Some Ukrainians Move Up Christmas To Part Ways With Russia

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December 26, 2022

BOBRYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians usually celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, as do the Russians. But not this year, or at least not all of them.

Some Orthodox Ukrainians have decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25, like many Christians around the world. Yes, this has to do with the war, and yes, they have the blessing of their local church.

The idea of commemorating the birth of Jesus in December was considered radical in Ukraine until recently, but Russia’s invasion changed many hearts and minds.

In October, the leadership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is not aligned with the Russian church and one of two branches of Orthodox Christianity in the country, agreed to allow faithful to celebrate on Dec. 25.

The choice of dates has clear political and religious overtones in a nation with rival Orthodox churches and where slight revisions to rituals can carry potent meaning in a culture war that runs parallel to the shooting war.

For some people, changing dates represents a separation from Russia, its culture, and religion. People in a village on the outskirts of Kyiv voted recently to move up their Christmas observance.

“What began on Feb. 24, the full-scale invasion, is an awakening and an understanding that we can no longer be part of the Russian world,” Olena Paliy, a 33-year-old Bobrytsia resident, said.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and some other Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the ancient Julian calendar. Christmas falls 13 days later on that calendar, or Jan. 7, than it does on the Gregorian calendar used by most church and secular groups.

The Catholic Church first adopted the modern, more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, and Protestants and some Orthodox churches have since aligned their own calendars for purposes of calculating Christmas.

The Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine decreed in October that local church rectors could choose the date along with their communities, saying the decision followed years of discussion but also resulted from the circumstances of the war.

In Bobrytsia, some members of the faith promoted the change within the local church, which recently transitioned to being part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with no ties to Russia. When a vote was taken last week, 200 out of 204 people said yes to adopting Dec. 25 as the new day to celebrate Christmas.

“This is a big step because never in our history have we had the same dates of celebration of Christmas in Ukraine with the whole Christian world. All the time we were separated,” said Roman Ivanenko, a local official in Bobrytsia, and one of the promoters of the change. With the switch, he said, they are “breaking this connection” with the Russians.

As in all the Kyiv region, Sunday morning in Bobrytsia began with the sound of sirens, but that didn’t prevent people from gathering in the church to attend a Christmas Mass on Dec. 25 for the first time. In the end, there were no attacks reported in the capital.

“No enemy can take away the holiday because the holiday is born in the soul,” the Rev. Rostyslav Korchak said in his homily, during which he used the words “war,” “soldiers,” and “evil” more than “Jesus Christ.”

Anna Nezenko, 65, attended the church in Bobrytsia on every Christmas since the building was inaugurated in 2000, although always on Jan. 7th. She said she did not feel strange doing so Sunday.

“The most important is the God to be born in the heart,” she said.

In 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, granted complete independence, or autocephaly, to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Ukrainians who favored recognition for a national church in tandem with Ukraine’s political independence from the former Soviet Union had long sought such approval.

The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, fiercely protested the move, saying Ukraine was not under the jurisdiction of Bartholomew.

The other major branch of Orthodoxy in the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, remained loyal to Moscow until the outbreak of war. It declared independence in May, though it remains under government scrutiny. That church has traditionally celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7.

Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. The Associated Press religion correspondent, Peter Smith, contributed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

By Renata Brito and Hanna Arhirova Associated Press

This article originally appeared here.

Stuck at the Border, Migrants Find a Little Christmas Cheer

By

Giovanna Dell'Orto

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December 26, 2022

Guests at the Buen Samaritano shelter for migrants participate in a candle lighting ceremony in anticipation of Christmas in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across from El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. Tens of thousands of migrants who fled violence and poverty will spend Christmas in crowded shelters or on the dangerous streets of Mexican border towns. The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court not to lift pandemic-era restrictions on asylum-seekers before the holiday weekend. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — After fleeing violence in their Guatemalan town, but with their way to relatives in California blocked by continuing U.S. asylum restrictions, a family of 15 joined an Advent candlelight ceremony organized by their shelter just south of the border.

The evening service in the Buen Samaritano shelter’s small Methodist church, which doubles as cafeteria, didn’t quite compare with the weekslong Christmas celebrations they had loved in Nueva Concepcion. Those included fireworks, tamales made with freshly slaughtered pig and shared door-to-door with family, and villagers carrying aloft a statue of the Virgin Mary from the Catholic church to different homes each day, singing all the way.

“It’s difficult to leave those traditions behind, but they had to be abandoned at any rate,” said Marlon Cruz, 25, who had been a yucca and plantain farmer in Guatemala. “When you go from house to house and hear shots, because of that we would stay locked up at home.”

Tens of thousands of migrants who fled violence and poverty in their home countries are spending Christmas in crowded shelters or on the streets of Mexican border towns, where organized crime routinely targets them. It is especially cold for those living outside since winter temperatures have plunged over much of the U.S. and across the border.

The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court this week not to lift pandemic-era restrictions on asylum-seekers before the holiday weekend. A lower court had already granted the administration’s request to have until December 21 before rolling back the restrictions, known as Title 42. The restrictions have been used more than 2.5 million times to expel asylum-seekers who crossed into the U.S. illegally and to turn away most of those requesting asylum at the border.

It’s not clear when the court will decide. It’s also weighing a group of states’ request to keep the measure in place as migrant arrivals reach unprecedented numbers. In El Paso, Texas, record numbers either crossed undetected or were apprehended and released in recent weeks.

In response, the Texas National Guard was deployed this week at the border in downtown and will stay through Christmas, said First Sergeant Suzanne Ringle, though they’ll have time off to attend services chaplains will provide.

The city’s shelters are already packed beyond capacity, leaving little time for celebrations and many migrants camped out in the streets in below freezing weather.

At one such encampment, El Paso resident Daniel Morgan, 25, showed up this week in a Santa hat and a green sweater featuring bows and little stockings that he hoped “would spread a smile.”

“It’s a really complex issue that I’m no expert at,” Morgan said as he distributed to migrants a batch of about 100 sweets he had baked with Sam’s Club cookie mix. “Christ came to the world to give himself over to us and for me that’s like the whole reason for why I came down, to give out to other people what I have.”

The Rev. Brian Strassburger, a Jesuit priest who ministers to migrants on both sides of the border some 800 miles away in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, also saw parallels between the Holy Family’s journey and the experiences of the migrants who participated with him in a posada celebration at the Casa del Migrante shelter in Reynosa, Mexico.

Much beloved across Latin America, the posada commemorates Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter as they’re forced to travel from their village to Bethlehem before Jesus’s birth.

