Let's start with an easy one! The whole theme of Advent had me thinking about the reality of God and some of the language we use to talk about God. Much popular writing about God seems to go around the idea of the existence of God which raises great problems about what it means to say God exists, but the reality of God is a different issue. Dreams are real. Fears are real. Love is real. Stories and metaphors are real. God is real. In the same way that we wouldn't say that dreams or love exists we shouldn't say that God exists; nor do we say that love and dreams don't exist-- existence doesn't come up in this context. But one does say that God is real. How God is real should frame the discussion in examining our texts.