New Year's message from the Orthodox Church in America
Dec 30 2005 02:46AM
The beginning of the new year offers us an opportunity to make a resolution that matters, that transcends the goals inherent in so many "new year's resolutions" and offers us a foretaste of the very Kingdom of God that, while yet to be fully revealed, is
Three pagans and a baby: A story of God's open arms
Dec 30 2005 02:37AM
The Magi don't fit in the pretty picture of the nativity as neatly as tradition would have us believe.
The prodigal fork
Dec 30 2005 01:36AM
It defied all odds and had the stuff of an urban legend. I asked myself if there could possibly be such a thing as a coincidence like this that is simply random and has no meaning or purpose? No way.
For Christians, a suicide bomber with Catholic roots is a reason to reflect
Column: God Said What?
Dec 30 2005 01:00AM
In this story, the twisted world of radical Islam that leads to suicide bombing is on full display for anyone who has eyes to see it. No one can deny its power to warp reality by deifying the combination of suicide and murder. All three faiths of Abraham
Column: For His Glory
Dec 30 2005 12:53AM
We all love to be challenged. We either conquer the challenge or gain respect for it. What about starting this year with a challenge that will change your life completely? Results guaranteed. Are you up to it? If so, take the challenge.
Putting Mary in her (high and exalted) place
Dec 30 2005 12:44AM
About Mary: When a baby is born, we always wonder how the mother is doing, as well as the child. We cannot separate the one from the other; it would be like separating one's hand from one's arm and still expecting the hand to work.
Column: Our Place in the Universe
Dec 28 2005 02:21AM
When we conceptualize the ideal in our lives, we also have to deal with reality. We must be concerned about this reality and use our imagination to overcome our fear. For we can choose to either go up to the mountaintop together, or we will go down toget
Tibetan Buddhist and Gregorian chant
Dec 28 2005 01:26AM
A "concert" of Tibetan chant and Gregorian chant became ecumenical prayer: "S/he who sings, prays twice."
Column: Sex and Society
Dec 28 2005 12:35AM
New Year's resolutions are a reminder: life "don't come easy!"
The penguins of the movie toddle onward simply, resolutely like Christian soldiers
Dec 28 2005 12:20AM
Why is the faith-based community so intrigued with the penguin? Does Hollywood truly ignore valued traditions, monogamy and sacrifice?
A wonderful hospital
Dec 27 2005 01:31AM
After arriving at a hospital with an ill family member, I was surprised to find a bastion for budding relationships. Life is much more cheerful where community abounds.
If holiday stress gets you down, consider the stress of the first Christmas.
Dec 27 2005 01:31AM
Holidays can be stressful on families; but then it has been ever since the first Christmas. Consider what the family in the nativity scene had to cope with.
Christian rights group protests U.S. Government monitoring of mosques
Dec 26 2005 02:40AM
The practice of monitoring activities in and around mosques was put into place by the Attorney General shortly after the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center.
No Room? Make Room!
Dec 26 2005 02:13AM
Reserve a room in the inn of your heart. Prepare yourself spiritually to receive the blessing of the Christmas season. How to do that? You can begin by slowing down so you can allow yourself to be loved.
Sneak preview of God's Kingdom!
Dec 26 2005 12:56AM
What will we look like in the resurrection? Do we go to Heaven or pray "Thy Kingdom Come?" Didn't Jesus say "the meek shall inherit the Earth?"
He's here
Dec 23 2005 02:40AM
It was purely out of love that Christ took on our human flesh and was born in the most abject of conditions. It was to identify Himself with the poor — which is all of us.
Iran's new president: The boy in the bubble
Column: God Said What?
Dec 23 2005 02:36AM
Bubbles that we live in can warp reality. In calling for the extermination of the Jews, the new Iranian President just showed us his.
Sins of the father
Dec 23 2005 01:47AM
The dysfunctional relationships within Abraham's own family are being played out on a larger, broader and far more tragic stage in the dysfunctional interfaith family of Jews and Muslims.
Religion: Don't blame it on God
Dec 23 2005 01:02AM
Religion has given us reasons to mistreat outsiders, start wars, to hate, and to destroy. God hasn't.
Column: For His Glory
Dec 23 2005 12:34AM
Would you force someone to do something against their will? What about joining a majority group to enforce their ideas upon a minority group? If you answered no, think again you might be doing so and might not even be aware of it.
Column: Our Place in the Universe
Dec 22 2005 02:06AM
When we own our gifts we can be generous with them, share them, even give them away without thinking that we are losing anything. Our value will be coming from the inside out, and we will find ourselves with more and more to give.
The Mule of Mississippi
Dec 22 2005 01:11AM
For an African-American in the post-Civil War South, the difference between a having a future and not having one, was whether you owned a mule.
Column: Sex and Society
Dec 21 2005 02:32AM
At Christmas we should learn from the purity of Mary's attitudes and behavior. The ultimate irony is that those who reject the true freedom of Mary's absolute obedience to God, experience the greatest bondage: addiction and enslavement to their own urges
Chanukah redux: This year, celebrate the true meaning of Chanukah
Column: Mensch Press
Dec 21 2005 01:49AM
It is up to Jews to reinvigorate Judaism in America, and Chanukah provides the ideal opportunity for a rededication to Torah and God.
Was John Paul II really a conservative?