Four girls carried their statuettes around the shelter and dozens of other migrants – many of them pregnant women whose partners have had to camp in the streets for the lack of space – sang the call and response hymns about being a family with no place to stay and a pregnant woman left out in the cold.

“We kind of enact the posada every day,” said Strassburger, who also plans to celebrate Mass at shelters on Christmas Day.

Even the many families from Haiti, where posadas aren’t popular, eagerly participated in the singing and the distribution of the small fried cakes called buñuelos that the Mexican Catholic nuns who run the shelter had prepared.

They also took turns swinging at a piñata, though the roughly 70 children enjoyed that the most.

Despite Ample Evidence, Christian Nationalism Mostly Absent From Final Jan. 6 Report

By

Jack Jenkins

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December 26, 2022

Christian nationalism — Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks to reporters after the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Asked by lawmakers earlier this year to describe those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, District of Columbia police officer Daniel Hodges told the House select committee tasked with investigating the insurrection that “it was clear the terrorists perceived themselves to be Christians.”

Two members of that same committee, Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, also independently noted in conversations with the press the incidence of Christian nationalism.

“Had there not been some of these errant prophecies, this idea that God has ordained it to be Trump, I’m not sure January 6 would have happened like it did,” Kinzinger, an evangelical Christian, said on a Christianity Today podcast episode in March.

Indeed, the influence of Christian nationalism among the Jan. 6 rioters was clearly evident in the flags and banners they waved. In the days before the assault, “Jericho Marches,” based on the Bible’s Book of Joshua, circled Capitol Hill praying for the election results to be overturned. When rioters stormed into the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, they huddled in prayer.

Yet the committee’s final report, released late on Thursday (Dec. 22), an 845-page document, mentioned Christian nationalism by name exactly once, and only in passing.

Some prominent Christian leaders have pressured the committee to examine Christian nationalism, sending a letter to the members earlier this year urging lawmakers to investigate the ideology’s impact on Jan. 6.

On Friday, the Rev. Nathan Empsall, head of the group Faithful America and a signer of the letter, released a statement in reaction to the report, saying, “The January 6 committee only giving only passing mention to the pivotal role of Christian nationalism in its final report is a missed opportunity to fully understand what led to violence at the Capitol — and to prevent future political violence.”

The report’s one overt reference to Christian nationalism came when describing supporters of Nick Fuentes, a right-wing Catholic who was in Washington, D.C., the day of the insurrection but has not been accused of entering the building itself. The report notes that Fuentes’ followers, often self-described as “Groypers,” have “repeatedly promoted white supremacist and Christian nationalist beliefs,” but did not elaborate in detail as to how.

Devotees of Fuentes’ group America First are known for chanting “Christ is king,” as they did in Washington the morning of the insurrection. Fuentes himself is one of several extremists who began openly associating themselves with Christian nationalism by name after the insurrection.

The report also makes multiple mentions of “Jericho March” events that led up to the Capitol attack, though the committee did not delve deeply into the religious tenor of those gatherings, despite hymn singing, banners with religious slogans and even the blowing of shofars by those in attendance.

The report does repeatedly cite a Washington Post oped by Peter Manseau, in which the historian and founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History, catalogued how religious beliefs influenced one rioter’s participation on Jan. 6.

Manseau responded to the report in a Twitter thread Friday, lamenting the “scant attention” paid in the report to “the religious dimensions of the attack,” arguing the omission “may prove a disservice to history.”

Manseau speculated the lack of attention paid to Christian nationalism may be a “strategic” move, saying on Twitter that committee members likely did not want to “risk ‘J6 Committee Targets Christianity’ becoming a talking point.”

What is Your Supreme Value – Would You Let Donald Trump on Your Church Leadership Team?

By

Adam Russell

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December 26, 2022

Church culture is obsessed with leadership. Our bookshelves sag beneath the weight of the subject. Oddly enough, almost all that’s written is about being a better leader while precious little is given to making leaders. The supreme value being bought and sold might not really be leadership at all but rather how to get a whole bunch of people to do what you want.

Donald Trump is famous for a reason. He is a caricature of the supreme value of our own heart, the fleshed out reality of our own secret hopes. Nothing else could explain how someone as obnoxious and pompous could have such a large audience for so many years. It is evidence that our thirst for power has few limits.

This is not to say that leadership is bad. If anything significant is to happen, there will be a leader somewhere casting vision, assembling and organizing talent, and shaping the process along the way.

What is Your Supreme Value?

Shots have to be called, even if simply for the sake of efficiency. Leaders dream. Leaders gather. Leaders take risks. Leaders impart courage and boldness. Leaders provide a plan. Leaders make things happen, and that’s a good thing.

The main issue for those leading the church is simple: What is our supreme value? Simply leading? Or the God we are following?

It’s easy to get caught in the swirl of bigger is better and becoming a more influential leader. It looks good on the outside, but I wonder if some of this zeal isn’t just another thick coat of whitewash on the tomb of our flesh.

Making Time for God – A Simple Way to Spend 45 Minutes a Day

By

Mark Altrogge

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December 23, 2022

There is a simple way for making time for God. There is nothing more important than spending regular time with the Lord. In John 15 Jesus said:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Making Time for God

I have to have my devotions first thing in the day or I get too distracted. Find a time that works best for you and try to establish a consistent habit. Give this little system (or some variation of it) a try and you will find you can easily spend time with God in 45 minutes. If this seems like too much start with one small part but try to do it every day. For example, try to read the Bible five minutes a day. It may not seem like much, but if you do it consistently you will really benefit from it. OK, here’s an easy way to spend 45 minutes a day with the Lord:

5 minutes – Scripture memorization
20 minutes – Read or listen to three chapters of the Bible
5 minutes – Write things you’re thankful for
15 minutes – Pray

OK, let’s elaborate on making time for God:

1. Scripture Memorization: 5 Minutes

There are many ways to memorize scripture. You can listen to scripture set to music (e.g., Hide the Word). Or write down a Scripture on one side of a 3 x 5 card and the reference on the back. A good way to memorize is to focus first on key phrases rather than every word. For example Ephesians 3:20-21 says:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Here are the six key phrases:

far more abundantly
ask or think,
power at work
glory in the church
Christ Jesus
throughout all generations

How to Revive a Dying Youth Ministry: 5 Biblical Pointers

By

Greg Stier

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December 22, 2022

At some point, most youth leaders wonder how to revive a dying youth ministry. Or, if their program isn’t dying, it might need a huge dose of revival.

