The Institute for Christian Studies is pleased to announce that the first Spanish course will be available as an online-class offering soon. The first class to be offered will be Introduction to the Bible. Here is a brief description of the four-part course. Introduction to the Bible – Spanish Language Instruction Part 1 – The…

Seven years ago, Becky Riley’s love of photography led her to join a photo club that has professional judges and professional photographers who give lessons. One day, Becky received a call that a world-class photographer was coming to the next photo club session. This sounded interesting, so she made sure to attend. When she arrived,…

[Episcopal News Service] What began as a small gathering with a big dream has transformed into a commitment by millions of Christians around the world to pray for one another. First begun in 1908, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity runs Jan.18-25 with hundreds of celebrations and gatherings: from Houston to Boston; Waterloo, Belgium,…

What is prayer? How does it influence my daily life and yours? Looking at my prayer life made me ask, “What is the action of prayer?” There had to be a place to start searching for the answer to that question. Then it hit me: just go to the holy scriptures. We all know that…

“If you are a Christian, your family is not just the people with the same last name as you, but those baptized in the same name as you. “ The above quote is from the Rev. Sam Allberry—a priest in the Church of England. Although it is not unusual for a bishop in The Episcopal…

“He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see…

Anyone who has been a Christian for more than a day recognizes that God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways. Sometimes, however, the full extent of his mysterious and unpredictable intervention in our lives is not fully apparent until later, sometimes years later. As one who has passed his 70th birthday, I am only now…

Whether in a parking lot showdown for the last open space or in our desire to advance our status and reputation, pride manifests in the human heart in many ways, some more subtle than others. However, the ugly pride monster rears its head in all of us. Sadly, like Jesus, we live in a culture…

Several years ago, I had organized a Good Friday service that was a combination of music and meditations. And my music director brought in a young viola player for an obligato part in a choral piece. I went up before the service to introduce myself, and we chatted for a little bit. As might be…

  A curious thing happened to me this week. I was examining the scriptures, reading about Paul on trial before the Jewish court in Jerusalem. At one point, the tribune in charge of him took him back to his jail cell for his own protection, “fearing that they would pull Paul to pieces” (Acts 23:10b)….