By Jordann McMahan Have you ever heard the Parable of the Choir? It is attributed to Celeste Bembry and goes like this: “A choir can sing a beautiful note impossibly long because singers can individually drop out to breathe as necessary and the note goes on. Social...
By Amanda Hines This time of year is marked by New Year’s resolutions that vary from things like living more healthy lifestyles through exercise and nutrition to reading more books and spending less time on screens or traveling more to experience new places. The...
By Maggie Morey Did you catch it? The turning of the year and the changing of the seasons, I mean. Like many years, this changing of the calendar caught me off guard. In the midst of Advent preparations and holiday travels, 2026 snuck up on me. How did the changing of...
By Abbey Adcox The days after Christmas settle quietly. Anticipation fades, gatherings shrink and the house glows with decorations, though the mood shifts. Some feel relief; others sense a gentle ache. What lingers is not clarity but a mix of gratitude and weariness,...
By Scott Spreier Christmas is upon us! The decorations are up, the lights twinkling and the music playing — magnificently here at Wilshire. But for me, something — someone — is missing. The Son of God. Personally, I’ve only caught fleeting glimpses of Christ this...
By Maggie Morey Before Sunday School each week, our elementary students begin their time by gathering and singing songs together. A fan favorite of mine is “I’ve Got Peace Like a River.” The upbeat verses cycle through “peace like a river” and “love like an ocean” and...
By Kelly Akins Today is the Advent Sunday when we celebrate peace. What an elusive concept! All around us there are wars, conflict, ICE detentions and a host of other distractions. Our world is anything but peaceful. Yet in all this chaos, we are called to find and...
By Georgia McKee Happy New Year! Well, sort of. Today marks the first day of the Christian year — the beginning of Advent. The liturgical calendar is the cycle that orients us to God. Year after year, we travel through sacred time, letting ancient stories speak...
By Heather Mustain One of the great mystics, Howard Thurman, once wrote, “How moving is the sheer wonder of being necessary to the life of another! The giving of a gentle word when you did not know that such a word was desperately needed; the sharing of so little at...
By Charlie Fuller You likely remember the story. Jesus has gone to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for Passover (Luke 2:41–51). Mary and Joseph were a day’s journey on the way back to Nazareth before they realized that 12-year-old Jesus had stayed behind in Jerusalem....