Only the Holy Spirit can refresh, renew and revive his church. But he stands with matches ready to set teens’ hearts ablaze. Interestingly, the word “revival” never appears in the New Testament. Perhaps that’s because it should be the normal Christian life!

Sadly, it’s not. Too often, dead-eyed Christian teenagers whose hearts are filled with apathy instead of fire fill our meetings. With rolling eyes and heavy sighs, many of them endure the lessons and enjoy the games. They keep showing up, so we keep juggling flaming poodles (so to speak) to keep their attention. But down deep we want to zap their cold hearts into beating hard after God. That’s why you need to know how to revive a dying youth ministry.

So what’s our role in seeing revival break out amid deadness? Can we do anything about it? The answer is a resounding “YES!”

5 Steps: How to Revive a Dying Youth Ministry

Take these 5 action steps to unleash the force of revival.

1. Pray with passion.

Intercession isn’t just the domain of old ladies and “crazy” intercessors we sometimes meet. It should be standard operating practice for every believer.

Acts 4:31 gives a micro recipe for revival. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and went out and spoke the Word of God boldly.” The building shook with the power of intercessory prayer. Then the city shook with the power of the gospel message.

Are you interceding on behalf of teenagers? Do you pray for them as a staff? Do you practice intercessory prayer with student leaders? Is prayer a big part of your youth ministry? Or do you sprinkle it as fairy dust but then depend on the latest, greatest curriculum to produce real change?

The revival is happening where youth leaders are committed to intercessory prayer. They’re looking to God, not a strategy or program, to light that fire. And God is igniting their strategies in ways they never expected, with amazing results.

Start taking prayer walks or shutting your door for 30 minutes daily. Or do whatever you have to do to make intercessory prayer a priority. Make prayer for teens the first thing you do as a staff. During student leadership meetings, pray for all youth group members and for revival at schools. Make intercessory prayer the engine, not the caboose, of the train driving your efforts.

2. Identify and recruit the 10%ers to join you.

“Scientists at (RPI) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.” Science Daily, July 26, 2011

Seek teenagers, volunteer and fellow youth leaders who are excited about revival to join you. We often waste energy trying to get every teenager on board with our vision. Go with the goers and pray for the others. Wasn’t this Jesus’ strategy? He ministered to the crowds but poured 3 1/2 years of his life into the high-will/raw- skill disciples. The result was that 11 out of 12 changed the world.

The parable of the Sower reinforces this principle powerfully. Some seeds we sow land on hard hearts. Others are choked out by worldliness. Still others die due to lack of spiritual maturity. But those precious few seeds that land on good soil will produce 30, 60 or even 100 times what was sown. The application for how to revive a dying youth ministry? Go with the “growers” and pray for the others.

Look at your student leadership team and adult staff. Are they 10%ers? Are they all in? If not, it might be time for a shakeup. Once your 10%ers get 100% on board with this vision, they’ll inevitably impact the others.

‘I Won’t Be Silent,’ Greg Locke Declares After Receiving Death Threat From ‘Witchcraft Practicing Psycho’

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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December 22, 2022

greg_locke_death_threat — Screengrab via Facebook @Pastor Greg Locke

Greg Locke, outspoken pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, and his family had their lives threatened earlier this week by someone who practices witchcraft.

Locke shared the news of the threat on his newly restored Twitter account, which had previously been banned after Locke allegedly spread misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Tonight, my family was publicly threatened with death by a witchcraft practicing psycho,” Locke tweeted. “Extra security is at my home and a police report has been filed. Speaking truth makes enemies. I WON’T BE SILENT!!”

Locke told ChurchLeaders that he and his family have been receiving an increased number of monthly threats, adding that the one he recently shared is “one of a litany of social media posts” directed at him alongside threats of violence.

The recent threat came by way of a video from a person who practices witchcraft. In the video, the person can be seen holding “a séance where a spell was being cast against” Locke, including praying to evil spirits.

“The person then took a picture of a gun with the heading, ‘I’m on my way,’” Locke told ChurchLeaders. The person in the video knows where Locke’s family lives, because they have attended some of the church’s worship services.

Locke explained, “I hesitate at times to post things like that, but there’s also a responsibility for people to sober up and realize the sacrifice someone must take to speak truth and expose evil.”

Over this past year, Locke has been calling out witches and demonic activity both inside and outside the church. As a result, Locke shared in a video posted months ago, “We’ve been getting—literally—sex toys in the mail every single day [and] glitter bombs from witches.”

On Halloween, Locke held the church’s second mass burning event, wherein congregants gathered together and hurled “demonic” materials into a large fire the church provided on their property.

Global Vision’s ‘Reverse Offering’ Gives Away $320K to Those in Need

Similar to Global Vision Bible Church’s generosity to single moms on Mother’s Day, Locke shared that the church recently did a “reverse offering” for people who needed money to pay bills and for Christmas.

“Rather than people putting into the bucket, we had them take out,” he explained. They handed cash envelopes consisting $500 each to 640 people during the service. Locke said, “We handed out $320,000 in cash…we had to go to five banks to withdraw that much cash.”

‘Servant Leader’ Tony Dungy Rings Bell for Salvation Army in Florida

By

Stephanie Martin

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December 22, 2022

tony dungy salvation army — Screengrab via WFLA

During the busy holiday (and NFL) season, football analyst and former head coach Tony Dungy is taking time to serve as a Salvation Army Red Kettle volunteer. At least twice this month, he has stood outside stores near Tampa, Florida, ringing the perennial bell to collect donations for people in need.

Dungy, a Super Bowl winner, author, and father of 11 (including 8 adoptees), is vocal about his faith and the importance of the Salvation Army’s mission. In December 2020, he said, “This time of year, it always goes through your mind: ‘Who is taking care of the people who can’t take care of themselves?’” He added, “Our kids have great Christmases, but a lot of people don’t, and the Salvation Army is huge in providing for them.”

Photo of Bell-Ringer Tony Dungy Goes Viral

On December 19, Jay Feely of CBS Sports tweeted a photo of Dungy standing by a kettle, wearing a Santa hat and ringing a bell. A shopper apparently snapped the photo of Dungy, who doesn’t seem to realize he’s being photographed.

More than 52,000 people have liked the tweet, in which Feely writes: “Tony Dungy won a Super Bowl as [head coach]. Played in the NFL. Works as a studio analyst on NBC. But I respect him as a man more than anything he has done in football. Here he is (without any fanfare) quietly volunteering with The Salvation Army at the local grocery store – Servant leader.”

