By Amy Butler There is, and has been for many years, a mild but ongoing disagreement within our church staff about Christmas Eve worship. One camp feels we should always hold a traditional Lessons and Carols service and that anything…
Would the real Jesus please stand up?: A Holiday Book Review
On American soil, Jesus was the subject of more evangelical hymns than the Father and the Holy Spirit combined. In fact, while evangelical hymns largely ignored the church, the sacraments, and the Trinity, they were obsessed with Jesus. American Jesus:…
Duck Dynasty and the Struggle Over Christianity
There is no such thing as Christianity. I’ll repeat myself so you know I really meant to say it: there is no such thing as Christianity. Instead what we have are reifications and definitions. As with all definitions, the various…
Baptist conservatives should celebrate their heroes quickly
According to a front page, above-the-fold, article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has launched a 12-year project that will see 69 heroes of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention celebrated in stained-glass. This ambitious…
Advent: the scenic route to Christmas
In the 1970’s when Interstate 20 opened between Atlanta and Birmingham, many local residents were looking forward to faster travel on the new freeway. For years, my family had traveled to Birmingham from Anniston on old highway 78, a two-lane…
Mary’s baby bump: a divine scandal?
Every year preachers try to make the Christmas story anew. How do you tell the same story in a different way? One angle that many try to stay away from is on Mary’s “situation”: an unwed mother who is pregnant. …
Practicing peace
By Brett Younger The tree in my living room, which went up the day after Thanksgiving, is starting to shed like Charlie Brown’s. I only enjoyed singing “Last Christmas (I Gave You My Heart)” the first time it came on…
Duck Dynasty, free speech, and persecution
By now you have heard about controversy involving ‘Duck Dynasty’ A&E star Phil Robertson. Robertson, recently spoke to GQ about his personal beliefs: Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there… Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman…
What makes a Christmas card a Christmas card?
Since about 10 days before Thanksgiving, our festive household has received a regular collection of colorful greeting cards appropriate for the various holidays that occur during the last six weeks of the year. The first to come were the greetings…
Charting clergy trust
By Bill Leonard “Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields — very high, high, average, low, very low.” That’s the question asked in a Gallup poll regarding ethics and…
Unexpected Prophet
Most youth ministers know that if trouble is going to find you at youth camp, it will likely be on either the first night or the last night. At other times, the kids will be either too tired to bother…
Gun violence too close to home
By Miguel De La Torre We picked our home the way most with middle-class privilege choose their neighborhoods. At the time, we had two adolescents who were on the threshold of beginning high school. We wanted a home that was…