For Good Friday, I am sharing a poem written by my daughter, Elizabeth Sunshine Koroma. It's my favorite Good Friday poem and I think it is particularly impressive that she wrote it while in college. I'm including her explanation of some of the imagery from a blog...
Join Dr. Sunshine for some often overlooked themes from the Last Supper. https://youtu.be/i9d8bJ42kG4
A discussion of the apparent differences in the date of Passover during Holy week in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) compared to John, why it is important, and ways that have been suggested to resolve the...
A summary of the history of Lent and the historical practices associated with it, along with suggestions for how to practice it today.
As Christmas approaches, I always find myself connecting to the past, both my family’s history and beyond that to the more distant history of the church through the ages. Perhaps I do that because the theme of Advent (the season of the church year that begins four...
Hope in the Face of Darkness Back in 2012, a friend of mine who was a pastor in Hartford, Connecticut, asked me to preach at his church. I was preparing to go on a five-week mission trip to Asia, and this would give his congregation a chance to meet me and perhaps to...
Every year at Christmas time we hear arguments that our Christmas celebrations are little more than warmed over paganism. We hear that the date was selected to compete with pagan holidays, or worse, to absorb pagan holidays into the church, and that our Christmas...
Should Christians participate in Halloween? Glenn Sunshine comes back on the podcast to discuss the history of Halloween. We investigate its origins and how it changed over time. He also informs us how Halloween is...
Maundy, from the same root as “mandate,” refers to the commandment Jesus gave his disciples on the night before he was crucified, “Love one another" and the occasion for the institution of Holy Communion, to commemorate...
December 23: These are based on the O Antiphons, traditionally said during church services from December 17 to December 23; they are also the basis for the hymn "O Come, O Come, Emanuel." Read the Antiphon to understand what it is saying, then spend some time reading...