Sometimes, Dungy shares ahead of time where he’ll be volunteering. In early December, he tweeted a photo of him and his family posing outside a store. He wrote: “We are out ringing bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle at the Publix at the Apex in North Tampa. If you’re close, come by and see us tonight and make a holiday donation for the needy!”

Tony Dungy Walks the Walk

In response to the photo Feely shared, people commented on the faith and character of Dungy, 67. One writes: “I have always loved this man. Now even more.” Another shares: “I have admired @TonyDungy for years for reasons such as this. In a cultural age of constant attention-seeking in order to present a glamorous and self-righteous image, here is a reminder that we should not seek the approval & glory of man, only an audience of one.” Another states: “Tony Dungy has always talked the talk and walked the walk. They don’t come much better than that man.”

One person takes Feely to task, writing: “Why did you have to post [the photo], Jay? Perhaps, just perhaps, some things can stay off the ‘net? Why do people have to post everything & anything on whims?” Others note that Dungy himself shared the information on social media. “He said he’d be doing it in advance but did it in his usual, high class way,” someone writes. “Love his humility.”

Your Pain ‘Is Not Meaningless’—Country Singer Granger Smith Reflects on Son’s Death Three Years Later

By

Dale Chamberlain

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December 22, 2022

Country singer Granger Smith recently shared about the grief he and his family experienced three years ago when his three-year-old son, River, died in a tragic drowning incident in the family’s pool. In his interview with Faithwire’s Tré Goins-Phillips, Smith expressed that God is “sovereign,” and “providential,” and that the pain his family has experienced “is not meaningless.”

Smith is known for songs “Backroad Song” and “If the Boot Fits,” both of which hit the top ten of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart upon their release. He is also starring in the film “Moonrise,” in which he portrays Country singer Will Brown, a character who “pushed away his family, fame and faith after his wife’s death.”

“It’s his daughter and a talented horse trainer who show him strength, forgiveness and grace to live life again,” the movie’s description reads. “Moonrise” is available to stream on Pure Flix.

Smith has released a new album alongside the movie with the same name.

Speaking about his foray into acting, Smith expressed, “Lately, in the last few years, I’ve just, I’ve truly embraced the idea that the future is none of my business. I open up my hands, and we have a sovereign God. We have a providential God, that once we open up to him and we say, ‘This is for your kingdom, not mine,’ and we turn our palms open, he says, ‘I will make new things. I will bring things to you. I will give you the desires of your heart.’”

“That has led me to the idea that I don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring, but I’m totally open to whatever God has a plan for,” Smith continued.

Smith further expressed that he drew upon his real-life loss to authentically portray a man who had recently lost his wife in “Moonrise.”

“I probably took the role, starting with, because of that—because of my familiarity with loss. And I don’t know if I would have taken it if I would have thought to myself—it’s kind of disrespectful to take the role of a man that’s lost and hurting and grieving if I don’t know anything about it,” Smith said.

He nevertheless added, “That doesn’t make me special at all. In fact, it makes me a part of a fraternity that no one wants to be in.”

“But eventually, everyone will go through it. And it’s just if you live in a family, with friends, and you love them, and you live on this planet long enough, you will experience deep, tragic loss,” Smith said. “And so, we could either embrace that now or be blind to it when it does come.”

Reflecting on his son’s tragic death, Smith said, “I’ve done a lot of thinking since then, and I’ve definitely processed it daily.”

Smith explained that he and his wife Amber chose to be public and vulnerable with their story and process of grieving, so that they might “have the opportunity to help others.”

“When we do help others through our grief, we realize: that is part of our healing—a big part of our healing,” Smith said. “Because we could realize through that that the tragedy and loss and hurt and sadness and pain, for a Christian, is not meaningless. It has a purpose. As Paul said, ‘It is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.’ So we realized that we grieve with hope, that grieving hurts, that it is painful, but it is not meaningless.”

“You’re not alone,” Smith said to those who are struggling with grief this holiday season. “And that’s a normal feeling. You could feel a couple different ways. One of them could be, you know, I’m a Grinch. I need to stop this. I don’t really feel like decorating the house right now. I don’t really feel like putting up Christmas lights outside, and I don’t really feel like inviting people over and eating turkey and ham. I kind of just want to crawl in the closet and just cry and stay in the dark.”

20-Year Church Abuse Probe Ends With Monsignor’s Quiet Plea

By

Maryclaire Dale

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December 22, 2022

Twenty years after city prosecutors convened a grand jury to investigate the handling of priest-abuse complaints within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the tortuous legal case came to an end with a cleric’s misdemeanor no contest plea in a near-empty City Hall courtroom.

Monsignor William Lynn, 71, had served nearly three years in state prison as appeals courts reviewed the fiery three-month trial that led to his felony child endangerment conviction in 2012. The verdict was twice overturned, leaving prosecutors pursuing the thinning case in recent years with a single alleged victim whose appearance in court was in doubt.

In the end, they said Lynn could end the two-decade ordeal by pleading no contest to a charge of failing to turn over records to the 2002 grand jury. A judge took the plea during a short break from her civil caseload last month, and imposed no further punishment.

“He lost 10 years of his life, 10 years of his priestly life,” said defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom, speaking of the decade since Lynn’s conviction. “It’s a travesty. It’s an absolute travesty.”

“You’re fighting an uphill battle because the public at large misunderstood what he was convicted of. They thought he was an abuser,” Bergstrom said.

Lynn was the first U.S. church official ever charged, convicted or imprisoned over their handling of priest-abuse complaints.

His trial attracted a packed courtroom full of press, priest-abuse victims and outraged Catholics, along with a few church loyalists. Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy, was accused of sending a known predator — named on a list of problem priests he had prepared for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua — to an accuser’s northeast Philadelphia parish.

The trial judge allowed nearly two dozen other priest-abuse victims to testify about abuse they had suffered in the archdiocese over a half century. An appeals court later said their weeks of testimony over uncharged acts were unfair to Lynn — who some saw as a scapegoat for the church, given that the bishops and cardinals above him were never charged.

“This is one defendant, one count of endangering the welfare of children, with one group of children,” Judge Gwendolyn Bright said before his retrial was set to start in March 2020. “We’re not bringing in the so-called or alleged ‘sins of the Catholic Church.’”

The pandemic closed the courthouse, and the case against Lynn stalled yet again until the recent plea offer.

A spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, who inherited the case from his predecessors, called Lynn’s unannounced Nov. 2 plea “the appropriate path for bringing finality and closure to the victims, who have endured retraumatization throughout the legal process for years” and said they did not want to face another trial.

