It’s our responsibility as Christians to give what’s real this Christmas. The human memory is a mysterious thing. We can feel like a distant moment “happened only yesterday” but can’t remember what we ate for lunch. Or we can be certain we are recalling an event exactly as it happened, only to be find that our…
Christmas is the time of year Christians have the home field advantage. Arguably the biggest global holiday of the year centers around the birth of one person: Jesus Christ. Jesus may be now be sharing the stage with a whole cast of characters from Santa Claus to Frosty to the Nutcracker but He is still…
As we approach the celebration of Christmas, let us unwrap the mystery and the meaning of the manger. From the perspective of reasoned thought or a rational mind, the Bible’s claim that the God of the universe, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, took on human flesh by being born of a virgin some 2,000 years…
By R. Lucas Stamps, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The fight against abortion is a hearts-and-minds campaign. Pro-life advocates rightly pursue legislative and judicial means to end the evil of legal abortion, but a large part of our struggle is persuasive in nature. And we need all kinds of arguments in our tool belt…
While the airwaves are filled with the refrain “Mary did you know” the person of Mary, the circumstances of conception, and the nature of her child, Jesus, are sources of deep theological division. Evangelical Christians and Muslims agree that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. But Progressive Christiansand Jews reject that. Some Eastern Christians and Roman Catholics…
While I dare not hope that those advocating a war on Christmas are in retreat, it does feel as if there are fewer instances of overt Christmas bashing this year. The recent Pew Research poll indicates that most Americans support the display of distinctively Christian decorations in public settings and, much to the shock of…
“Is tomorrow Christmas?” has become the routine tuck-in question at my house. For 10 days now I’ve been answering, “No, but it’s coming soon.” My stepson is not particularly attuned to the calendar — daily, weekly or monthly. To his way of thinking it’s always possible that tomorrow is his birthday, or Saturday, or in this…
By Mary Holder Naegeli When I found out it was lung cancer that was making me sick, a friend from church wrote a sweet note saying, “Welcome to the club nobody wants to join.” In the ensuing days and weeks, others who have traveled this road have come to my attention, sharing from their experiences…
By Mary Holder Naegeli Yesterday was the first day of two weeks without any sort of cancer treatment, medical appointments, or lab tests. I hardly knew what to do with myself! If it hadn’t been for my daughter’s presence, I would have been lonesome, bored, and unimaginative. As it was, the residual effects of radiation…
By Mary Holder Naegeli We Americans, from a cultural point of view, cherish the concept of freedom so dearly that we sometimes resist the inclinations of big government. A national ID card, for instance, cannot get traction here in the States. Every tenth year we hear about folks who desire not to be counted in…