When we think about Maundy Thursday and the Last Supper, we quite naturally focus on the institution of the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper. But more...
Maundy Thursday
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Palm Sunday
There's a lot more going on in the Triumphal Entry than meets the eye. This video unpacks some of the layers of meaning hidden in the familiar story...
St. Patrick’s Day
It is St. Patrick’s Day. I have been away for the last two weeks helping take care of a new grandchild and her sister, so I haven’t had much time to...
The Seven Penitential Psalms
In my previous post on Lent and the accompanying video, I focused on fasting and abstinence (“giving something up for Lent”) as central elements of...
Preparing for Lent
Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, is in two days. Lent is the period of preparation for Holy Week and especially the celebration of Easter, but...
Candlemas and the Coming of Spring
The beginning of February is an important time both in the church year and in traditional calendars. Biblical Foundations In the church year,...
The Significance of Epiphany
Today is Epiphany, the day the Western churches celebrate the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem and the Eastern churches commemorate Christ’s baptism....
The Twelve Days of Christmas
In American culture, we think of the Christmas season as the time leading up to Christmas. Christmas celebrations frequently last only a few days,...
Christmas Paradoxes
The infinite became finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became mutable, the...
Victorian and Modern Advent and Christmas Traditions
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...
Medieval Advent and Christmas Traditions
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...
Sword & Staff Multiverse: Christmas and Paganism with Glenn Sunshine
Glenn Sunshine of the Theology Pugcast and Every Square Inch Ministries joins Coleman to talk about the history of Christmas and its relationship to...
Advent and the Many Comings of Christ
For My Non-Liturgical Friends: A Quick Introduction to the Church Year The church year takes us on a liturgical journey through the story of our...
Now Thank We All Our God
In honor of Thanksgiving, today's post is a chapter from 32 Christians who Changed their World about Martin...
Waiting on the Word
I never really understood poetry. My English classes in elementary school and high school covered it a bit, and I had a year of courses on epic...