by Glenn Sunshine | Dec 30, 2024 | Church History, Church Year, Featured, History, Worship
In American culture, we think of the Christmas season as the time leading up to Christmas. Christmas celebrations frequently last only a few days, and then we take down the tree and get ready to celebrate the New Year. Or we think about Christmas as lasting until New...
by Glenn Sunshine | Dec 25, 2024 | Bible & Theology, Church Year, Featured, Reflections, Worship
The infinite became finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became mutable, the invisible became visible, the Creator became created, the Sustainer of all became dependent, the Almighty infirm. All is...
by Glenn Sunshine | Dec 23, 2024 | Church History, Church Year, Culture, Culture & Society, Featured, History
In the previous post, I looked at two Advent and Christmas traditions with roots in the Middle Ages, crèches and caroling. There are others, of course, but most of them involve decorations: holly, mistletoe, wreaths, and Christmas trees. All of these also connect us...
by Glenn Sunshine | Dec 16, 2024 | Arts & Media, Church History, Church Year, Featured, History, Worship
Advent is my favorite season of the church year. It makes me feel connected to the past in ways that other times of the year do not. As a historian and something of a romantic, that feeling of connection touches a deep place in my heart. Yet oddly enough, growing up,...
by Glenn Sunshine | Dec 9, 2024 | Arts & Media, Church History, Culture, Featured, History, Worldview
When I got the news about the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris back in 2019, I felt much the same way I did on 9/11. I lived for a time in Paris, and I have lots of good memories of the cathedral. And besides, as a historian, I place a great deal of value on...
