Catherine Maresca: The nativity isn't cute
The stories of Jesus’ birth deserve more attention than a pageant. Take time with these stories this Christmas and ponder the mystery of our faith.
Liturgical Seasons
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Mark Ralls: Father of lights
Epiphany reminds us that amid change and uncertainty, we can rely on God, who set the stars in the heavens.
Kyle Childress: Old pickups and Advent
At this time of year, a Texas pastor sees much more in his 1977 F-100 than a cantankerous truck and memories of the grandfather he loved. Is an old pickup preparing him for Advent?
Ed Moore: Advent, baptism and blow-dryers
The cult of consumption requires more than the occasional Advent sermon cautioning against “losing the real meaning of the season.” What if Advent became a season of baptismal renewal?
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Resources for Advent and Christmas
Begin your preparations for Advent and Christmas with resources from Faith & Leadership. These sermons, essays and stories invite you into the wonder, challenge and messiness of a season of waiting and then a season of light and joy.
Laura Everett: When heaven tastes like Jell-O salad
All Souls is the respect we pay to the dead and the reminder of life to us who still mourn, says the executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches in a homily for All Souls Requiem.
Laura Stern: The church in summer -- the whistling, fluid body of Christ
Spellbound by a hymn-whistling tourist, an island pastor learns that even in the malaise of summer, God gives every church all the gifts and graces it needs.
Cheryl M. Lawrence: Pentecost and the biker church
A pastor finds that the Holy Spirit descends upon her -- on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
C. Kavin Rowe: Why Easter needs Christmas
Remembering the story of Emmanuel at Easter helps us to remember that the way God chose to save was a way with us, writes the New Testament scholar.
Lisa G. Fischbeck: Liturgy in the public square
A North Carolina congregation takes Palm Sunday and Good Friday outdoors and discovers how it feels to publicly claim their identity as Christians.