The archdiocese did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Lynn, who remains a priest, has been saying Mass for retired nuns and hopes to assume more duties, according to Bergstrom, who declined to make his client available to the press on Wednesday.

At his trial, Lynn said he had made a list of 35 suspected predator priests so Bevilacqua would address the matter, only to have the list be destroyed.

“I did not intend any harm to come to (the victim). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm,” Lynn testified.

In recent years, prosecutors were not sure they could get the trial accuser — a policeman’s son who testified to his long struggle with addiction — back in court for the retrial, complicating their trial strategy. Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, the lead trial prosecutor in 2012, had said he could try the case without a victim by arguing that Lynn had placed “a bomb” in the parish, whether or not it went off.

Official Bans Christmas Celebrations in District in Indonesia

By

Morning Star News

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December 22, 2022

Official-Bans-Christmas-Celebrations-in-District-in-Indonesia — Photo via Unsplash.com @Elang Wardhana

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Morning Star News) – A high-level official in western Indonesia on Saturday (Dec. 17) announced an agreement with a multi-faith body that prohibits Christmas celebrations in a district at sites without government approval.

The agreement effectively bans religious Christmas celebrations in Java Island’s Maja District, Banten Province as strict requirements and bureaucratic opposition make obtaining official worship permits impossible for small fellowships. The announcement comes despite lack of any national-level restrictions on religious Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the Muslim-majority country.

The head of Lebak Regency in Banten Province, Iti Octavia Jayabaya, revealed the agreement with the Forum for Religious Harmony (FKUB) that restricts Christmas celebrations in Maja, one of 28 districts under her jurisdiction.

“There is no prohibition, but based on the results of an agreement from the Forum for Religious Harmony (FKUB) deliberations, Christmas joint worship [in Maja District] may only be held in places that are in accordance with the permits,” Iti said in a press statement on Saturday (Dec. 17).

Requirements for obtaining permission to build houses of worship in Indonesia are onerous and hamper the establishment of such buildings for Christians and other faiths. Rights advocates say Indonesia’s Joint Ministerial Decree of 2006 makes requirements for obtaining permits nearly impossible for most new churches.

Even when small, new churches are able to meet the requirement of obtaining 90 signatures of approval from congregation members and 60 from area households of different religions, they are often met with delays or lack of response from officials.

Instead of celebrating Christ’s birth in prohibited venues, Iti said Christians could hold religious Christmas celebrations in nearby Rangkasbitung District. Iti, daughter of previous regent head Mulyadi Jayabaya (2003-2012), said Christians could take public transportation to Rangkasbitung, a town and district about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Maja, for the celebrations.

“In Rangkasbitung there will be a joint [multi-faith but non-religious] Christmas celebration on Dec. 27, and the combined Christians and I will come,” Iti, a Muslim, said on Dec. 14 in Rangkasbitung at a coordination meeting for Christmas and New Year preparations, according to news outlet Kompas.com.

The former head of the Communion of Indonesian Churches (PGI), Andreas A. Yewangoe, told Morning Star News that banning Christmas celebrations in Lebak Regency should bring reproach.

“The central government must sternly reprimand the regent, since it is against the values of Pancasila and the constitution,” Yewangoe said.

Pancasila is the government’s guiding policy of unity and social justice for all of Indonesia’s various peoples. Yewangoe, one of Indonesia’s leading theologians, said a central government reprimand would represent not only a defense of Christians but would uphold the values of Pancasila and the constitution.

Encouraging Others, Staying Active Is the Plan for Former Pastor

By

Scott Barkley

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December 22, 2022

retired_pastor_encouragement — Don Wilton, left, developed a close friendship with evangelist Billy Graham after becoming Graham's pastor in 2008. Wilton, who retired this month after pastoring First Baptist Church Spartanburg, S.C., for 30 years, hopes to follow Graham's example in encouraging other pastors.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (BP) – As of last Sunday, Don Wilton may no longer be the pastor of First Baptist Church. But he has no affection for a certain word.

It’s one he would like to see … well, retired.

“The word ‘retirement’ is very unfortunate and non-existent for me,” said Wilton regarding his decades of ministry, 30 years of them spent at First Baptist. “God called me to share His truth to a searching world.”

Dates on the calendar already reserve times of preaching and teaching. He’ll guide others on trips to Israel, as he has for several years. Wilton, who arrived at First Baptist in 1993, will continue to mentor and support other pastors.

That last desire comes from a longtime friendship with First Baptist’s most well-known member, Billy Graham.

Not long after Wilton’s first sermon in Spartanburg, he received a phone call from Montreat, N.C., with a distinctive voice on the other end.

“One can only imagine what was going through my mind,” Wilton said of that day. However, it started a relationship that eventually became one of pastor to church member when Graham moved his membership to First Baptist in 2008.

If anyone had the standing and ministry experience to hold over his pastor, it was Graham. But of course, that wasn’t the case. Even as their meetings grew to become a weekly occurrence, Wilton recoiled at the idea of calling him “Billy” when Graham suggested it. A compromise, to Graham’s delight, was met at “Brother Billy.”

Wilton, a native of South Africa, arrived in New York City with his wife, Karyn, 45 years ago. For 15 years he served as professor of evangelism and preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary before First Spartanburg issued a call.

The couple has three children. Greg is dean of Leavell College at NOBTS. Rob is a Send City Missionary for the North American Mission Board and lead/founding pastor of The Vintage Church in Pittsburg. Shelley is an upper-level leader with Samaritan’s Purse.

Wilton had also served with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s schools of evangelism in the 1980s, but never met Graham until becoming First Spartanburg’s pastor.

For more than two decades Wilton visited Graham – and until her death in 2007, Graham’s wife, Ruth – at their mountain cabin home in western North Carolina.

“We became extremely close,” Wilton said. “I was privileged to lead his funeral and honored to sit at the feet of one of God’s peerless servants, to learn so much from him and was privileged to hold his hand all the way to his journey to heaven.”

After Graham’s death, Wilton wrote “Saturdays with Billy,” an account of their friendship.

In 2018 Wilton began to realize the time had come to find a successor at First Baptist. It’s a not a time of transition the church is used to. Wilton was its third pastor in 70 years.

January 2020 was planned as the time to step away, but COVID changed those plans.

“When we came to the beginning of [2021], we knew it without question that it was time for us to lay down the responsibility,” he said.

“We’ve had an incredible ministry here and seen thousands of people come to know Christ. God has allowed us to be part of tremendous building programs and a broadcast ministry. We’ve sent people as missionaries throughout the world. First Baptist has been engaged in church planting, encouraging pastors everywhere and sharing the Gospel in prisons.

