When I had journeyed half our life’s way,I found myself within a shadowed forest,for I had lost the path that does not stray. Ah, it

A few nights ago, I sat down into the worn blue chair crammed into the corner of my sons’ bedroom, and opened the book. The

I love having talented friends. Several weeks ago, my friend Bruce, who leads an artists’ collective I appreciate, told me they were publishing a book

Simeon sang one of my favorite Christmas songs. You may not think of Simeon’s Song—the Nunc Dimittis—as a chart-topping Christmas carol, but it’s become one

Mark Richard once wrote a poignant piece of first-person fiction in The New Yorker entitled “The Birds for Christmas.” In it, the narrator describes a

Irish writer Colm Toibin once authored a controversial novella about the mother of Jesus called The Testament of Mary. Around the time of its release,

The first Advent calendar appeared in 1851, and featured a biblical-character-a-day to count Christian worshippers down to Christmas. It featured, among others, John the baptizer,

Around the corner from the church I serve in downtown Philadelphia sits City Hall. Its stately Second-Empire architecture looms over Penn Square, set at the very

by Jared Ayers Jim Bratt is away today. Jared Ayers, preaching pastor at Liberti Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is our guest blogger. Thanks, Jared! Last