Dec 21 2005 01:17AM
Watershed actions of Pope John Paul II present major breakthroughs and major returns in Catholic tradition.
Procrastination
Dec 20 2005 01:20AM
Procrastination may seem like a good option until all options run out and we are forced to do what we avoided at the last minute and we produce chaos instead of emulating God and His peace.
Looking for the Kingdom: Fourth Sunday in Advent
Dec 19 2005 02:37AM
This Kingdom the Jewish People got wasn't the one they were looking for. They wanted restoration of David's political kingdom. What they got was an unlikely prophet whose conception and birth was outside anyone's imagining and a kingdom ruled by the power
Why I no longer celebrate Christmas
Dec 19 2005 02:14AM
Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Can a pagan holiday be converted? Does it matter what God thinks?
The woman at the well got a bad rap!
Dec 19 2005 01:59AM
We've all heard the song... "and he told her every thing she'd ever done." Our 21st century interpretations don't grasp her real significance.
Christmas may not be cancelled after all
Dec 19 2005 01:33AM
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the removal of Christmas from the public sector is "all because of a quite wrong-headed idea that our neighbors from other religious traditions will be offended by Christian symbols."
Who is the protagonist in the Gospels?
Dec 19 2005 12:45AM
We look everywhere to find examples of Jesus' compassion. His stories transcend man-made boundaries.
Largest U.S. Churches cancelling Christmas service
Dec 17 2005 02:25AM
When Christmas has the audacity to fall on a Sunday, we find out what we're really made of. Some say this means the secular world's takeover of Christmas is official. Everyone is too worn out from the shopping hype that began in August.
Boise churches donate gas
Dec 17 2005 02:18AM
Your money's no good here, they were told, as they pumped $10,000 worth of free gas.
UN calls on Iran to stop persecution of Baha'is
Dec 17 2005 12:58AM
The resolution also encourages various agencies of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to continue to work to improve the human rights situation in Iran, and at the same time it calls on the government of Iran to cooperate with these agencies.
Column: For His Glory
Dec 16 2005 02:09AM
However private our sins may be, there comes a time when we must pray for forgiveness as an entire community. Collectively, we have failed God often. Join me in surrendering the heart of our society to the God who heals.
Where John Lennon missed it (On being spiritual - Part 3)
Dec 16 2005 12:54AM
When we cloak our passion for our particular beliefs or spiritual practices for fear of creating disunity, we prevent honest relationships, thereby denying unity the ability to exist.
A conversation with a night heron
Dec 15 2005 01:30AM
We stood immobile, our eyes locked in communication. I felt as if we understood each other's nature and our mutual connection to the spirit within everything. "What are you trying to tell me?" I asked it.
Column: Sex and Society
Dec 15 2005 01:27AM
Sports bar infomercials are already promoting the newest rage for 2006's spring break beach parties: high school and college girls flashing the cameras and making out with each other. What do the girls get? Increased sexual dysfunctions and free baseball
Learning how to see the divine by watching God move in the world
Column: God Said What?
Dec 15 2005 01:07AM
God's presence surrounds us. But how the heck do we figure out how to see God moving in the world?
Helsinki Commission hits Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan on religious freedom
Dec 15 2005 12:45AM
Although signatories to the Helsinki Final Act, guaranteeing freedom of religion and conscience, both countries have been seen as persecuting Islam and other faiths.
Cyberporn and democracy
Dec 15 2005 12:39AM
Pornography has moved in quick progression from desktop computer to mobile phones and now iPods. Lecturing the rest of the world on the virtues of democracy is at odds with Bush Administration claims that the U.S.
holds the moral high ground.
Near Jesus' birthplace - a haven for expectant mothers
Dec 15 2005 12:36AM
Outside Holy Family Hospital's doors, the primitive conditions in which Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, still exist and women often find themselves delivering their babies in the most unsanitary and unsafe of conditions.
Column: Our Place in the Universe
Dec 14 2005 02:27AM
Even the simple act of recycling can empower the student to believe that he or she can make a difference in this world as an individual, but in the context of the greater whole, by seeing the interconnectedness of creation.
You have the right to remain sane
Dec 14 2005 01:36AM
Is Jesus shopping for a clue that it's his birthday? And are we lost in the spirit, trying to stay sane through it all.
Are conservative Catholic women presently functioning as priests?
Dec 14 2005 01:02AM
Catholic Women currently participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ by administering sacraments. And they have been doing so for two thousand years.
Freewill is more than a word
Dec 13 2005 12:43AM
The human will does not receive the attention it should. Though factors may be beyond our control we continue having a large role in the drama of life.
Memories of Mama Evans
Dec 11 2005 01:18AM
How a loving Christian woman from the South touched so many lives in the North.
Column: For His Glory
Dec 9 2005 02:44AM
There is plenty to celebrate during the Christmas season, after all we as Christians believe that Christ was born in order to redeem us and even though December 25 is not the exact day shouldn't this season make us reflect on His love and not on bickering
John the Baptist dims the spotlight on himself
Dec 9 2005 02:23AM
When given the opportunity to glorify himself, John the Baptist demurs and points the spotlight to where it truly belongs - on Christ.
Knees are for praying too
Dec 9 2005 12:20AM
The human knee is an amazingly complex and versatile hinge. It's the Creator's hinge that can pivot while moving in any direction and we use it a lot more than we use the man-made manufactured hinges on our litany of so-called indispensable toys.