Sheep and Goats
It was perhaps odd to see people dressed in their Sunday finery sitting on folding chairs in the pale gray utilitarian confines of a fellowship hall. But I learned quickly that the oddness would not …
Brightly colored banners touting secular virtues hang on the walls of the pale green elementary-school auditorium that serves as a worship space for Mercy Community Church. It’s a fine old list: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, …
A child’s magic-marker drawing of the Prodigal Son graced the bulletin cover for Sunday’s service at Calvary Lutheran: a hungry man sitting in a muddy pigsty. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with …
Maranatha Chapel is a big church. The kind with a proper campus. The kind with a lot going on outside the Sunday service, including weekday small-group discussion of the previous Sunday’s sermon. (Sunday’s sermon notes …
A statue of the Infant Christ wearing a king’s crown stands to the left of the altar at St. Anne’s. Today, the statue also wears a purple robe trimmed with pearls over his usual finery …
An old "B.C." comic strip holds down one corner of the picture window that looks in on the Dharma Bum temple — a whimsical accent tacked onto an otherwise serene and tasteful tableau: “Whatcha doing …
As I entered the church, a girl handed me a golf ball. It was yellow; the one atop the mic stand next to the pulpit was white. You could almost miss it within the pale …
“2010: A New Beginning” reads the label on the binder in the ministry booth set up in the church hall. The table surrounding the decorated cardboard triptych is strewn with candy. Other, similar booths advertise …
The circular interior of St. Ephrem’s church might serve as an eclectic museum of Catholic devotional art. So many styles, drawn from so many traditions: a golden mosaic rendering of the icon of Our Lady …
I don’t usually talk theology while I’m working. But last Sunday, as I took in the broad, airy, blue-tinged church interior before the service, executive pastor Lance Stratton approached me. “I’m doing the hardest thing …
A cheerful, creamy glow filled the broad church; it matched the cheerful, happy buzz of the congregation. A timer warned that the service was about to begin, but it had to be rolled back a …
“Do you know about this priest?” asked the man next to me in the pew, referring to Father Phien Van Pham, the Vietnamese celebrant. “He was persecuted for his faith — he spent quite a …
Sunday was assistant pastor Dave Holmquist’s last at El Cajon Wesleyan. After the opening worship — a singer/guitarist and a bongo player alone on the vast, spotlit, blue-green stage — he took his place down …
Got an unusual press release last week. It began: “On Sunday, December 13, 2009, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa, Calif., held a legally called and conducted meeting to take its second and final …
In my line of work, I see a lot of stained-glass windows depicting either scenes from the life of Christ or various Christian symbols. But until I ventured into the gothic wooden grandeur of First …
On December 3, Fox News personality Glenn Beck broadcast a live performance of The Christmas Sweater: A Return to Redemption to movie theaters nationwide. (Tickets were $20.) I was curious — the mention of redemption, …