There’s something about bad news that grabs our attention.   Consider this headline that appeared around the world six weeks ago:...

There’s only one widely-sung Christmas carol whose verses tell a story.   It’s also the only carol that spotlights a real-life character...

In the Bleak Mid-Winter   Are you searching for a simple, memorable, spiritual resolution for the new year – something calculated to help...

When you think about it, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In is a rather unusual Christmas carol.    There are no boats in the accounts of...

George Frederick Handel was a musical has-been in 1741.   The luster was gone from a once-lauded career as an opera...

Noel is a French word that means “birth of God,” which speaks to the mystery at the heart of Christmas.   But the familiar carol called...

One of the world’s most beloved Christmas songs sprang from one of the world’s closest calls to nuclear oblivion.   For 13 days in...

The Episcopal vicar Phillips Brooks was moved by his visit to the village of Bethlehem in 1865 – the same year America’s Civil War...

The Horse and His Boy, the fifth book in C.S. Lewis’ children's series called The Chronicles of Narnia, tells the story of a boy named...

One of the world’s most popular Christmas songs actually started out as a She Done Me Wrong song.   O Tannenbaum (or O Christmas Tree, as...

How can we know what something is worth?   Two recent auctions have challenged our capacity to answer that question.   Last month,...

During the heart of the Depression, American folklorist John Jacob Niles was sampling original music of Appalachian hill folk.   While...

What Christmas carol has the distinction of being written in its entirety on Christmas Eve?   That would be Silent Night, which sprang...

If carolers come to your front door this December, they will likely sing Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, irrationally...

When my two brothers and I came into the world, we each received a security blanket.   My older brother Scott got a blue one. My younger...

Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing a Christmas duet? Crosby, the World War II-era crooner, was skeptical. What he knew of British rock...

Father Gregory Boyle directs Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, arguably the world’s most successful ministry to the members of...

What’s the key relational issue in the Bible?    That’s easy: It’s forgiveness.    Apart from the willingness and the ability to forgive,...

There were no fall harvest festivals in ancient Israel.   That’s because the growing season in the Promised Land, at least from our...

It’s time to take on what some counselors and psychologists call the Other F Word.    Fine.    As in, “How are you doing?” “I’m fine,...