An American holiday tradition that’s proven to be financially successful was observed again last month. It’s a tradition that reminds one of comedian Stan Freberg’s 1958 spoof of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol called “Green Christmas.” Freberg’s Scrooge owns an ad agency geared to profiting from
Dotti Berry and Roby Sapp were just being themselves. That’s how the trouble started. In 2004, they bought a new house in a Blaine, Washington neighborhood and were planning their wedding. They were legally married in Portland, Oregon on March 7, 2004, a union that
I have found a great challenge these last few months I want to share. Being a seminary student, I am required to work and attend classes in a hospital environment as part of the credits for my Divinity degree. This is called CPE (Clinical Pastoral
Read the rest of the series Because of technology, I am plugged into several networks for Christians who are gay. One prevailing theme throughout all of them is that many in our community suffer from depression and a profound sense of hopelessness. This isn’t just
As I write this, I find that once again, the Holiday season is nearly over, and the annual “Christmas Chaos” is all over for yet another year. Don’t misunderstand me; I am not referring to the real reason for the Christmas Season, the celebration of
Over the millennia of human faith history, God has been patiently training us and leading us along the path of ever-greater growth. All too often, religious people seem to believe we need to flatter and bribe God, thereby “bringing ‘Him’ around” to being good to
It’s in giving that we receive. (Prayer of St. Francis, 13th century saint) When you give, You begin to live, You get the world. (“You Might Die Trying,” Dave Matthews Band, 21st century musical group) I have what some people might call “issues” around money.
First Congregational United Church of Christ, Cannon Falls, Minn. Bill grew up in Beloit, WI and Fort Wayne, IN. He was the oldest son of a Congregationalist minister and his wife, and he loved the church. All through his growing up, he sang in the
Metropolitan Community Church of Columbia, S.C. Readings for the First Sunday of Advent: O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence — as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to
A Rabbi was walking, slowly, out of a shul in New York, when a gust of wind blew his hat off and down the street. He was an old man, who walked with the aid of a cane, and he couldn’t run after the hat.