How many people appeared in the wedding story at Cana? The first one mentioned was “the mother of Jesus.” Then, “Jesus also was invited” – this sounds like He got his invitation by association, like that relative in each family we could do without but must be invited to come along because “it’s family”. Jesus wasn’t at the wedding as…
“Football isn’t a matter of life and death; it’s much more important than that.” For years, Bill Shankly’s famous quote was just a catchy soundbite until I arrived in Scotland, immersed myself in its culture and realised that for the great Scottish manager’s compatriots, football is as important as he’d described it. I’ve seen weddings planned around fixtures so as…
A woman woke up excitedly on her birthday and enthusiastically told her husband, “I’ve just dreamt that you gave me a pearl necklace for my birthday! What do you think it means?” With certainty in his voice, the man said, “You’ll know tonight.” That evening, the man came home with a small package and handed it to his wife. With…
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” for religion-bashers, and Christianity in particular. Christmas offers such people an opportunity to “debunk” it on two main bases. One is the presence of supernatural elements in the story, like angels and a wandering star, as we’ve just heard (as we heard at Midnight Mass). I’m sure such people are equally enraged…
This weekend is predicted to be one of the busiest of the year travel-wise. Many people will crisscross the country, the continent, and the entire world in order to come together in one place as a family or a group of friends to celebrate Christmas, either in a religious or secular sense. For a practical man like me, this is…