Upfront
As an old year yields necessarily and graciously to a new one, it’s not uncommon to leave previous patterns of thought and action to embrace freshly inspired ones. So it is with the magazine you’re holding in your hands.
We think about Christmas all year long. It’s true! (Well, maybe we’re not constantly baking pies, singing carols, or putting sparkling lights around our cubicles.
Everyone’s got marriage advice: “Don’t go to bed angry. ” “Live, laugh, and love.
Is the devil (or evil in its many insidious guises) still hovering around, despite Jesus’ bold efforts to reject it during that mountaintop temptation over two thousand years ago? And are we turning from such inducements with equal vehemence?
Three good friends of mine passed away recently. To my surprise, I found within myself an unshaken confidence that they were going on to good things, inseparable from divine Love and Life.
In Germany, where I grew up, many people light candles on what is called an “advent” wreath, in the four weeks before Christmas. This is to celebrate the advent, or coming, of Christ Jesus over 2,000 years ago.
Thanksgiving is a special time to give deep gratitude to God for the overflowing harvest of fruits we’ve each received from divine Life, Truth, and Love over the past year. National Bible Week in the United States is also celebrated during this time, which perfectly complements the purpose of Thanksgiving by honoring God.
“But what will other people think?” Sure, we all want to be kind and respectful by trying to make our peers, family, and friends happy. But sometimes it can feel as if the bar of expectation is set too high and we’ll never reach it.
“In your peaceful homes remember our brave soldiers, whether in camp or in battle,” Mary Baker Eddy urges us ( Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 14 ).
As the United States presidential election gets nearer, lots has been written about the relationship between politics and religion. In a way, this issue of the Sentinel deals with that very subject—but it takes a much different tack than other explorations of religion and politics.