Looking back, I can only describe it as a kind of violent mercy — because what shattered was not really my faith in God. What shattered was an idol that had been wearing God’s face.

The nativity window of the west side of the Emmanuel Church building was installed in 1909. The following was written by Addie M. Pretty in 1949, in tribute to the window. The Nativity Window in the nave of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Shawnee is an usually large and fine piece of religious art. In fact, it is regarded to be the largest in the state, and, according to some authorities, one of the finest in the entire southwest. It is some 12 feet wide and 26 feet high, combin

Jesus could not have been clearer. In Matthew 25, he describes the final judgment—the separation of the sheep from the goats, the saved from the damned. The criterion? "I was a stranger and you welcomed me... I was a stranger and you did not welcome me." How we respond to the stranger, Jesus says, is how he will measure our souls. As immigration debates continue to intensify nationally and locally, and as we are bombarded with the same scenes over and over, it is good for us