Stream Splashes: December 16-22 in Review
Every week, The Stream rounds up some highlights from the recent news. We call these our “splashes”: everything from insightful commentary on the week’s big events to small inspiring stories you may have missed.
My favorite devotional series, In Conversation with God, features on the cover of the Advent/Christmastide volume a painting of John the Baptist baptizing Christ in the Jordan.
I confess for years I have inwardly groaned at that image. John the Baptist? C’mon. It hardly seems very Advent-y, and certainly not Christmas-y. Well, I’m here to tell you I’ve been wrong. John the Baptist is precisely who we need to keep in mind during Advent.
As I was reading a book recently, I came across a question that gave me pause: Does history have a plot?
I know there are those who trudge through life telling themselves that the answer is a resounding “no.” We are all happy accidents of some great cosmic event. We are the products of impersonal gases and proteins and primordial ooze.
On the other hand, there have always been those who knew that a plot is, indeed, unfolding in the world.
When my wife Rusty and I were the Passion Arts Ministers at our old church in Los Angeles, our main responsibility was creating and staging original productions, particularly musicals and plays around Christmas.
It took a couple years, but we finally learned one truth: God does the casting.
Western society is rapidly moving toward totalitarianism. I never would have thought it possible — yet it’s happening. Christianity in particular is under attack, at risk like never before in our part of the world. I’m not new to these issues, but a recent National Review article by John Daniel Davidson was still a kick in the gut for me. We must wake up. We must rouse ourselves to action.
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