Author: Gordon Govier

You will occasionally hear folks in some passably scenic patch of some other state refer to their little stretch of sod as “God’s Country.” The claim is made everywhere from Northern Georgia to rural Montana to, inexplicably, Alabama. Pretty clearly, none of those folks have ever traveled the back roads atop the Niagara escarpment east of Lake Winnebago that link Jericho to St. Peter to Marytown, and St. Nazianz to St. Anna to Mt. Calvary.

      The news media are once again reporting on the Christmas wars, as the Christian faithful rally to protect holiday observances from eroding. The Washington Post has a column by attorney David French from the Patheos Holiday Monitor, which is tracking the War on Christmas across the country. The New York Times also has a column by Ross Douthat called “A Rough Season on Believers.” Both French and Douthat are skilled writers and their columns are well worth reading. But here in Madison the Christmas War raged two decades ago and then largely ended, at least in the…

Two Madison evangelical churches — both among the city’s largest in their heydays — have merged in what church leaders say is an unusual case of congregations uniting instead of splintering. Lake City Church and Mad City Church now will be known as City Church.

The tree is trimmed, and Christmas carols crowd the airwaves. There are presents to wrap and cookies to bake. And wishes of a “Merry Christmas” at every turn. But for many, the holiday is hardly joyous. Whether it’s a death in the family, financial worries or the day-to-day stresses of contemporary American life, Christmas can evoke in many a profound sense of sadness. That reality is drawing the attention of faith leaders, more of whom are beginning to offer “Blue Christmas” services, liturgies intended to acknowledge personal pain in what is touted to be “the most wonderful time of the…

Those who choose to pray find personalized comfort during hard times, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist. The 75 percent of Americans who pray on a weekly basis do so to manage a range of negative situations and emotions — illness, sadness, trauma and anger — but just how they find relief has gone unconsidered by researchers.

　 About half an hour into our bell-ringing shift at Hobby Lobby last week a car alarm began to sound in the parking lot in front of the store. The horn honking and light flashing continued until a lady detached herself from the line at the cash register, walked over to the glass doors, and pressed the button on her fob several times until the noise subsided. It’s Christmas season and the kettle stands are set up in the Hobby Lobby entrance, as well as the doorways of grocery stores, discount stores, drug stores, and other high traffic locations around…

TOWN OF LEEDS — With its ornate woodwork, folding French doors and expansive veranda, the 104-year-old country house near DeForest could be the setting for a wedding or social gathering, and indeed has been many times. The house isn’t flashy, but it is stately and well-maintained, and it has had exactly one owner its entire life — Spring Prairie Lutheran Church, which built it in 1906.

C. S. Lewis said that Christianity was about achieving perfection in God, not happiness. Even so, a survey in this month’s American Sociological Review (ASR) suggests that a “high rate of life satisfaction” is at least a byproduct of the Christian life. Researchers Chaeyoon Lim, sociologist at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, and Robert Putnam, author most recently of American Grace and most famously of Bowling Alone, found that people who frequently attend church and other places of worship are happier than those who attend less frequently.

  Devotional poetry is as old as the Psalms. The discipline of using words in a precise way to praise God can be an intensely meaningful act of worship. Now a Cottage Grove man has taken an obscure poetic discipline not typically known for its devotional nature and created something different. It’s published in a new book called Christian Haiku, the 17-syllable devotional.

There are two Caesareas in the Bible, both named after Caesar Augustus, the Roman ruler of 2,000 years ago. Caesarea Maritima is mentioned over a dozen times in the Acts of the Apostles. It was a seaport on the Mediterranean coast. Caesarea Philippi is mentioned one time each in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. It was located at the headwaters of the Jordan River, near Mt. Hermon. An archaeologist who spoke in Madison Sunday afternoon believes an excavation taking place in Israel over almost a dozen years offers a new perspective on Caesarea Philippi.