“Then you talk about the ministry team here. I’ve had the privilege of serving with the most spiritual, golden group of men and women who have an average tenure of 22 years.”

Mentors like Graham and longtime First Baptist Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley have given him examples to follow.

“They passed those [lessons] on to me at a very deep level,” said Wilton. “I’m excited to take young pastors to Israel and invest in them.

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

Portraitist to the Popes Wishes to Promote Peace Through Her Art

By

Claire Giangrave

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December 22, 2022

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — From her cozy studio hidden behind Rome’s famous Piazza Navona, the “official Vatican portraitist,” Natalia Tsarkova, uses her brush to capture the likeness of popes, princes and patriarchs.

A 6-foot portrait of the recently canonized St. John Paul II, peering down benevolently while leaning on a shimmering staff, dominates the apartment, located in a 16th century palace. Above the door a fresco of an angel painting on a canvas remains visible despite the erosion of time.

On a recent December Friday, the pungent odor of oils and painting solutions filled the room as Rufus Majestic, a large Indian Eagle owl, circled overhead, occasionally hooting at the intrusions into his domain. Below, Tsarkova’s tiny frame moved nimbly through the collection of books, paintings and boxes strewn all over the floor as she searched for pictures of her latest project: the most recent portrait of Benedict XVI, a massive composition showing the retired pope surrounded by his pontifical family.

Dubbed the “painter of popes,” Tsarkova is the first artist to portray four of them — John Paul I and II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis — and she approaches her work with both passion and mission, aiming to bring a message of peace to a world fraught with division and conflict.

“A painting isn’t enough. It also has to have a positive impact,” Tsarkova, who came to Rome in 1995, told Religion News Service. “I feel a great responsibility and honor through my art as an Orthodox Christian,” she added.

Born in Soviet-era Moscow, Tsarkova showed promise as an artist at a very young age. In 1989 she became the first woman to be accepted into the Russian Fine Arts Academy and studied under the mentorship of famed Russian painter Ilia Sergeevich Glazunov.

Tsarkova’s first years in Rome were marked by struggle and poverty. “But by the late 1990s, I began to see her everywhere,” said Robert Moynihan, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Inside the Vatican, in an email to RNS. The Vatican expert said Tsarkova “was tireless” and quickly built a network of connections at curial and diplomatic events.

“I believe that it was through these contacts that she was able eventually to receive the commissions to do portraits of high-ranking Vatican officials, and even Popes,” he said.

In 2001, when synods were markedly secretive and closed-off affairs, Tsarkova became the first woman allowed to attend the bishops’ assembly. She was present at almost every meeting and created a painting representing John Paul II’s last synod of bishops. Her art has traveled all over the world and has been showcased in sites ranging from the U.S. Congress in Washington to London, Moscow and Beirut.

She also painted a portrait of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in 2015, which she described as a great honor. “I try to be a bridge between Russia and the Vatican,” she said.

“The popes say to stop the fighting and remember that we have much more in common than we realize,” she said.

“I do as the popes do, I pray for peace and try to contribute as much as I can for peace with my brush,” she added. “Art is above everything.”

84 Percent of Christians Say U.S. Has Forgotten True Meaning of Christmas

By

Diana Chandler

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December 22, 2022

manger_Jesus — Photo via Unsplash.com @Kenny Eliason

WASHINGTON (BP) – Three quarters of U.S. adults say Americans have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, with Christians more likely to make the claim than non-religious individuals, according to a new Ipsos poll.

Among Christians, 84 percent voiced the opinion, with 50 percent strongly agreeing and 34 percent somewhat agreeing, Ipsos said. The numbers compare with 42 percent of all Americans who agree strongly with the presumption, and 33 percent who somewhat agree, Ipsos said.

Conversely, 16 percent of those polled disagreed with the statement, compared with 13 percent of Christians who disagreed, and 60 percent of non-religious respondents who disagreed.

The poll did not ask respondents their view of the true meaning of Christmas, a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus. Ipsos conducted its online poll Dec. 9-11 among a nationally representative sample of 1,023 adults using the probability-based KnowledgePanel, which Ipsos described as “the most well-established online probability-based panel.”

The sentiment that Americans have forgotten what Christmas means also proved more prevalent among Republicans and those over the age of 50, Ipsos said, with 88 percent of Republicans agreeing and 81 percent of those over age 50 and above agreeing.

Among Democrats, 66 percent agreed with the presumption, as well as 68 percent of all respondents between the ages of 18 and 24, and 66 percent of those between 25 and 34.

The findings track with a 2017 Pew Research study that found most respondents believed Americans were putting less emphasis on the religious aspects of Christmas, Pew reported that year.

“Not only are some of the more religious aspects of Christmas less prominent in the public sphere, but there are signs that they are on the wane in Americans’ private lives and personal beliefs as well,” Pew said of its study of U.S. adults conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 4 of 2017. “For instance, there has been a noticeable decline in the percentage of U.S. adults who say they believe that biblical elements of the Christmas story – that Jesus was born to a virgin, for example – reflect historical events that actually occurred. And although most Americans still say they mark the occasion as a religious holiday, there has been a slight drop in recent years in the share who say they do this.”

In the Pew study, 55 percent of respondents planned to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday in 2017. Of that majority, 46 percent perceived Christmas as more of a religious than cultural holiday, and 9 percent perceived the occasion as both religious and cultural.

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

Sunday School Looks Different Since Pandemic’s Start: From Monthly to Missing

By

Adelle M Banks

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December 22, 2022

sunday school — Youth participate in a combination vacation Bible school and summer camp at Crossroads Community Cathedral in East Hartford, Connecticut, in July 2021. Photo courtesy of Crossroads Community Cathedral

(RNS) — At St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in the Chicago suburb of Woodstock, Illinois, the once weekly Christian education program is now monthly, and known as “Second Sunday Sunday School.”

At Crossroads Community Cathedral, an Assemblies of God church in East Hartford, Connecticut, “children’s church” continues to thrive each weekend, and “The Little Drummer Dude” production was presented in early December, but Christian education for young people is described as “one of our greatest weaknesses.”

At Mattie Richland Baptist Church in Pineview, Georgia, the adults have been back in Sunday school and the kids led a Black history presentation, but the bus that picks up children for their education program will remain idle until January.

Sunday school, adult forums and other Christian formation classes, already threatened by declines in worship attendance, have been further challenged since COVID-19 shuttered churches and sent their services online. A study by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research said more than half were disrupted in some way. Other research shows religious education for adults has bounced back more than for younger church members.

