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.
Liturgical Seasons
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Jim Harnish: Who needs a savior?
In this Easter sermon, the senior pastor of Hyde Park UMC says that the unfinished ending of Mark’s Gospel reminds us that Easter is not just the remembrance of something in the past. It is the good news that the risen savior is alive and is on the road ahead of us.
Rebirth of an urban church
Today, Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa is a growing, missional church -- but it wasn’t always that way. Under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Jim Harnish, the congregation has pursued its vision in serving the community.
Laura Stern: Life, against a backdrop of death
The historic cemeteries on the North Carolina island of Ocracoke prompt a pastor to consider the darkness of Lent.
Tim Keel: Grace, and the hopeful honesty of Lent
Unbidden and unexpected, Lent comes full of grace and truth, giving us time and space to face ourselves honestly and with hope, says the emerging-church pastor.
Amy Butler: Strangers seeking ashes
Reminders of our failures are all around us every day. Why seek them out? Why do we all seem to need Ash Wednesday so much?
Rhonda Mawhood Lee: Words made flesh
Clark had more than his share of health problems, but he knew the gift of an incarnate faith. In the season of Epiphany, an Episcopal priest remembers a departed parishioner.
C. Kavin Rowe: Why Christmas needs Easter
The glad tidings of Gabriel, the angels, the prophet Simeon and the others are glad precisely because the death of Jesus was not their end, writes the New Testament scholar.
Ed Moore: Did Jesus wear his halo to school?
This is the season when the gravitational field of the Madonna and Holy Child as imaged by Renaissance masters is almost overwhelming. But this perfect picture denies the flesh-and-blood Jesus.
Participants in Las Posadas re-enact Joseph and Mary's search for lodging in a nine-day celebration leading up to Chrismas. Photo courtesy of Fiesta Cristiana
Welcome, the message of Las Posadas
In Apex, NC, and across the country, churches are using the Latin American tradition of Las Posadas to connect people to Hispanic culture and the Christmas story -- and to spread the message of hospitality.