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The night Rebecca and Luke Sumner met, they discussed church planting. They ended up planting a church together.

On a shelf in our church library you can find a “Reading Guide” made by a fourth grader. It lists the types of books appropriate for different age groups and advises: “Remember--Kids (8-12) when you start the Bible, go at your own pace. It's a long book!”

I enjoy Christmas—always have. I look forward to children’s pageants, complete with Burger King crowns for wise men, bath-robed shepherds, and aluminum foil-wings for angels; misty-eyed singing of “Silent Night” in the glow of candlelight; watching George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge and Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, the Grinch’s stealing and returning Christmas yet again. I look forward to the arrhythmic ringing of Salvation Army bells.

W. E. B. Du Bois wrote his prophetic words “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of color line” decades before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Yet those words allowed blacks to note how the removal of Jim Crow from educational institutions was slow in many parts of the country. Often among those responsible were Christian segregationists in Christian schools and colleges.

What is forgiveness, and is it always possible? Are there times when it is unwise? Is it even feasible when someone refuses to repent? These are some of the questions James Voiss takes up in his astute analysis of forgiveness.

If all it took was a star to compel a person to Bethlehem, the Magi would arrive to see a multitude.

If the world is a gift, then all the things to which you relate—and many to which you don't—are also God's relation to you.

If all it took was a star to compel a person to Bethlehem, the Magi would arrive to see a multitude.

We were seated on chairs arranged in a circle in the aptly named Hospitality Room, men and women from Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Japan, and the U.S. We were reading the Qur’an. Some were Muslims who many people would not consider Muslim; others were Christians who many people would not consider Christian.

Our congregation has, for many years, had a Christmastime angel tree, in which members purchase requested gifts for families in our local Head Start program. Do not get me wrong: this is great. It’s a way to make the holiday a little merrier for families who (I assume) don’t have a lot of extra disposable income. And every year, our family waits until the later weeks of the angel tree to pick up our cards.

I’ve appreciated the Christian Century since a fellow divinity student put a copy in my hand. As I step down as editor-publisher, I’m aware more than ever of the need for a steady voice thinking critically and faithfully.

Any attempt to counter Donald Trump's appeal needs to address the fundamental economic realities behind that appeal.

I don’t have the nerve to stand up on Christmas Eve and preach about the choreography of childbirth, but I wish I did. I wish I had the nerve to preach about Mary’s increased estrogen production, a few days before birth (estrogen that will soften her cervix, and help her blood coagulate after delivery). I wish I had the nerve to preach about Mary’s and Jesus’ pituitary glands producing oxytocin, which in turn allows Mary’s contractions to accelerate.

There's been a small flutter of conversation recently about a professor at Wheaton College, one who showed solidarity with America's increasingly nervous Muslim population by wearing a head covering, and asserting that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.