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This month marks the 43rd anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. We have been fed some false information about this war. For starters, Israel did not strike first unlike in the 1967 Six day war when Israel was forced to launch a pre-emptive strike as her enemies amassed on her borders and as the UN stood aside and allowed them to do so. The Arabs shot first  On the night of September 25, King Hussein secretly flew to Tel Aviv to warn Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir of an impending Syrian attack. Throughout September, Israel received eleven more warnings...

Love one another. Love everyone as CHRIST loved and loves us. Have patience with one another the way you would want them to have patience for you.

We're about to enter the "holiday season," and rather than the old-fashioned joy of it, we are surely going to enter into another litigious time of year. I'm a little confused over this "separation of church and state" issue that keeps popping up every “holiday season.” The word "holiday" is derived from the words “holy day,” so it's clear there is something religious lurking around in there. I'm also hearing a lot about a semi-public area, New York City’s Zuccotti Park, which a mob is being encouraged by public officials to take over and use as a live-in campground to...

One Ascension Day I was making final preparations for the Service in the upstairs workroom when I heard some fluent Pennsylvania Dutch coming from the Narthex. Knowing that the few of our members who “speachen zie deutsch” were not likely to arrive so early, I supposed that the Dutch was being spoken by a stranger. My supposition proved correct, for there, in the Narthex, was an Amishman complete with straw hat and chinwhiskers along with an “English” companion--his driver, I presumed. Steven Miller (an Amish convert) had returned to his family homestead and was showing his professor friend the churches...

One Ascension Day I was making final preparations for the Service in the upstairs workroom when I heard some fluent Pennsylvania Dutch coming from the Narthex. Knowing that the few of our members who “speachen zie deutsch” were not likely to arrive so early, I supposed that the Dutch was being spoken by a stranger. My supposition proved correct, for there, in the Narthex, was an Amishman complete with straw hat and chinwhiskers along with an “English” companion--his driver, I presumed. Steven Miller (an Amish convert) had returned to his family homestead and was showing his professor friend the churches...

This year, Christmas may be colder - or at least quieter - for the thousands who attend several evangelical megachurches across the country. Some of America's largest churches are closing their doors on Christmas day, which this year falls on Sunday, to accommodate to the lifestyles of their congregants. Among those slated to close its doors on Christmas day is Willow Creek Community Church - Chicago's largest congregation and one of the top five largest in the nation. "It's more than being family friendly. It's being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy," said Cally Parkinson, spokesperson for...

I keep reading about churches that are going to be closed on Christmas day, which falls on a Sunday this year. What’s up with that? The word ‘Christmas’ comes from ‘Christ mass,’ which is the Roman Catholic service, or mass, for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas falling on a Sunday should be viewed as a special occasion, with people excitedly looking forward to going to church that particular day, not using it as an excuse to close the church doors. Churches that are deciding to not hold services on Sunday, December 25th, are making a huge mistake. Now,...

Reports in the national press that some modern megachurches are “closing” on Christmas in order to encourage families to “have a more personal experience on that day” have shocked many traditional Christians. The Chicago Tribune first reported this phenomenon on December 6, in an article about the godfather of megachurches, Willow Creek. Other articles followed, in USA Today and other papers, chronicling the trend throughout the United States. This is nothing new for Willow Creek, and the WillowCreeking of America is evidenced by the spread of this trend. Many, many churches, including Rockford’s Heartland Community Church (which recently purchased Colonial...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The senior minister at central Kentucky's largest church defended a decision to not offer services there on Christmas Sunday and responded to mounting criticism. The Rev. Jon Weese praised the decision of elders at Southland Christian Church during a service Saturday and said they "chose to value families. People over policy." Weese has heard from hundreds of Christians across the nation protesting the closure, Southland officials said. Preaching before a crowd of about 1,150, Weece said the full story hasn't been heard. "I was deeply saddened by the knee-jerk response of the Christian community as a whole...

Central Kentucky's largest church will break with tradition and close its doors on Christmas Sunday so that staff and volunteers can spend more time with their families. Southland Christian Church near Lexington, where more than 7,000 people worship each week, is one of several evangelical megachurches across the country that are opting to cancel services on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar. Supporters say the change is family-friendly. Opponents call it a regrettable bow to secular culture. The list of closed congregations on Christmas Sunday reads like a who's who of evangelical Protestantism: Willow Creek Community Church,...

This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day. Critics within the evangelical community, more accustomed to doing battle with department stores and public schools over keeping religion in Christmas, are stunned by the shutdown. It is almost unheard of for a Christian church to cancel services on a Sunday, and opponents of the closures are accusing these congregations of bowing to secular culture. "This...

With many large churches across the U.S. announcing they won't be open on Christmas Day, some pastors are defending their decision to stay closed, even going so far as to blast those who question their motives. Among them is Jon Weece, pastor of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., who received complaint e-mails from Christians in all 50 states. "I was deeply saddened by the knee-jerk response of the Christian community as a whole to give the benefit of the doubt to the media and not a church or a brother in Christ," Weece said in his Dec. 10 sermon....

Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper has banned a float sponsored by a church in Denver, because it has the words "Merry Christmas" on it.

'In theaters this holiday." That's part of the advertising campaign that preceded the recently opened movie, "The Polar Express." Which holiday? Veterans Day? In that case, I missed it. Strange that a movie would play only one day. But of course, that's not what the marketing folks meant. The movie opened Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day, and it will be playing for some time — maybe even through Presidents Day. All this "holiday" stuff is driving me nuts. "Buy our product this holiday." Which holiday? It doesn't make sense. I know what you're thinking. Just another rant from...

<p>Secularist fanatics try to take "holy" out of the holidays.</p> <p>If you like your Christmases straight--i.e., "Merry Christmas" instead of "Season's Greetings"--the run-up to Dec. 25 can be a trying time. And this year the grinches are again out in full force, trying their best to strip from our public squares any hint of what most Americans will actually be celebrating come Christmas morn.</p>

November 1, 2002Solemnity of All Saints Psalm: Friday 46 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Reading IRev 7:2-4, 9-14 I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,holding the seal of the living God.He cried out in a loud voice to the four angelswho were given power to damage the land and the sea,"Do not damage the land or the sea or the treesuntil we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,one hundred and forty-four thousand markedfrom every tribe of the...