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St. Patrick, the runaway slave who brought the Gospel to Ireland
If you live in a city or town with a strong Irish heritage, you know that March 17th won’t be just like any other day. Shamrocks, leprechauns, parades and celebrations sporting green everything will flood the streets. In the United States, we call this day St....
Finding St. Patrick in Ireland
Before I went to Ireland for the first time in 2009, I knew exactly two things about St. Patrick: he had a day named after him that was celebrated by many Americans and he was supposed to have driven all the snakes out of Ireland. (Actually, given Ireland’s climate...
Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People
Harriet Tubman was a slave in Maryland who escaped to freedom in Pennsylvania. She could have fled to safety in Canada, but after years of enduring harsh treatment, she was determined to help other slaves to freedom. Becoming a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad,...
Torchlighters Shine On: William And Catherine Booth And The Salvation Army
How can we raise a “cheerful giver” in an era of automatic withdrawals and online giving? One annual opportunity to model cheerful giving to children, even as we check items off our Christmas to-do lists, presents itself each December: the ringing bell and bright red...
Torchlighters Shine on: Martin Luther and the Reformation
October 31st, in addition to being Halloween, is known as Reformation Day. In 1517 a German monk named Martin Luther was appalled by the Catholic Church’s sale of pieces of paper signed by the pope that claimed to provide indulgences, that is, forgiveness of the...
Torchlighters Shine On: Amy Carmichael and the Dohnavur Fellowship
Just two years after her arrival in India, missionary Amy Carmichael began wearing a Sari, the traditional Indian dress. From there she began relating to women who were outcast, giving them new hope in Jesus and a new name: The Starry Cluster. In 1901, six years after...