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John Zachary created a Nativity scene for Claremont United Methodist Church that employs a figure of Trayvon Martin as a commentary on gun violence. Previous scenes have had Mary and Joseph as a homeless couple and as war refugees. “You try to put it in a context of how it would be today,” Zachary said.Nativity scenes have a few standard elements: a manger, swaddling clothes, happy parents, sheep, maybe the Three Wise Men. They don’t generally include Trayvon Martin. But there he is, wearing a hoodie, a stream of blood pouring from his chest onto the straw-covered floor of the...

Christmas day is usually a pretty quiet affair for Jewish people. Most spend it as a day to relax and catch up, watch movies, go to friends, eat Chinese food, have family over or just simply listen to Christmas music and read the ads for the after-Christmas sales. I seem to find myself in a rather introspective mood this Yuletide season. Perhaps it is age creeping upon me, but I question the most basic issues, actually non-issues, and I can’t find answers. Perhaps others can supply the information I seek. First and foremost why is it that Christmas songs are...

Dec. 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The ‘war on Christmas’ is by now a long-hallowed tradition in North America. Every year, starting in November, atheists and conservatives battle over nativity scenes and Christmas trees on public property. And we have the ‘naughty or nice’ lists, the boycotts, and letters targeting retailers who try to cash in on Christmas without acknowledging the reason for their annual windfall. It’s a worthy battle and one that I’m happy to play some small part in as a pro-life, pro-family, and “pro-Christmas” journalist. But I think it’s important we recognize that what we have come to...

HYANNIS (CBS) – A Hyannis woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing toys that were donated through the Toys For Tots program. On Christmas Eve, two neighbors say 49-year-old Janice Tully gave them a ride to pick up donated toys for their five children at the Barnstable Police Department and the Independence House.

Above: Bob Clark, director of classic "A Christmas Story",and his son were killed by a drunk illegal alien on 4/4/2007. by John HillFor many Americans, Christmas means something else besides faith, family, food (and presents). It means movies: It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol (pick one), Miracle on 34th Street. On Christmas I often watch a modern classic: A Christmas Story, the irreverent adaptation of Jean Shepherd's memoir of Christmas memories from childhood. Many of our readers also caught this extraordinary film (at least) once yesterday, as the cable network TBS shows it non-stop for 24 hours every year at Christmas....

It’s an economist’s tradition — adding up the cost of the gifts from the holiday standard “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Analysts at PNC Bank recently calculate the combined cost of all those leaping lords, milking maids, golden rings and French hens for 2013 at $27,393.17, a 7.7 percent jump from 2012. Springing for the full song — every item each time you sing so you wind up at the end with 12 partridges — will cost you $114,651.But the federal government has its own version of the song, with contracts, agencies and programs that — with a little stretching...

The King James Version of Luke 2:14 is one of the most famous verses in the English language Bible: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." The current Roman Catholic version is: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” The Catholic version seems to me more restrictive with the conditional clause than the universality of the KJV translation. Is there any theological implication? Is one a more "accurate" translation from the original Greek? I think the Protestants beat the Catholics on this one.

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It’s a miracle on 42nd Street. The long-unseen Christmas episode of WPIX/Ch. 11’s beloved “Magic Garden” children series has magically reappeared and will air Christmas Day at 6 p.m. “We’re beyond excited,” says Rolando Pujol, executive producer of digital, who along with licensing producer Joan De Jesus discovered the show in a forgotten sub-basement at the station’s East 42nd St. offices earlier this year. The show originally aired on Dec. 13, 1981. It may have had a re-airing a year or two later, but then it disappeared. It turned up among several hundred vintage WPIX tapes in a long-ignored room,...

The father of our nation knew how to throw a Christmas party. I’m talking thousands of pounds of bacon, gallons of homemade rye whiskey, a massive “great cake” and what he called an “attack of Christmas pies.” Everyone got four days off to celebrate at his Mount Vernon plantation and while there was no regular scheduled appearance by Santa, there was at least one recorded visit by a camel. But the abundant Christmas feasts of Washington’s later years were preceded by some years that were lean on Christmas cheer. When young George was 8 years old in 1740, his home...

