Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

Keeping The Faith

Churches are peculiar places. I’ve had the opportunity to serve a few of them. Some of my pastoral experiences have been overwhelmingly rewarding: Baptisms, weddings, the transformation of individuals and families. Some other experiences have been about as much fun as a sharp stick in the eye. And the churches which I have served have…

His name was Charles. I sat by his bedside as, for all practical reasons, he was dying. I couldn’t begin to recount for you all the things that had gone wrong, medically speaking. Physically, he was a train wreck, as if his body was in rebellion against him. And to make matters worse, he was…

Here I am, twisted up in the same desperate situation again this year. It’s not my fault – I swear it’s not. Anticipating this jumbled mess, and having been stuck in it many times before, I planned carefully to avoid it. A year ago I employed a deliberate strategy to prevent this very disaster, and I…

When I was a kid, one of my favorite television shows starred Kermit the Frog. No, not Sesame Street, though I loved that program for a time as well. It was the Muppet Show. Jim Henson, God rest his soul, was a genius. And I will always be grateful to him for creating such characters…

While in Central America earlier this year, I visited the Mayan ruins at Tazumal, El Salvador. Tazumal is one of the best preserved ruins in that country, and I learned from my guide, that it was a central religious site. Tazumal was a place where the ancients gathered to ceremonially soothe their cruel, bloodthirsty deities. If…

Rev. Joseph P. Monahan offered this prayer after the violence at Virginia Tech several years ago. I offer it here again, this time, in wake of the senseless shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Lord, we don’t have words for what we’ve seen. There are no words. There are only tears… God of love, heal us. ……

One of the world leading talents today is a young man named David Garrett. He is youthful, handsome to the point of absurdity, and rich. If you have ever seen him, you are accurate to conclude that he has spent a good part of his short but successful career as a model. He can be seen…

According to the Pew Research Center’s recently released report, a full one-fifth of Americans are now unattached to religion, and the Protestant majority is no longer that; Protestant Christians now make up less than 50% of the population. News agencies reported this news as statistical facts with maybe a raised eyebrow of curiosity while some…

On the afternoon of August 12, 1961, leaders of the German Democratic Republic, better known as Communist Eastern Germany, signed an order to close the border between East and West Berlin, and erect a massive Wall dividing the city. Later that evening the order was put into effect. Roads that ran intoWest Berlinwere destroyed. Barbed…

There is an old story told about Augustine, the early church father, and a little boy on a beach. At the time, Augustine was writing his book on the Trinity and was walking along the seashore, deep in thought. Augustine noticed the little boy pouring seawater into a hole that had been dug in the…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners