PInky the cat and the author's mother, Carolyn, comfort a fretful baby. Photograph courtesy of Jane Webb Childress
The passings four years apart of Pinky the cat and a much-loved mother has the author thinking about death and the meaning of a life.
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In Holy Week, a favorite gospel song reminds the author that God loves even those who cannot cry out in praise, those whom depression has left as silent as stones.
Image courtesy of the La Vista Church of Christ
Some stories need to be told again and again. So it is with the story of Easter, a story that reminds us that we belong to God and that Jesus is out ahead of us, calling us to God’s future, writes a managing director at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
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‘Blessed’ has become part of a slick and pervasive trend of forced, optimistic gratitude, says a young Christian writer. The season of Lent helps us return the word to its most authentic expression and meaning.
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The director of Duke Youth Academy wonders: Does Lent matter to my work? Is there a place for the practices of lament, grief and repentance in my daily tasks?
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If it's February, it's probably Lent. And that doesn't always mean giving up something, writes an Episcopal priest. Sometimes, dealing with the season's built-in emotional challenges is enough.
Detail from a miniature of John the Baptist.
From the New York Public Library Digital Collections
The fiery prophet John the Baptist offers both company and challenge for a pastor transitioning from seminary into settled parish life.
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In the season of Epiphany, an Episcopal priest asks, Do our communities create safe spaces where members can confess the particular ways in which they are broken and fall short of Jesus Christ’s calling, ask for help and be assured that they are not alone? If not, can we really call ourselves the church?
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Mary and Joseph lost Jesus amidst the Passover crowds. They tried their best but weren’t perfect, and I don’t have to be either, writes a pastor.
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In this excerpt from her book “The Weight of Mercy,” the pastor of Triune Mercy Center recalls the church’s first mid-week Christmas Eve service and the homily she delivered on her favorite Christmas subject, shepherds.