By Starlette McNeill I need to see your hands. Put the pen down and slowly back away from the list. Before you begin your annual declaration of independence from unhealthy food and toxic people, before you purchase the gym membership…
It’s time to abandon reason
By Greg Jarrell On Monday, Dec. 28, Timothy McGinty, district attorney of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, announced what everyone suspected, and many hoped would not be true — that there will be no charges in the slaying of 12-year old Tamir…
Making our list, checking it twice
By Barry Howard At our house we make a lot of lists, especially in December — the grocery list, the Christmas card list, the gift list, the guest list, the holiday event list and the end-of-year giving list. During this…
Contending with texts
By Bill Leonard In a 2006 New Yorker story on writer Gertrude Stein, Janet Malcom wrote: “The instability of human knowledge is one of our few certainties. Almost everything we know we know incompletely at best. And almost nothing we are…
What are excellent vs. mediocre congregational visions?
By George Bullard Vision is not business as usual. It is not about average thinking. It does not involve doing a little better next year than you did last year. It is not about mediocrity. Vision is about excellence in…
When miracles fly thick
By Amy Butler There’s a short story written by Phillip Gulley, well-known Christian writer and Quaker pastor from Indiana. Here’s how it goes: I was born deep in the winter. Each birthday my father phones to recount the events surrounding…
Hoping for more Luke, less Matthew
By Scott Dickison In this column [https://baptistnews.com/opinion/columns/item/29670-a-matthew-kind-of-year] around this time last year, I noted the differences in the Christmas stories told by Matthew and Luke. Luke’s is the one remembered in specials on TV and Christmas cards. It’s full of…
A Star Wars outsider reflects on church
I have a confession to make. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies. I know very little to nothing about them. I am officially an outsider when it comes to all things Star Wars. With all the…
Smashing the chains of fear
By John Carroll In reading through the Christmas stories this year, the words about fear and being afraid have jumped out at me. Fear is a player in the story of Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds and King Herod with…
¡Feliz Noche Buena! (Merry Good Night!)
By Nora O. Lozano La versión en español está disponible aquí. There are certain experiences that mark you forever. I had one of those five years ago. It was Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010, and I was supposed to fly from…
¡Feliz Noche Buena!
Nora O. LozanoTraducido por Cristina Rodríguez Alejandro An English version is available here. Existen ciertas experiencias que se quedan marcadas para siempre. Tuve una de ellas hace cinco años; fue un sábado, 18 de diciembre del 2010, cuando se suponía…
Watch of wondering love
By Molly T. Marshall If you are bingeing on Hallmark Movies these days (and I have hard evidence that some of the BNG readers are), you can attest that these films are full of “Christmas magic,” encouragement to “just believe,”…