Recently in Worship Category

Despite concerns over the Communion chalice used to distribute wine, one study suggests it may not be as unsanitary as expected, RNS reports.

"For the average communicant it would seem that the risk of drinking from the common cup is probably less than the risk of air-borne infection in using a common building," a Canadian cardiologist Dr. David Gould concluded in a 2000 article.

No cases of swine flu have been reported in York County, but state health officials confirmed one case Sunday in Montgomery County. Some churches and denominations are urging caution.

While your waiting for your ham to bake, here's a roundup of Easter fun for your Sunday.

Test your Easter knowledge with a BeliefNet.com quiz.

Read about the symbolism of eggs in various traditions, make an Easter basket or check out the winners of our Peep contest.

Wondering what to do with leftover hard-boiled eggs? Read on.

Courtesy of Wordsmith.org, our word today is interdict.

noun

A prohibition, especially a formal one, as by a court, church, etc.

transitive verb

To prohibit or stop.

Tuesday is the Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings Day -- concluding the Christmas season that began with Advent. Above, Filipino kids scramble to collect candy given out by men dressed as the Three Kings in Manila today during celebrations there.

In most Western churches, Epiphany remembers the visit of wise men, who brought gifts to the child Jesus. Eastern Christians also commemorate all of Jesus' childhood events, including his baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist.

Epiphany means "to show," "to make known" or to reveal," and refers to the wise men's "revealing" to the Gentiles the manifestation of Christ.

Judging by the cover, it looks like the Goth Bible.

A Swedish advertising executive has published "Bible Illuminated: The Book," which is the New Testament packaged like a glossy magazine -- chock full of professional photographs that are anything but what you'd expect to find in an illustrated Bible:

Scenes from post-Katrina New Orleans. Headshots of Angelina Jolie, Bono, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa. A veil-covered African mother holding a child (illustrating the story of Mary and Jesus). A four-page spread of an animal slaughterhouse in Nigeria. A man pumping gas. An anti-globalization protester in a clown nose. And an Indian woman giving birth to her first child.

It's edgy, to say the least. And thought-provoking. And, I admit, really hard to put down.

I missed this last week while on vacation, but it's still worth a post. Ted Olsen at Christianity Today has a list of Christmas songs that are "just plain wrong."

First on the list, "I Saw Three Ships":

Bethlehem is landlocked, so it is historically improbable that our savior Christ and his lady came sailing in on Christmas day in the morning. But that's not all that's problematic about the song. Where's Joseph? If it's just Jesus and Mary, why do they need three ships? Surely Mary didn't just arrive in Bethlehem the morning of the birth...

motet

noun (music)

A polyphonic composition based on a sacred text and usually sung without accompaniment.

-- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition)