burden of facing the unknown eases. The letter of James can be a disorienting book. It sounds so different from other parts of the Bible, and we may not understand how it fits within our theological system. Yet if we know what to look for, we’ll find familiar biblical “faces” that help us get our bearings and navigate James’s five chapters. James is closely related to other Scriptures—from both the Old and New Testaments. If we can identify how James echoes other portions of the Bible, we can gain our interpretive footing and see that this letter isn’t as strange as it seems. Here are four familiar faces. 1. James’s Name The name “James” has rich connections to the Old Testament. In the Gospels, Jesus has two disciples named James, including one of his inner three. The James who wrote this letter is different; he’s Jesus’s half-brother. What may be lost in English translation is that the name is the same as “Jacob.” Jacob was one of the Old Testament patriarchs. He was also known as Israel, and he was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. In this light, notice that James (Jacob) wrote to the 12 tribes of the Dispersion (James 1:1). It’s the letter of a New Testament Jacob to the 12 tribes of Israel who follow Christ in the new covenant era. James is the letter of a New Testament Jacob to the 12 tribes of Israel who follow Christ in the new covenant era. 2. Lord of Glory One of the most important passages about Christ in James comes in 2:1, where Jesus is identified as the “Lord of glory.” This designation also has an Old Testament background—it likely echoes the language from Psalm 24:7–10 that speaks of the Lord as the King of glory. For instance, Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah (v. 10) James identifies the resurrected, glorified Jesus with the Lord of the Psalms, which is consistent with how other New Testament authors speak of Christ in exalted terms (e.g., 1 Cor. 8:5–6; Phil. 2:5–11; 2 Pet. 1:1). 3. Under Foot Closely related to James’s view of Jesus as the Lord of glory is the possibility that he alludes to Psalm 110:1 in his critique of the covenant community showing favoritism to the rich. They shouldn’t say to the poor man, “Sit under my feet” (James 2:3; author’s translation), for that dishonors the poor man. This may also be an allusion to one of the Old Testament passages most often quoted and alluded to in the New Testament. Psalm 110:1 speaks of Christ’s exaltation and of his enemies being placed under his feet (see Acts 2:34–35; 1 Cor. 15:25; Eph. 1:22; Heb. 1:13). Perhaps the favoritism James’s audience shows in the church is inconsistent with their commitment to Christ as the glorious Lord—the One who will have all things under his feet. If so, James may be using this passage in a surprising way: all things are subject to Christ, but by asking the poor to sit “under foot,” we’re treating them as second-class citizens in the church. Such behavior is inconsistent with Jesus’s present reign. 4. Royal Law The Gospels are another familiar face for contextualizing James. Notice that James uses the phrase “royal law” and then cites Scripture in James 2:8. The quotation stems from Leviticus 19:18: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the second great commandment as designated by Jesus. It is the royal law because of its connection to Jesus’s teaching about the Kingdom of God (Mark 12:31). By asking the poor to sit ‘under foot,’ we’re treating them as second-class citizens in the church. Many of James’s statements reflect the teaching of Jesus. In addition to James 2:8, James’s mention of the poor who are rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom (Jas. 2:5) reflects Jesus’s teaching that the poor are honored in the Kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20). Similarly, James’s encouragement for the humble to boast in their exaltation, and the rich in their humiliation (Jas. 1:9–11) also speaks about life in the Kingdom of God. Get Your Bearings Don’t stop with these four faces. Look for others as you read through James. See if you can detect how it echoes other Scriptures, and don’t forget to use your Bible’s cross-references. These can point you to a whole host of recognizable faces. James was intimately familiar with Scripture, and the more familiar we are, the better we’ll understand James.

An excavation on the east coast of Corsica has uncovered the remains of a tile workshop dating to the 1st century A.D. Archaeologists from INRAP have been excavating the site on a small hill overlooking the Étang de Diane, a lagoon exiting to the Tyrrhenian Sea just north of Aleria, since July in advance of a real estate development. Remains of an Early Iron Age pre-historic settlement is the first evidence of occupation the team unearthed. It was a good-sized village with about 50 structures, some of stone others of perishable materials from which only post holes remain. Archaeologists found abundant ceramics of local manufacture and several examples of Etruscan imports. (Etruscans founded the nearby town of Nicaea, while Aleria was founded by colonists from Phocaea in Ionia, Greece, in the 6th century B.C.) The excavation also revealed pits containing fragments of large stone tools (millstones, grinding wheels). To the immediate south of the pre-historic site almost on top of the water, archaeologists found a full-fledged tile production workshop. Every stage of production took place here, starting with the decantation of the clay (when it is separated from water by allowing the clay particles to settle) in a large tile-lined basin. The tiles (architectural tegulae) were then fired in a kiln with a double-vaulted heating chamber. The kiln was inside a large masonry building with walls made of pebbles in lime mortar. Next to the kiln building was another structure with thick walls supported by buttresses. Archaeologists believe it was the warehouse where the finished tiles were sorted and stored. A number of large pits dug outside the perimeter of the structure contained waste from the kiln and misfired and broken tiles. On the outskirts of the tile workshop area, the excavation uncovered eight funerary structure. Most of them feature tile architecture (formwork lined with tiles or gable with tile roofs) with stone wedges for support. No bones survived due to the acidic soul, but one funerary urn was found that may contain cinerary remains. It is still filled with soil and due to its fragility will be excavated in laboratory conditions. A few pieces of pottery and glass balsamaria were found within the tile graves. They have not been conclusively dated yet, but given the connection to the tile workshop, the graves probably date to the same period. The second round of excavations will continue into December, but after that the land, which is privately owned, will be returned to the developers. All the movable archaeology will be recovered and studied in the laboratory in early 2025. A multi-disciplinary team of experts (ceramologists, anthropologists, geomorphologists, palynologists, etc.) will analyze the archaeological materials and date the burials. 

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