What will you find under the Christmas tree this year? According to several consumer websites, the hot items of 2014 will be dolls from Disney’s Frozen, Lego sets, Xbox and Playstation 4 game consoles, and, believe it or not, Apple’s discontinued iPod Classic. Some people will discover some “gifts” they never wanted...

  Jesus Was Born in a Barn. Ah, the annual nativity scene! Churches from Seattle to Schenectady will recreate the beloved Christmas tableau. Mary and Joseph will be encased by stable walls, shepherds on bended knee with perhaps a lamb or two milling around, and the Baby Jesus nestled in a wooden manger. Only problem...

  Not long ago, my nephew sent me THIS LINK promising that “this guy summed up the entire Bible in one Facebook post, and it was perfect.” The post was pretty clever, depicting God, Jesus, the prophets and apostles telling the people not to do “the things.” The people agree...

  He wore a green flannel shirt and distinguished grey temples. Sticking out his hand, he said, “You’re the reason my family and I go to this church.” Usually I don’t receive this kind of greeting when I show up to deliver a sermon or monologue. All I could do...

  WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? Author Mick Mooney thinks he knows in a parable he wrote for Huffington Post. A mother gives her son a WWJD bracelet and the young man starts buying beers for the drunken and tossing pastors out on their ears who peddle books in their churches....

  It was supposed to be a routine booking. The Almost Amazing Marko would show up at the Project 44 Farm on a Saturday afternoon to entertain kids and adults during an open house event. I would walk around with my bag of tricks as folks stood in line for BBQ, strolled...

  A young man recently came to trim the trees in my front yard. He was supposed to show up on Saturday, but his partner reneged on the truck. The young man apologized, promising to do the work early in the week. On a grey, blustery Monday morning, he arrived with a...

  The pain in my shoulder wasn’t going away, so I made an appointment with my doctor. “Have you done anything to hurt it?” “Well, per your orders, Doc, I’ve been exercising,” I replied. “What kind of exercise?” “Oh, I’m in a spinning class, kettlebells, boxing–“ “Whoa!” the doctor interrupted....

  Satanists are going to school. In response to Christian groups distributing Bibles to public school students in Florida, The Satanic Temple says it will follow suit with literature of its own. Their activity book has a coloring page of a young girl sitting in her study filled with “Satanic literature and philosophy” and...

  Popular author and United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton has shown God the door — the violent God of the Old Testament, that is. In a recent three-part blog series on his website, Hamilton suggests that the warriors of old, such as Moses, Joshua and David, were putting words in God’s mouth....