Each year, The Living Church asks a number of our writers, supporters, and friends to suggest Christmas gifts that are meaningful to them. As an Amazon Associate, TLC earns from qualifying purchases. Best wishes to you and yours for a blessed Christmas. Colin Ambrose I suggest a Solo Stove Bonfire. As we know, the safest place to visit with family and friends during … [Read more...] about
Christmas
Nobody Dreams of a Blue Christmas
By Neva Rae Fox Correspondent For some, Christmas is not necessarily a happy time. Blue Christmas services have helped people face a season of joy and mirth when they don’t feel jolly or merry. “While our traditional seasonal liturgies focus on hopeful expectation and the birth of Jesus, they don't necessarily or specifically speak to those feeling separated from that … [Read more...] about Nobody Dreams of a Blue Christmas
Advent and Christmas Will Look Different This Year
By Neva Rae Fox Correspondent In normal years, with Advent and Christmas rapidly approaching, planning for the traditional observances and events, by this time, would have been completed, publicized, and posted, with rehearsals underway. But 2020 has proven to be far from normal. The status of churches is different across the country. Some are open, some closed, but … [Read more...] about Advent and Christmas Will Look Different This Year
From the Archives: A TLC Christmas Message from 75 Years Ago
To the Family of The Living Church: The Christmas We are Fighting For (Dec. 24, 1944). Somewhere in the South Pacific Dear Family: This is a Christmas message from us overseas to you at home. Though it is written from a Marine base in the South Pacific, it might as well come from any battle front, overseas Army post, Air Force flying field, or ship of the American Navy … [Read more...] about From the Archives: A TLC Christmas Message from 75 Years Ago
Fresh Carols for a Global Christmas
Review by Phoebe Pettingell All Hail the Glorious Night and Other Christmas Poems By Kevin Carey Sacristy Press. pp. 377, $31.78 In his preface to this collection of five volumes of poetry, Kevin Carey voices his hope that some of his verses will inspire contemporary composers to set them to music as new carols. In fact, the late Alan Smith, British like … [Read more...] about Fresh Carols for a Global Christmas
The God-Bearer: A Christmas Reflection
The Rt. Rev. Dorsey W.M. McConnell, Bishop of Pittsburgh, writes: It is hard to see them the way they were: mother, husband, child, exhausted, sheltered in the nick of time, she giving birth the way many still do — uncertain surroundings, bad odds, little help. Luke reaches back into the shadows and, with his elegant Greek, dares to call this baby in rags both Lord and … [Read more...] about The God-Bearer: A Christmas Reflection
‘Love Came Down at Christmas’
Presiding Bishop Curry’s Christmas Message 2018 Via the Office of Public Affairs In the Third Chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus says at one point, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” For years, I’ve often thought that that passage only referred to Jesus giving his life as a … [Read more...] about ‘Love Came Down at Christmas’
Following the Star
Postcard from London By John Martin Some English migrants to my native Australia celebrate a traditional Christmas-style dinner in July, the coolest month of the year. Out comes roast turkey and all the festive trimmings, followed by plum pudding. July is the closest they come to the winter weather of the Old Country. Christmas in Australia is loaded with anomalies. As a … [Read more...] about Following the Star