Marking Christmastime with Advent
While Dickens’s "A Christmas Carol" is not an overtly Christian story, the theme of starting over is. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he calls
Blessings from Unlikely Places
My favorite Christmas movie is "A Christmas Story," which tells the story of Ralphie Parker, a nine-year-old boy and his desire to receive an official Red Ryder carbine action, two-hundred shot
Registering Dissent
“Everyone went to their own town to register” (Luke 2:3).
The familiar Christmas story starts with a governmental registry. Tracking — and taxing — populations helped Rome
(Extra) Ordinary
An advent reflection by Blake McKinney, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lee's Summit, Mo.
Ordinary couple. Young people. Nearly married. Expectant parents. Gentle Mary. Pregnant virgin. Pregnant virgin!? Round
What Christmas means to me
Paul Gibson, executive minister for the Great Rivers Region of American Baptist Churches, reflects on "What Christmas Means to Me."
Advent, Aleppo & Bethlehem
An advent reflection on the viral image of Omran Daqneesh, a dazed five-year-old boy found in the rubble in Aleppo, Syria.
Light land, hope illumined enthuses the refugee soul.
Forgotten spaces at highway's end host sojourners cast out of home.
Reflecting on violence as part of Advent
On the second Sunday of Advent, the lawn of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., will be covered with wooden crosses like one sees in
Some churches creatively ‘Deck the Halls’ for Advent
On the first Sunday of Advent, First Baptist Church of Lee’s Summit, Mo., experiences what Randy Buffington calls “controlled chaos.”
Prepare for Christmas with Advent devotions
Over the past 10 years, Word & Way recruited writers annually from churches and Baptist organizations — both ministers and laypeople — and produced multi-page
Advent a make-or-break chance for churches, visitors
Deck the halls and cue the pageant! The weeks before Christmas mark a time in American churches when the lapsed and the curious who seldom darken the door just might drop by for a taste of the season's spirit.