Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

When Love Comes to Town (A Christmas Meditation)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:1-2, 14a). Or, as Eugene Peterson puts it, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (The Message). Eighteen years ago this...

December 25th, 2012 | Featured | Read More

The Abominable “O Holy Night” Redux

We have a Christmas tradition around these parts. Every year, we re-post Burnside’s most popular article of all time: “The Abominable ‘O Holy Night’”. Along with the Advent Conspiracy, this insanely awful little diddy gets us in the Christmas spirit. The Abominable O...

December 24th, 2012 | Featured | Read More

Christmas Gift Guide: For a Real Foodie

I love food, and I love to cook. That is about the only “expertise” that I will claim in sharing this list. Over the past several years, as I have learned more about our food system’s impact on our environment and on our health, I have grown increasingly committed to using food as a...

November 23rd, 2012 | Food and Drink | Read More

Wishing You a Messy New Year

The Christmas Eve service was beautiful last night. Lights were twinkling, carols were playing, candles were burning, people were singing and smiling and laughing and hugging and wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Excited children crowded to the front when the pastor told the children’s story. The...

December 28th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Adventually

I am fairly new to the tradition of lighting candles for advent and have had a few confusing moments. Do you light the “joy” candle before the “love” candle – and where does “peace” figure in? For that matter, flaming candles in a wreath of laurel seems like a recipe for...

December 26th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Harry Potter and the Incarnate Christ

I love great fantasy/adventure tales, especially ones in which ordinary people in ordinary places find an escape, or rather a hidden entrance, into another world where anything is possible. In the Harry Potter stories – my personal favorite – children run through a brick wall in London’s...

December 17th, 2011 | Arts, Culture, Featured, Film | Read More

Christmas Unplugged

Does Christmas music make anyone else crazy? At a certain time of year, we just can’t escape it. From Black Friday to White Christmas, it is all a distraction, and the soundtrack to the season seeps everywhere. Love them or hate them, these songs have little to nothing to do with the original Christmas....

December 14th, 2011 | Blog, Essays, Featured, Music | Read More

The Two Christmases

As I walked through the front door of the post office, I was faced with a choice. On my left was a vending machine from which I could purchase books of stamps, and to my right was the customer service desk, where I could make the same purchase from actual human beings. Because there was no line at...

November 28th, 2011 | Blog, Featured | Read More

Bell Weather

It’s beginning to look a little like Christmas. You know what that means? Bell weather. During the Christmas shopping season (known liturgically as “Advent”) men and women brave the cold to stand outside stores, ringing bells and collecting change for the Salvation Army. It’s...

November 25th, 2011 | Becoming the Great Us, Featured | Read More

Slumdog Messiah

I’d never watched an episode of Extreme Home Makeover in its entirety before. I have clicked on the TV and caught the last ten-minutes where they move the bus and the family sees their brand new home for the first time. I always get caught up in the family’s emotions and find myself welling back...

December 30th, 2010 | Featured, Social Justice | Read More