Christmas arrives in less than a week. In homes where we've been intense pain, our childlike hearts look forward to shared joys and enchanting moments we will remember in coming years. We also prepare to exchange gifts with those we love. For some, the sorrows of loss and suffering darken…
Ever contemplate the gifts of Christ when you admire a creche? Nativity scenes often imply three wise men visited the newborn Savior on the first Christmas. Scholars believe the visit might have occurred a bit later than the night of Jesus' birth and no specific number of magi are mentioned in…
A week ago, ashes marked the foreheads of countless believers worldwide. Even those of us who didn't participate in the traditions of Ash Wednesday have rolled our clocks forward to spring into a new season. Lente, the Middle English word for springtime, birthed the name of our current phase in…
As children, we fidgeted through the advent season. Those ribbon-locked packages peeked from under our Christmas trees as if teasing us. Some of us, not to be named, might have failed this test of patience and suffered the consequences. Christmas tests our patience in more serious ways as we mature. The…
Summer's bloom wilts on the branch-like weeks of our calendar. In the next breath, the season of respite will drift away and wither in the breeze of time. With heavy sighs, we face the next pages of our year. School and work routines loom before us. The angry, red eyes of…
Summer's bloom wilts on the branch-like weeks of our calendar. In the next breath, the season of respite will drift away and wither in the breeze of time. With heavy sighs, we face the next pages of our year. School and work routines loom before us. The angry, red eyes…
In a time of pervasive online connectivity, loneliness plagues our world like never before. Online friendships remain shallow and fail to sate our hunger for empathy and support. Fear tempts us to seek refuge from violence broadcast throughout the world. In the shadow of grim murder stories, we isolate in our…
If your life seems bleak this December, you might be tempted to believe Christmas is geared toward those whose lives are already merry. But, the true story was masterminded and birthed by the Divine Author for those in desperate need, those just like you. Many church traditions center scripture studies on…
This month, parents launch kids off to school, college students head off to dorms, and the rest of us prepare for autumn's sprint toward Christmas. Whatever compels us to shop this season, most of us could do with a few bargains to get us through the last half of 2017. Today's…
This Sunday, we turn our clocks forward to signify the launch of a new season. Though most of us dread losing an hour of sleep, the onset of spring brightens the world with blessings in such abundance we can soon forget its first groggy dawn. As we put our dark wintry…