Mark Twain, in his travel novel Innocents Abroad (1839), records a characteristically ironic description of the “tomb of Adam” in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Having spoofed the “veracity” of the tomb and the credulity of guides and visitors alike, he exclaims: The tomb of Adam! How touching it was,
At age sixteen, novelist Katherine Anne Porter entered the Roman Catholic Church because she thought she was in love. In reality, she just wanted to get out of her small hometown. Her marriage to John Henry Koontz did not last and the Catholicism did not stick until much later in
This article was originally posted on Methodists on Mission. When casting around for ideas for a new mission undertaking, the first place to start is prayer. As Psalm 127: 1 reminds us, “unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.” The purpose of prayer is
This past year has been incredibly difficult for Sylvia Havlish. Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, her husband of 49 years died. On top of that unimaginable loss, she received a cancer diagnosis shortly thereafter. Havlish—a decadeslong grief counselor who facilitates group sessions at Grace Lutheran Church in