Mystery Box Outsiders wonder what’s inside church by Richard Hong I used to live near a business that had an innocuous name – I forget what it was. There would usually be just a few cars parked outside. The windows had blinds covering them. I never figured out what it was. Was it a… Read more »
January 12, 2018
The Church for Today
Mystery Box Outsiders wonder what’s inside church by Richard Hong I used to live near a business that had an innocuous name – I forget what it was. There would usually be just a few cars parked outside. The windows had blinds covering them. I never figured out what it was. Was it a… Read more »
The Great Epiphany Challenge Joining the Magi in seeing Christ among us by Donna Frischknecht Jackson It’s January 5, and I know I should take my Christmas tree down. The needles are falling at an alarming rate and each morning as I sip my coffee in the kitchen I can hear the clunk of… 
Someday is now Seeing the God dreams right in front of us by Donna Frischknecht Jackson The Christmas tree is losing its needles and the cutout Santa cookies are beyond stale. Christmas 2017 is fast-becoming a memory. All eyes are now on 2018. That means our eyes are on the goals and dreams we… 
The Christmas prayer tree A rural church reaches out in an unexpected way by Donna Frischknecht Jackson Silence fell upon the room. A woman at my table waved to the waitress to order another glass of wine. A good diversion on her part, I thought. Others around me glanced down at the meeting agenda,… 
When Sunday Ambushes Christmas Remembering Jesus in the chaos By Roberta Updegraff Christmas Sunday graces a century a dozen times or less, and I have celebrated it eight times in my lifetime, yet rarely with the awe it deserves. Our children were young in 1988 and easily corralled, for they had been awake since long… 
Stables, superheroes and stories Narrating life as it goes By Jennifer Frayer-Griggs My three year old sits in his carseat and incessantly talks all the way to preschool. Everyday. It makes me crazy. It’s too early for this, and he’s distracting me from the NPR newscast. But, he never relents. He’s gotten to the… 
Can we do more? Confronting racism early By Abby King-Kaiser I am a campus minister at a predominantly white, Midwestern, Jesuit Catholic university. In the last month we have been rocked by two very public racial incidents that make our black students feel threatened, unsafe, tokenized and ridiculed (their words, from a Black Student Association… 
Child’s question leads to thoughtful Facebook discussion By Robyn Davis Sekula As we made our 30-minute commute, my 10-year-old daughter Anna asked me a stunner of a question. “Do people believe in God more or less as they get older?” Anna is prone to deep questions. She is my quietest child, usually tucked away… 
Lessons from Disney World Five things the church could learn from the place “Where Dreams Come True” By Joshua Bower Three weeks ago my family took a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida. Was it the most magical place on earth? Not exactly. We spent a small fortune on sunscreen (on everything, really), I… 
Heroes, Role Models and Saints by Steve Young, guest blogger We Americans love our heroes. In some cases, that designation is well-placed. A soldier giving his life for our country. That one teacher who made all the difference. But, all too often, our choice of heroes seems to be about attaching unrealistic expectations to people…