As I was getting ready to close up the church office for the Thanksgiving holiday, the usual raft of pre-holiday, pre-Advent thoughts were running through my mind — mostly centered around the perennial fistful of loose ends that never seem to get tied up in
I have a good friend who dreads the holiday season, saying: “The holidays are upon my a##.” But it’s here anyway with all those upcoming expectations of Norman-Rockwell-print warm, loving, accepting images of Thanksgivings, Hanukkahs, and Christmas celebrations where families gather together to try to
As a Black gay man, the annual celebration of Kwanzaa takes me on a journey of both spirituality and belonging. It’s a journey that allows me to own my life rather than renting it. A multi-day celebration from December 26th to January 1st, Kwanzaa is
The story that dominates this time of year almost as much as Clement Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas is found in two of the New Testament Gospels: Matthew and Luke. Bible scholars today debate how much, if any, of them is historically accurate since
As a child, I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in our home were always a big production. This was the time of year when mom and dad would pull the extra table leaves out of storage and magically make the dining room table two sizes
Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line, and more often than not, we hate every single minute of it. In our “get-it-done-now-and-move-on-to-the-next-thing” world, waiting is a drudgery none of us enjoys. Of course, supermarkets know this, so to keep us entertained,
I want to share this obvious observation: Even if there were some remote chance I could become pope… they would never let me. The reason is simple — and it is not because of my progressive views of Christian theology, or the fact that I
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and
The Norman Rockwell-style American Thanksgiving is a feast of mythology about pilgrims and Indians sitting down like buddies giving thanks to the Christian god for a successful harvest. Add the picture of the perfect American family, every member home for the holiday, sitting down together
While Jacob sat patting his young pup, his mother finished serving several portions of the evening meal into a large covered dish, and added a bag containing bread for all those who watched that night. It would be his job to take these meals to