“For some, it continued without any real major disruptions, and for others, it basically collapsed,” said Scott Thumma, the institute’s director, summing up its 2022 pandemic-related research during an October event at Yale Divinity School. “And the easiest way to make it collapse was to keep religious education for children and youth online. If you kept it online, you probably don’t have a religious education program now.”

The Rev. Scott Zaucha, pastor of St. Ann’s in Woodstock, a mostly white congregation with about 50 attending on Sundays, said its Sunday school had ceased to exist before the pandemic because of its aging congregation. He wondered how to begin it again and learned that online Christian education was not the answer because it seemed like “another thing to try to keep up with” when regular schooling was online.

Zaucha found that meeting one Sunday a month in person was the best route, realizing that even if families choose St. Ann’s as their congregational home, they may not be weekly attenders.

“When you have only a few families with kids at your church, and you have two kids on this Sunday and six kids on that Sunday,” he said, “they’re all sort of spread out. But if you say, ‘Hey, families, we’re going to have Sunday school once a month.’ Then it lets them know when is the best Sunday for them to come if they’re only going to choose one.”

In Orthodox churches, research shows that the parishes that never ceased holding in-person religious education classes for their children and teenagers fared better than those that halted the Sunday school lessons, with some even increasing the number of attendees. The combination of attending worship as well as Sunday school and seeing other youth on a regular basis became crucial for their participation.

“For them, it has become even more valuable through the pandemic for those parishes, which kept young people together,” said Alexei Krindatch, national coordinator of the National Census of Orthodox Christian Churches, in an interview conducted at the Religious Research Association conference in November. “It was an excuse to get together.”

At Crossroads, a multicultural congregation with about 1,500 gathering each weekend, online campus pastor Luke Monahan has tried numerous options to keep adults and kids engaged since the start of the pandemic. In 2020 there were daily adult devotional videos and two a week for kids. Online options appealed more to the adults than to the kids — his own youngster, at age 6, “shut the little laptop and ran away,” he said. An online kids’ church video he had developed gained little traction.

What Child Is This?

By

Randy Alcorn

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December 22, 2022

The angels must have been stunned to see the second member of the triune God become a human being! The baby of Bethlehem was Creator of the universe, pitching His tent on the humble camping ground of our little planet. God’s glory now dwelt in Christ. He was the Holy of holies. People had only to look at Jesus to see God.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see something unparalleled in all human history. As a carpenter’s son, and especially as the eldest son, He was an integral part of the family business. He worked hard, long hours. As did other Jewish children of His place and time, He studied and knew much of the Old Testament Scriptures by heart. He was like the other children with one major difference—He never sinned. That would have made Him popular with some people, and very unpopular with others.

But let’s go back further. As God the Father directly oversees every child’s conception and formation, so He did with Jesus, again with a startling difference. In this case, the child conceived was the Son who had always, from eternity past, lived with His Father and the Holy Spirit. This same Jesus who stepped out of eternity and into time is the source of our eternal happiness. The Jesus who dwells within every believer, who came down from Heaven and returned there, will one day actually bring Heaven down to the New Earth—forever (Revelation 21:1-4, NIV).

Following are some verses and quotes about the incarnation and virgin birth, excerpted from my book It’s All About Jesus. Enjoy!

Here is the great mystery of our religion: Christ came as a human. The Spirit proved that he pleased God, and he was seen by angels. Christ was preached to the nations. People in this world put their faith in him, and he was taken up to glory. (1 Timothy 3:16, CEV)

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. …The angel went to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38, NIV)

The Incarnation is the most stupendous event which ever can take place on earth, and after it henceforth, I do not see how we can scruple at any miracle on the mere ground of it being unlikely to happen. (John Henry Newman)

Christ took our flesh upon him that he might take our sins upon him. (Thomas Watson)

The greatness of God was not cast off, but the slightness of human nature was put on. (Thomas Aquinas)

It is fitting that a supernatural person should enter and leave the earth in a supernatural way…His birth was natural, but His conception was supernatural. His death was natural, but His resurrection was supernatural. (John Stott)

Jesus Christ did not remain at base headquarters in heaven, receiving reports of the world’s suffering from below and shouting a few encouraging words to us from a safe distance. No, he left the headquarters and came down to us in the front-line trenches, right down to where we live… (Helmut Thielicke)

It has never been quite enough to say that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world; since the rumor is that God had left his heavens to set it right. (G. K. Chesterton)

Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle. (Glen Scrivener)

If Jesus Christ were not virgin born, then…He inherited the nature of that father; as that father had a nature of sin, then Jesus Himself was a lost sinner and He Himself needed a Savior from sin. Deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and you paralyze the whole scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ. (I. M. Haldeman)

Though He was God, He became a man. He was the Ancient of Days, yet He was born at a point in time. He created worlds and companied with celestial beings, yet He came to live in a family setting on earth. (Henry Gariepy)

At Bethlehem God became man to enable men to become the sons of God. (C.S. Lewis)

He was created by a mother whom he created. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute. (Augustine)

No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle of Bethlehem. And yet, all Christian theology finds its beginnings in the miracle of miracles, that God became human. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

How to See God in Real Life — Through the Lives of Children

By

Gary R Linn

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December 21, 2022

If you’re wondering how to see God in real life, you don’t need to look far. We’ve all heard stories of God miraculously working through children. We have favorite Bible stories featuring children; Samuel and David top the list. But what about kids today? How is God working in their lives?

I’ve shared dozens of stories about God using children to show his love in families, communities, and countries. Most feature what we’d consider big miracles of healing and revival. But what about everyday events? Do we teach children to recognize how God works through day-to-day circumstances? Are they aware of the thousands of “little” details God takes care of each day?

Our challenge is to bring children into an active, daily relationship with their Heavenly Father. It should far surpass any relationship they’ll develop on earth. The first step is to help kids recognize God’s continual presence. Each day, every day, all day!

How to See God in Real Life: Practical Steps

Recently, I added a segment to the beginning of worship. It’s titled “What did God do for you this week?” I share small ways I see God moving in my life. Like finding an extra dollar on the ground. Getting the exact cereal I want on sale, plus having a coupon. Discovering a nail on the ground just before getting in the car. Getting a call with a word of encouragement at just the right time.

Gradually, I encouraged children to share what God did for them. Soon I’ll take it up one more notch. We’ll have a panel-type discussion that allows more sharing. Then the segment will close with a challenge to watch for the amazing ways God takes care of even the smallest details in our lives.

Teaching Kids How to See God in Real Life

Can you imagine what will take place? These children will begin recognizing exactly how intricately God works in their lives. They will develop a daily attitude of gratitude toward their Heavenly Father. Their faith will grow. They will more easily believe that God will answer their prayers. And they will trust God to take care of those things they consider big problems. It will change them, and they will change those around them!

Keep exploring how to see God in real life as he works through children!

Originally posted in the Children’s Ministry Inspiration Vault.

Bob Dylan: ‘I’m a Religious Person’ and ‘Read the Scriptures a Lot’

By

Stephanie Martin

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December 21, 2022

Bob Dylan recently shared insights about his faith and his longtime love for sacred music. The 81-year-old, whose awards include the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, rarely grants interviews. But he answered 20 questions from the Wall Street Journal regarding his new book, “The Philosophy o f Modern Song.”

In those pages, which one reporter describes as Dylan’s true autobiography, the musician lists and reflects on 66 of the greatest songs from the recording era. (Only four are by women, which has prompted some criticism.) Dylan’s essays, according to publicity materials, “are ostensibly about music [but] really meditations and reflections on the human condition.”

Bob Dylan Describes His Religious Beliefs

When asked about his own technology and relaxation habits, Dylan tells the Wall Street Journal he doesn’t spend much time on screens and never watches “anything foul-smelling or evil.” He explains, “I’m a religious person. I read the scriptures a lot, meditate and pray, light candles in church. I believe in damnation and salvation, as well as predestination. The Five Books of Moses, Pauline Epistles, Invocation of the Saints, all of it.”

Dylan also says his “first love,” musically speaking, is “sacred music, church music, ensemble singing.”

Born Robert Zimmerman in 1941, he was raised Jewish but had a public conversion to evangelical Christianity in the 1970s. (The Vineyard School of Discipleship played a key role.) By the mid-’80s, he was pushing back against the “born again” label.

In 1997, Dylan told a reporter, “I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else. Songs…that’s my religion. I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.”

Bob Dylan Muses on Creativity, Impacts of Technology

In his other responses, the artist shares thoughts about the creative process and technology’s role. Modernity “can hamper creativity, or it can lend a helping hand and be an assistant. Creative power can be dammed up or forestalled by everyday life, ordinary life, life in the squirrel cage,” he says. “Technology is like sorcery, it’s a magic show, conjures up spirits, it’s an extension of our body, like the wheel is an extension of our foot. But it might be the final nail driven into the coffin of civilization; we just don’t know.”

Technology and streaming have led to a “sameness” in music, Dylan adds. “We seem to be in a vacuum. Everything’s become too smooth and painless… You need a solar x-ray detector just to find somebody’s heart, see if they have one.”

Candlelight Hair-Fires Are Common—Church Leaders Tell Ed Stetzer Their Most Humorous Christmas Service Memories

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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December 21, 2022

christmas services — Photo via Unsplash.com @Carlynn Alarid / Adobe Stock

Ed Stetzer, Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, recently asked church leaders to share their most humorous Christmas service memories. The responses didn’t disappoint.

Perhaps the most common theme was the retelling of stories involving hair catching fire and other candle-related mishaps during Christmas candlelight services.

“The church we were attending had traditionally used a lot of candles on Christmas Eve,” one person recounted. “But there were a lot of children in attendance also. So a decision was made to limit the candles where children might be walking or running around—even on the platform.”

The person continued, “But hey! The lip of the balcony would be a safe place to line with candles—it was wide enough. And it would look beautiful as well! That was all true, but nobody thought of the hot wax dripping on the congregation below! There was a hustle and bustle of blowing out those babies!”

Other stories included pastor pro-tips for service this year. For example, maybe forego wearing your “singing tie,” as someone shared, “My pastor was sharing the Christmas story and bumped the button on his singing Christmas tie. We had to listen to the entire verse and chorus of Jingle Bells because there was no way to mute it.”

Joseph’s Example of How to Show the Love of Christ to Vulnerable Women and Children

By

Herbie Newell

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December 21, 2022

The gospel of Matthew introduces us to Joseph in this way: “When [Christ’s] mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”

Joseph was a just and empathetic man who was eager to avoid scandal and undue harm. As we learn more about Joseph, we find he was also a faithful, humble, godly servant of his family. Despite his integral role, he’s often overlooked in the Christmas narrative. Because the Lord used Joseph to provide for, protect, and defend both Mary and Baby Jesus, he was an indispensable part of the Holy Family and of the Nativity story itself.

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, we learn that Joseph had yet another dream, but this time he was told to flee to Egypt in order to protect the life of the Christ child. Joseph, not Jesus’ biological father, but his adoptive dad, risked his reputation, his life, and ultimately his plans in order to be the surrogate earthly father that the Lord desired for His only begotten Son.

Joseph is particularly relevant as 2022 comes to a close, in the wake of the Dobbs decision this summer, reversing the decision that made abortion legal and unregulated in all 50 states. God chose Joseph to surround Mary during what would have been a “crisis” or “unplanned” pregnancy. Joseph was chosen to be the earthly adoptive father to our Messiah and the restorative husband to a faithful teenage girl from Nazareth.

This year, as pro-life advocates and churches are looking for guidance and a model for a post-Roe world, Joseph stands as an example of how to show the love of Christ to vulnerable women and children.

Joseph is a model of fatherhood for us, while demonstrating the true value of godly husbands and adoptive fathers. He shows us what it looks like to respond to Mary’s “crisis” pregnancy with grace and strength—allowing a new and holy family to be established, one that surrounded her and the unborn child, Jesus, in safety and love. This is the role every man can play in his family, no matter the circumstances.

Joseph’s importance doesn’t stop with exemplary fatherhood; he also demonstrated to us the mission and ministry of adoption. He showed us its rejuvenating and reconciliatory function in our own lives as Christians, as well as the practical application in caring for the vulnerable.

Joseph quietly and faithfully became the adoptive father of Christ and, in so doing, mirrored and illustrated God’s adoptive fatherhood of every Christian.

“In love [God] predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved,” we are told in the book of Ephesians.

There is no greater calling than this adoption and no more fundamentally redemptive relationship.

“In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

In addition, this miraculous work operates through the redemptive act of marriage. At first, Joseph was going to quietly divorce Mary; however, ultimately he laid down his life for his bride. What a beautiful picture of the work of Jesus on display in Christian marriage! Vertically we see the relationship between Christ and the church, and horizontally we see the earthly relationship of husband and wife; both are pictures the world longs to see.

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