Besides Christmas and Easter, Halloween is one of the most celebrated holidays of the year. Halloween began as a Celtic festival called Samhain. There were massive bonfires and lots of dancing to celebrate the end of the harvest season. It also began the “time of darkness” which we would consider now as the winter season. […]
Thanksgiving Starts Now
I’m just going to say it: Thanksgiving doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves. It doesn’t have the flashy colors and bling of Christmas. It doesn’t have the sex appeal of Valentines Day or the explosive “In your face, America!” attitude of Independence Day. Nope. Thanksgiving is a humble holiday, dressed in neutral tones and […]
CLOTHED IN CULTURE OR CHARACTER?
An old-fashioned word for a seemingly old-fashioned virtue, the word “modesty” doesn’t have much caché in American culture. Even in religious or Christian circles, the term sometimes smacks of school marms and Puritans, rigid dress codes and killjoys. In the most extreme cases, it conjures up images of Taliban-like sexism and the overzealous (and often […]
THE GOSPEL GRAFFITI CREW
Visual art has the ability to uniquely impact its viewer through the interplay between image, color, and purpose. Through this careful interplay, we can experience messages with various senses, and therefore be more holistically impacted by them. The Gospel Graffiti Crew has identified the world’s need to know and understand the Gospel message and has […]
COUNTER CULTURE: WEALTH
When one is contemplating a relationship with Jesus Christ, there are many questions to consider. How will my friends and family react? How will it change my daily life and all its responsibilities? Are there things that I should be giving up or doing differently? It’s important to know that each person’s experience in getting […]
COUNTER CULTURE: POWER
After the sun sets, we all face the same thing. When we go home at night, everyone has to walk into a space without any light. Stepping into the room, we stretch our arm along the wall until we find the right switch to flip and light welcomes us home. This light gives us the […]
FILTERING THE FICTION
Quiet on set!” In an instant, the chaotic set, once crowded with shouted orders and frantic footsteps, falls into silence. As the cameras start to roll, the main actor convincingly assumes his fictional identity. The entire crew watches in anticipation of the moment when they too forget that the actor is not who he says […]
HOW GREEN WAS JESUS?
There seems to be a certain pride when it comes to green living these days, that it’s so forward-thinking and cool. Remember when newscasters talked about celebrities showing up at the Oscars with the first Priuses? Or the reusable bag craze that now has every company manufacturing their own bags with their logo on it […]
LUMOS! THE LIGHT OF CHRIST SHINES THROUGH AT HOGWARTS
In 2001, I was intensely skeptical about Harry Potter. In fact, I was so skeptical that, as I dutifully accompanied my wife to the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (both to understand her fandom and to satisfy my curiosity), I confidently told a local TV news crew that the event wouldn’t […]
IS THERE A CHRISTIAN DRESS CODE?
My mother grew up in the old school Southern tradition where women were not allowed to wear pants to church or even outside of church. Also, they had to carry around a handkerchief to cover their legs when they sat down. To me, that tradition seems a little dated, although Deuteronomy 22:5 reads, “A woman […]