11+ hour, 22+ min ago   (304+ words) January 18, Epiphany 2A (John 1:2942) Who is Jesus, really? There have always been disagreements on this question, both within and beyond Christianity. But it feels like the argument is particularly fraught these days'especially in the United States, and especially in relation to…...

2+ day, 10+ hour ago   (206+ words) In the Presbyterian Church I went to as a child, we never celebrated Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Honestly, I never thought much about Jesus" baptism until I went to seminary. But in recent years, it"s become an anchor…...

4+ day, 11+ hour ago   (402+ words) The making of Islamophobia The West's understanding of Islam has been shaped by centuries of superficial, deeply biased Christian teaching. Century illustration (Source images: Getty and Creative Commons) Throughout the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire threatened the Balkans and Central Europe....

6+ day, 10+ hour ago   (409+ words) Franklin Graham preaches a God of hate I'm always happy when a preacher finds a fresh way to discuss a familiar Bible story. Unless that preacher is Franklin Graham, the familiar Bible story is the good news of Jesus' birth,…...

6+ day, 11+ hour ago   (205+ words) Mary pants, fists clenched, lips parted'then the rending of flesh from flesh,the blood-soaked straw.She lies back, spent, barely feelsthe breath of livestock in the stabled air. Winter's long shank stretches for months,her mornings thick with fog and…...

1+ week, 10+ hour ago   (260+ words) I used to have, from my bedroom window, an unobstructed view of a 9,000-foot mountain. Every morning, the first thing I did was look at that mountain. Some mornings it blushed peach; on others it was a honey-gold. On bright…...

1+ week, 11+ hour ago   (133+ words) The taste of the crocus to the rain,a January coaxing, their green spears early.Another winter pretending spring,fooling a round of robins shivering in the oaks.At my kitchen window the sun burns coldon my lawn and the…...

1+ week, 11+ hour ago   (93+ words) Evening Prayer in January at the Sight of Jupiter You gather up the grayof this dull January day, then, just before the hidden sunshould set you open the horizonsewing streaks of pink through clouds that promise night.While I remain…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (108+ words) What if, like good detectives, we held off on profiling our suspect? Not because we refuse to say the name of Jesus or consider the meaning of Christ, but because considering the pure and original action of the Verbo ought…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (34+ words) Everything Around Here Is Ephemeral January 6, Epiphany (Ephesians 3:112; Matthew 2:112) Essays by readers: Flight Reading the Qur'an at Christmastide Are we on the cusp of a revival?...