Author: Gordon Govier

Sandra Yearman doesn’t think the family that she grew up in was particularly religious. "But I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t talking to God all the time," she said. As a child she drew strength, encouragement and hope from her prayers. She still does.In her job with the Dane County Sheriff’s Department she meets people who are dealing with problems and need help. But many don’t know how to get help. "I’ve had people tell me that in the 12-step programs, the step to connect with a higher power is the hardest. I’ve actually had people tell me…

NEWS RELEASE The River Food Pantry is celebrating four years of serving needy families in Dane County. The River is Madison and Dane County’s busiest food pantry, receiving over 2000 family visits each month. Four years ago, on Friday, March 31, 2006, the River opened its doors and served 40 families during its first Friday night pantry session. Today, the River serves that many families in half an hour at one of their four weekly pantry sessions. Around 500 families come to them for help each week. “If someone would have said that we would do 500 families a week I would have laughed,” said…

JERUSALEM – On Easter Sunday, millions of Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Jerusalem, thousands of Christian pilgrims visit what many believe to be the site of that resurrection. Located near the heart of Jerusalem is a place called The Garden Tomb, what some believe was the Garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Here is where some believe Jesus died, was buried, and then rose from the dead.

This being Holy Week, it’s the season for Bibles, judging from all the recent releases on my desk. Although there are already 7.5 billion copies distributed of the world’s best-selling book, publishers are always looking for that new niche audience. Which is why Zondervan has issued its pink-and-hot-pink leather-bound "Busy Moms Bible" with the slogan "daily inspiration if you only have one minute." As the single mom of a 4-year-old, I know that to be pretty accurate in terms of available time.

COMMENTARYThe events of Good Friday are utterly breath-taking. We celebrate nothing less than this: "that God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20).We are talking here about something that happens at the very foundations of the universe. Call it cosmic redemption, ontological healing, metaphysical reconciliation, the Bible’s version of Star Wars, or whatever helps you think about the largest, most ultimate reality, the "Really Real," capital R, capital R.

These days, Amy Grant says she’s happier than ever, while also wrestling with "a lot of uncertainty within my extended family as we’ve experienced pain, loss, and joy"—including the recent death of a friend and the decline of her mother’s health. It’s been an emotional roller-coaster for the six-time Grammy winner, who turns 50 later this year.

They were kidnapped and imprisoned by the Taliban for 105 days. But what the Taliban could not do was break their faith in God nor destroy their hope. Eight Western humanitarian workers were held by the Taliban in Afghanistan on trumped up charges of proselytizing in the days leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and remained imprisoned through the early U.S. bombings of Afghanistan.

The nation’s churches are staggering under the depressed economy, with more than one-third reporting decreases in giving last year, according to a survey. A "State of the Plate" survey of 1,017 churches sponsored by Christianity Today International (CTI) and the Colorado Springs firm Maximum Generosity reported that 38 percent saw their income drop in 2009, compared with 29 percent seeing drops in 2008.

WASHINGTON (RNS) On the big screen of the movies, God has been played by everyone from George Burns ("Oh, God!") to Alanis Morissette ("Dogma") to Morgan Freeman ("Bruce Almighty.") On the small screen of people’s imaginations, God frequently looks like an old man in the clouds, like something out of “The Simpsons.” Or Kenny Rogers. Or more ambiguous terms like creator, energy, love or nature. That’s how some Americans described their image of God in a small independent documentary entitled “God in the Box.”

Today as members of St. Andrew Lutheran Church wave palm fronds to commemorate how Jesus was welcomed to Jerusalem, they will do so believing that Jesus would approve of how their palms were harvested.The Shadyside church uses Eco-Palms, which are harvested by workers who earn fair wages and practice preservation of tropical forests."They’re more expensive than other palms, just as the coffee we serve here is more expensive because it is fair trade. But it’s a statement of social justice that we’re glad to make," said the Rev. Janet Grill, pastor of St. Andrew, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran…