We’ve Lost Christmas as a Spiritual Celebration. Let’s Not Lose Easter Too This spring some groups have banned Easter egg hunts—not the activity but the name. Concerned pundits decry this as political correctness gone awry or the timid majority kowtowing to the vocal minority. Although “spring egg hunt” sounds lame, this new label doesn’t dismay […]
At one time, my dad received his paycheck every other week, on the last day of the workweek. With a smile, he called each of these paydays good Friday. Dad enjoyed good Friday twenty-six times a year. Some years the real Good Friday fell on one of dad’s good Fridays; other times it did not—and […]
It’s Time to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions—or Is It? The new year is a time when many people make New Year’s resolutions. Common ones include losing weight, saving money, going back to school, finding a better job, improving a relationship—or getting out of one, being kinder, giving more, drinking less, and so on. All […]
My Christmas wish for you is a joyous time of celebration with family and friends. May your day be loaded with laughter and love. May your table be filled with food and surrounded by fun. May you give gifts well and receive them even better. May you take a moment to thank the one whose […]
My perspective on Halloween has changed over the years. Here are my seven reflections on Halloween As a kid I relished the opportunity to score some candy, a rare and treasured treat. As a teen I was too old to go trick-or-treating, but there was usually a party to go to or friends to hang […]
Palm Sunday An area church has invited other nearby churches to participate in a joint Palm Sunday service for the “Blessing of the Palms.” That phrase in an unfamiliar one to me, but with millions of exact matches in an online search, it’s likely known to many within the Christian community. If you are perplexed […]
This week, many in the Christian community will observe Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season known as Lent, a solemn journey towards Easter. For some followers of Jesus, Ash Wednesday is little more than a notation on their calendar, whereas, for others, it is a meaningful spiritual holiday. For them, it signals the […]
Make This Year Different Than Last Christmas is (or at least, should be) a spiritual event. It is a grand celebration of Jesus. In my prior post, Reimagining Christmas, I encouraged a reclamation of the day’s true meaning and making it a spiritual experience. Now, seven days hence, another holiday is upon us: New Year’s […]
Like most people, I have expectations for Christmas: spending time with family and friends, giving gifts, reaching out to others, enjoying festive food at advent gatherings, and so forth. Much of my Christmas spirit is triggered by sights, sounds, and smells that conjure up happy memories of Christmases past. What if we were removed to […]
We’ve had a beautiful week here in southwest Michigan, with record highs in the low 80s for the past two days. As a consequence, I’ve been hit hard with a case of spring fever. The last remaining pile of snow has melted—it was a huge pile, which only succumbed a couple of days ago—and spring […]