Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy explores how recent rhetoric from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas surrounding 'illegitimacy' reveals broader stakes for democratic deliberation.

For the final day of Advent, contributing writer Sarah Blackwell ponders what we should focus on as we watch the Christ Candle lit once again this year.

Azar Ajaj, president of Nazareth Evangelical College, brings our attention to overlooked Middle Eastern Christians as instruments that God is using to bring peace to the region.

Christmas reminds us it is precisely in the midst of the darkness of hatred that it is time for love to be born.

What does it mean to enter the Christmas story anew in these moments, as so many are desperate for God’s saving presence? To wrestle with this question is to live into this sacred season.

Former pastor of Gaza Baptist Church Rev. Hanna Massad writes that we find solace in knowing that, like Mary and Joseph, we have a place of refuge — the “ark of the cross.”

Rev. Alex Awad, a retired minister who served as pastor at East Jerusalem Baptist Church and a professor at Bethlehem Bible College, reflects on modern-day Herods and how the Christmas story gives oppressed people around the world hope.

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, offers this first entry in our week exploring the theme of Advent during a time of bloodshed in Israel.

Rev. Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America, writes that we begin to calm our anxieties only when we learn to accept the presence of divine mystery in our lives.

Rev. Janna Louie, chief of staff for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, reflects on Psalm 80 and how anxieties can be transformed by collective grief and lament.