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After spending days looking at forecasts and plotting courses that would avoid traffic jams this past Monday, my family and I loaded up the car and headed to southern Illinois to try and catch the total solar eclipse. And wow! We are so glad we did! On our long drive back to Geneva, the whole experience had me reflecting on how celestial events like eclipses have taken on spiritual significance and meaning over the course of human history. As Christians, these rare events hold significant theological and symbolic meanings, deeply rooted in the biblical narratives that guide our faith. At the same time, we knowRead More →

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In the innocence of childhood, where markers dance on paper and imagination knows no bounds, a child’s drawing can unveil profound truths. At our Maundy Thursday dinner and communion, one of our children proudly handed me this rendering of Jesus, resurrected and radiant. She was so proud to share it with me, addressed to the whole church, and I am honored to have received it on our behalf. Unbeknownst to our young artist, the simplicity of her sketch held a weighty message: death always precedes resurrection. I think this poignant truth about life, death, and new life echoes through many an Easter sermon, searching forRead More →

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That was the question around our dinner table earlier this month.  No pun intended… that is a good question.  Sometimes as Christians we think of what Jesus went through on that fateful Friday – the mockery, flagellation, the carrying of the cross, the crown of thorns and the nails in his wrists and feet – as some utilitarian means to an end. Jesus had to suffer so we could have eternal life. Jesus’s suffering was redeemed by God to free us from sin and death through resurrection. In that way Good Friday has some goodness in it, but not the betrayal and suffering. Let’s moveRead More →

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In our senior year at Agnes Scott College, Nancy was president of the Christian Association. Wanting to host a spring dance in the Rebekah parking lot, how would she and her committee get enough men from other schools to join us? Agnes Scott, after all, is a women’s college. Already strong in prayer, Nancy and the planning group stepped out in faith a few months ahead, praying specifically that a greater number of men would attend than women. Not having grown up with anyone modelling prayer in such specifics, I was the skeptic. If anything, two of my most specific and memorable prayers as aRead More →

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Wanting to pray effectively is not a new concept. Prayer has been around as long as, well as long as God. Abraham prayed, Moses prayed, David prayed, and those are just some of the big names. None of them were perfect, they were all flawed in some way, but they prayed, because they knew there was a higher power they could turn to. Even Jesus’ disciples, who heard him pray often, asked Him to teach them to pray. Like they were asking for a secret formula or magic words.   But the truth is, there is no “trick” to praying. It is just a talk withRead More →

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One of the many favorite advent decorations in our church is the Chrismon Tree. That’s right — it is a Chrismon Tree, not a Christmas Tree. What is the difference you might ask? I recently discovered a delightful guide to our Chrismon written from 1975, when our Chrismon tree was dedicated. Here is what our dedication booklet says: “The word “Chrismon” is a combination of the Greek letters, Chi and Rho, the monogram for Christ. These monograms were discovered in many places—some on jewelry or utensils, others on doors or buildings, and still more on the walls of the catacombs in Rome. Early Christians usedRead More →