Liturgical Time in Artistic Form

by Phillip Aijian
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This unique contribution provided by the artist and poet Phillip Aijian demonstrates not only the skill of an experienced craftsperson gifted with detail and vision, but beautifully reveals how art and theology can meaningfully contribute to each other.…

The Christmas Dragon

by Rev. Yohanna Katanacho
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My Palestinian family gathered around our Christmas tree where we live in Nazareth. The biblical figures were made from olive wood from Bethlehem, the ornaments on the tree were from China, and the lights were made in Israel. The kids were looking at the gifts in front of the tree and I…

Just the Time for Story-telling: George MacDonald and a Christ-wise Imagination

by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson
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George MacDonald (mentor of C.S. Lewis; inspiration of G.K. Chesterton, Madeleine L’Engle, and so many more) loved to celebrate Christmas – and necessarily for him part of that celebration was to pull others into the celebrating. He did this in person by feasting and festivities, charades and theater, story and song; by decorating his children’s walls and caroling with them through the streets; by inviting strangers into his home for all of the above, sometimes in groups of a hundred or more!…

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, and Thomas Merton

by Ron Dart
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The year 2020 signals both the sixtieth year since Boris Pasternak died and the one hundred thirtieth year since he was born (1890-1960). There is much to the literary and political life in the midst of Stalinist Russia that Pasternak endured and wrote about, but this two-part article will focus on Pasternak himself, his epic novel, Doctor Zhivago, and Thomas Merton.…

Fear Versus Faith: Navigating Conspiracies in a Hyperactive Society

by Ted Lewis
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There is certainly no shortage of fear these days. We hear of it on all sides and sometimes feel it within our own hearts. We encounter people who fear the possible loss of personal freedoms, and we encounter people who fear the possibility of catching the Covid19 virus or spreading it to others. Fear is basically a function of what’s possible in the near future. But, interestingly enough, faith is also a function of what is possible.…

The Mournful Longing of Advent Hope

by Christopher Myers
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Advent is a season of hopeful expectation, but also a season of penance and preparation, a season when that madman John the Baptist bursts on the scene to level mountains and raise up valleys, crying out for the world to repent so that paths might be made straight for the One who is our hope to come. Advent means coming; it does not mean arriving.…

Film Review of Joyeux Noel (2005)

by Sharon Gallagher
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Joyeux Noel, an Oscar nominee for best foreign film in 2006, is something I highly recommend for Christmas viewing. Based on the true story of an impromptu WWI truce, this film deserves to become a Christmas classic, along with the well-loved parables of redemption, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life.…