Poetry: Rossetti – In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moan;Earth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow,Snow on snow,In the bleak mid-winterLong ago. I know very few poems by Christina Rossetti, but her winter and Christmas poems and songs have found a special place in my heart, and this one more than most. …

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Poetry: Donne – A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

"Such wilt thou be to me, who must,    Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just,    And makes me end where I begun."

The Face of Christ: Part 2 – Jesus’ Ethnicity and Message

In the first installment of this series, we broached the idea that some people wish to destroy images of Christ for no other reason than they are perceived to be ethnically inaccurate. Such an argument is faulty at best and immoral at worst. People who make such arguments miss the main point of the art …

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The Word, the Beginning, and Christmas Eve 1968

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was …

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Hope in Spite of Suffering

While people are more frequently reminded as they get older that things wear down and waste away, Christians can forget in their daily life that what we labor and strive for is not for this world but the next. We build up castles for ourselves when the Lord has promised us the world. We make …

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