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Each week, we bring you interesting stories from around the web. Here’s what caught our eye this week!
FAITH
What We Get Wrong About Advent
This month a few years ago, my wife and I felt the sting of death as we experienced our second miscarriage that year. Last year, a long-time friend and father figure called to say he had been diagnosed with cancer, just before my job as I knew it came to an end. This year, the news is oversaturated with bombings and shootings, war and death. So much darkness and sadness and mourning—so much brokenness. Contrast that with the meaninglessness of the “Holiday Season” that the West has come to celebrate. Commercials cater to our consumeristic comfort idols by showing us beautiful people with smiling faces, enjoying the good life and telling us we need more and more stuff if we want to be happy too. Radio stations fill our ears with a sonically shimmering, polished veneer of jolliness and cheer. Read Full Article
From Relevant Magazine
GOVERNMENT
Most Presbyterians oppose government proposals to limit refugees, immigration
CHRISTMAS
Can’t Force the Feeling
It hits me at odd times throughout the year, in small, fleeing sparks: that feeling of perfect warmth and wonder that embodies Christmastime. Perhaps it’s a childhood memory triggered by a passing conversation or a Christmas carol crossing my mind in August. Whatever the source, I do all I can to savor the feeling, capture it, and save it up for later. Because I know, when Christmastime comes, I may or may not feel how I’m “supposed” to. It’s all around us, the pressure to feel a certain way during the holidays. The one-word designs found on mugs, sweaters, and Christmas cards can seem more like commands than celebrations: “Wonder.” “Celebrate.” “Rejoice.” At church, when we hear the Gospel account of the Incarnation—God’s incredible, universe-changing gift of His Son to mankind—there’s a prescriptive element: be moved to awe and reverence. Read Full Article
From Busted Halo
FAITH
Be Not Afraid
That’s what Jesus said, eight times in the New Testament: “Be not afraid.” In fact, “do not be afraid” is the most often repeated command in the Bible. And if you look at the whole Bible, you will find 365 scriptures that command us to not fear or be afraid in reaction to the world, people, or events around us. That’s enough for one reflection for every day of the year! Why does the God of the Bible, the angels who announce the birth of Christ, then Jesus himself, keep telling us, again and again, not to be afraid or to live in fear? Perhaps it is because our human nature makes us fearful. And what we most easily fear are the people who are “different” than us. Fear of “the other” is a very common human trait. Read Full Article
From Sojo
WORLD
This guy built a ‘glitter bomb’ and filmed Amazon thieves getting their just desserts
You really shouldn’t steal from Mark Rober. I mean, you shouldn’t steal from anyone, but you REALLY shouldn’t steal Mark Rober’s mail. The engineer and YouTube star really knows his stuff – he literally helped design the Mars Rover. But when Rober realized people were stealing his packages (he caught the thieves on his home video) he was stumped. In a video that has immediately gone viral, Rober says he reported the crime to the local police who said they simply didn’t have time investigate the incident, even though Rober had done much of the heavy lifting by capturing the incident on his home surveillance camera. Read Full Article
From Good Is
