Sarah Palin is writing another book. This one focuses on putting faith and values back into Christmas. Sarah Palin is writing another book. This one focuses on putting faith and ...

Too often fail to recognize the social circumstances in which Jesus was born; our understanding of the nativity narrative is too often left incomplete. When asked to identify c ...

Underneath the rhetoric of the gun-control debate this Christmas is a nagging question: are more guns the solution to our gun problem? What does the birth of the baby Jesus 2,00 ...

We can rest easy – the live Christmas tree industry that has developed since that time is actually a benefit to the global climate. Some of my environmentally conscious friends h ...

Not only is this song fun to sing with its drum-like “pa-rum-pum-pum-pums,” but also it embraces a non-materialistic message that we all need to hear, especially this time of year. ...

That kind of peace is what descended on my heart and mind in the wake of my father’s death. I didn’t do anything to get it to arrive. I didn’t pray the right prayer or read the right thing. It just … arrived. ...

This Christmas I hope those “three ships” will sail toward the light of my Advent candles. And that I’m ready to receive the treasures they bear. One carol I’ve been humming this ...

When Jesus says “Whenever you did for the least of these” many years after his birth in a manger, maybe we’re supposed to take his words somewhat literally: Jesus lived without shelter and clothes. He was hung ...

Rather than a subversive message about the twisting of the Gospel, “Do You Hear What I Hear” was actually a call for peace during the turbulence of the 1960s. Whoops. I was joki ...

One question I am left with as I think about Bethlehem and the places surrounding it this Christmas is What would Jesus have to say about this conflict? I don’t know about you, bu ...

There is a season for researching, debating, and discussing ways to end poverty and hunger once and for all. But this is not that season. When I go home for Christmas, I always en ...

Advent allows us to realign our expectations to His plan. Social justice will not happen in the way that we devise. If God came as this baby Jesus, how will God right all things wrong? ...

Sojo is ready to celebrate this season of Advent, our Savior’s birth, and all of the family time and Christmas cookies that come with it. So here it is: The Top 5 Ways to Get Into the Christmas Spirit. ...

This Christmas, for the spirituality-and-pop-culture enthusiasts on your gifting list, consider the following: Be kind and rewind.Give the gift that keeps on giving ... long after the series has been cancelled ...

We Christians have a long and storied history of playing the martyr, whether there’s actually anyone persecuting us or not. I sat behind a couple of folks on a plane to Seattle th ...

At its heartwarming core, Christmas is the story of a birth: the tender relationship between a new mother and her newborn child. At its heartwarming core, Christmas is the story ...

The week of Christmas had always been an exciting time for my friends, my brothers, and me. We knew we would wake up on Christmas morning and find video games, toys, basketballs, clothes, and all of the things ...

It took me years to realize that there was a character missing from my congregation’s telling of the story. In the church where I grew up, the first Sunday in Advent was dubbed t ...

This song is full of creation references. Earth is receiving her king, and nature is singing with gusto. I’ve been really lucky this month to hear some of my co-workers’ refle ...

This Advent, as we wait for the true light who is coming into the world (John 1:9) we pause and reflect on our Christmas hope. As a friend said last night, we do not linger forever in uncertainty but as an exp ...

Many Christians may be surprised to hear a sermon during Advent that focuses on challenging our cultural assumptions about the meaning of Christmas, but doing so may be the most faithful witness a pastor can o ...

For those who seek to follow Jesus we are challenged with one of his core teachings: "You cannot serve both God and mammon." Mammon: wealth, riches, money, stuff. Ther ...

A key insight into this portion of the Christmas narrative is that God is revealed through the vulnerability of poverty and marginalization One of the most fresh and challenging i ...

The baby Jesus is not merely a sentimental or cute idea but is potentially radical, transformative, and controversial. There is a line from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem about the ...

As I was washing dishes, belting out my favorite version of “O! Holy Night,” I was suddenly struck with the thought What am I singing? I can remember hearing several times as a mi ...

I have a great deal of respect for the desire to keep the focus on Jesus and his birth at this time of year. And, yet, I allow my children … I encourage them even … to believe in Santa. ...

The beautiful anonymity and soft innocence of a young girl in Nazareth would be stripped by an angelic visitation. Who could ever envision the global veneration soon to commence? ...

I am not compelled to "reclaim" or "rescue" Christmas from the many who ignore and the few who despise its magnificent origins. Are you put out that a commun ...

I'm one of those lefty liberals that have declared a War on Christmas. Yes! Sign me up for the War on Christmas! But maybe not for the reasons you might imagine. Ah — I L ...

Let’s start “A Christmas Tithe.” Let’s spread the idea to our kids, our families, our friends and neighbors, and to the members of our congregations. Religion is far too judgmenta ...

‘Tis the season for “Bah Humbug” and “God bless us every one,” especially as the world caps off a year of celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of novelist Charles Dickens. ...

Peace starts by altering our patterns of desire so that we can do the things that matter most – identifying with the needs of others, especially the poor. When you really dro ...

During the upcoming season of Advent we ask God to provide us with a full portion of urgent patience. On the morning of Nov. 7, just hours after polling places closed and as vote ...

This week, the Circle of Protection, released an open letter to the president and Congress with a simple message: during the holidays, please “advance policies that protect the poor — not ones that make them p ...

It’s hard to find toys that are geared towards girls without stereotyping, or just a boy’s toy that’s painted pink. So, here it is — the Top 10 Gifts You Should Get Your Daughter This Christmas. ...

Julie Polter Elaina Ramsey Center yourself during this busy holiday season with our to ...

Julie Polter Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron / Silver and Gold by Sufjan Stevens / Star of Wonder by Mary Lee Wile / The Food and Feast ...

Sandra M. Tully You wait a long time for Christmas morning drifting asleep even as the ebony slate of sky shatters in clarion silence Glory, Hallelujah! and shepherds in th ...

WASHINGTON --- An appeal over Christmas sweets turned bitter on Monday (June 11) when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the so-called “Christian candy cane” case. The case out of Texas has become a rallying point for conservative Christians con ...

An original poem by Sarah Vanderveen. It was a December of golden days and crisp, sparkling nights. I saw swooping pelicans and Orion's belt, bright blooming ...

A Christmas Carol, I would argue, is not ultimately about Christmas, but conversion. Christmas as Ebenezer “Marley was dead, to begin with.” So begins the classic ta ...

That baby Jesus will be many more things as his life, death, resurrection and eternity continues but here in the straw, and central to everything he will do and be, he is a symbol of grace. This is what Christ ...

Each day leading until Christmas we will post a different video rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" for your holiday enjoyment and edification. On this Christmas Eve, as you gather with "kith and kin" on the threshold of the Chri ...

Children remind us what faith is. When they overflow with joy and excitement it is contagious. When I imagine Jesus telling his disciples, “Let the little children come to me,” I ...

Scrooge had not yet lost all his empathy. It took the visions of Christmas past in order to spark it in him but it was still there. The Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge a to ...

Each day leading until Christmas we will post a different video rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" for your holiday enjoyment and edification. Today: The Cathedral Choir of New Jersey. ...

December 22, 2011   QUOTE OF THE WEEK   Quote of the day. ...

Each day leading until Christmas we will post a different video rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" for your holiday enjoyment and edification. Today Handel's "Hallelujah" is brought to you by the junior high students from O ...

No matter how much we give to those around us, it can never match the Light of the World entering into the darkness to be with us. Emmanuel, God with us, is the gift that can’t be out given. ...

Each day leading until Christmas we will post a different video rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" for your holiday enjoyment and edification. Today, a classic, rousing rendition of Handel's ...