There are two things that never change on their own, and that is history and the human heart. It is due to the nature of the human heart that history is comprised of bad and destructive decisions. But Jesus Christ came to change all of this, and still does to this day, especially with those who are willing to seek him. Are you one of them?

“And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Luke 2:8). It was the shepherds outside of Bethelehem who first heard the news of Christ’s birth. These men and boys often lived at the edge of society, doing hard and lonely work in all sorts of weather. In many ways, the shepherd was the “average working-class Joe” of Jewish life. To some people, being a shepherd was among the lowest kinds of work. It was physically demanding but vital to the economy of the Jews. Shepherds lived mostly in the...

MIDNIGHT MASS SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Vatican Basilica Tuesday, 24 December 2013 Video 1. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). This prophecy of Isaiah never ceases to touch us, especially when we hear it proclaimed in the liturgy of Christmas Night. This is not simply an emotional or sentimental matter. It moves us because it states the deep reality of what we are: a people who walk, and all around us – and within us as well – there is darkness and light. In this night,...

December 26, 2013Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr    Reading 1 Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 Stephen, filled with grace and power,was working great wonders and signs among the people.Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,and people from Cilicia and Asia,came forward and debated with Stephen,but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. When they heard this, they were infuriated,and they ground their teeth at him.But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,looked up intently to heavenand saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,and he said,“Behold,...

Exactly 150 years ago this Christmas Day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem “Christmas Bells.” It would later provide the lyrics for the familiar carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Most of those who love the song – which has been recorded by arists ranging from Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Kate Smith to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Ann Margaret – know little about its backstory. Indeed, the lyrics actually were written by Longfellow during a time of despair. The poet had learned that his first-born son, Charles, a lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil...

Well, just listen. Lyrics by the Clovertons I've heard about this baby boy Who's come to earth to bring us joy And I just want to sing this song to you It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth--- The minor fall, the major lift-- With every breath I'm singing Hallelujah.. Hallelujah... A couple came to Bethlehem Expecting child, they searched the inn To find a place for You were coming soon There was no room for them to stay? So in a manger filled with hay God's only Son was born, oh Hallelujah... Hallelujah... The shepherds left their flocks...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, conveyed warm Christmas greetings from the State of Israel to Christians celebrating around the world on Tuesday night, via a snowy video message. “This is Jerusalem of gold, now it’s Jerusalem of snow,” Netanyahu said, speaking “from the city of peace, Jerusalem.” “We celebrate Christmas with you. We know the importance you attach to our common heritage, to the State of Israel, and to the city of Jerusalem where so much of our common history was forged,” he added. ”We have a great past, we have common values, we have the desire to seize a...

As a Jew, and a religious one at that, I want to wish my fellow Americans a Merry Christmas. Not “Happy Holidays.” Merry Christmas. I write, “my fellow Americans” because, as reported by the Pew Research poll released just last Wednesday, nine in 10 Americans say they celebrate Christmas. Apparently, many Americans have forgotten that Christmas is not only a Christian holy day, but also an American national holiday. Just as we wish one another a “Happy Thanksgiving” or a “Happy Fourth,” so, too, we should wish fellow Americans a “Merry Christmas.” It doesn’t matter with which religion or ethnic...

For those tired of hearing the same Christmas songs by the same artists over and over again I have a suggestion.Paul McCartney's music publishing company maintains a free multi-channel online radio that features Christmas music by many artists performing traditional and not-so-traditional songs. What they have in common is the publishing rights are owned by MPL Communications and are offered for licensing with the click of a button.Clicking the source link should take you directly to the Happy Holidays station. Other stations available are the Macca Mix (McCartney solo catalogue), 30s Hits, Rock Classics and Bert Berns. In the past...

BERKELEY LAKE, Ga. A metro Atlanta homeowner says he hopes he didn't offend anyone by his Christmas decoration of a mannequin with outstretched arms entangled in a string of Christmas lights and clinging to a ledge that prompted an emergency response to his house. Bubba Murphy Lake told WSB-TV that someone passing the house in Berkeley Lake with their children thought the display looked so realistic that they called 911. He says fire officials told him to take the display down _ at least temporarily. The display also had a ladder toppled over in the front yard.