Weekly Outlook - 5 facts about the Catholic Church's same-sex blessings

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It's been three years since Christmas 2020. Rev. Austin Crenshaw Shelley noted that in her sermon on Sunday at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. She shared how symptoms of post-traumatic stress tend to resurface three years and seven years after an event. It's been three years since the first Christmas without my grandma. Three years since I canceled my flight to meet my newborn nephew. Three years since a congregant died of COVID at my internship. Three years since the fear, the unknown, the death count, the loneliness... As Crenshaw Shelley spoke, I felt something in me crack and release; I silently wept in the pew. I felt the weight of my grief — on top of my deep helplessness and horror in response to this year's news of destruction and death, particularly in Israel/Palestine.  This Advent, I've taken a lot of comfort in a Madeleine L'Engle quote shared by Outlook Editor Teri McDowell Ott: “This is no time for a child to be born,/ with the earth betrayed by war & hate. ... [yet] Love still takes the risk of birth.” L’Engle wrote these Christmas words in 1973 after the Vietnam War formally ended and the Watergate scandal was unfolding around President Richard Nixon.  On today, the shortest day of the year, I invite you to join me as I wait for Christ. Bring your grief. I've got mine. Together, we can look honestly at the brokenness of our world. As Rev. Munther Isaac notes, if Christ were born today, he would come amid the Gaza rubble. This is no time for a child to be born. And yet, God comes; Love sings a defiant song. Let's listen and see if we can hear it. In Christ, Rose Schrott Taylor Outlook digital content editor

Christmas celebrations canceled, Christians in the Holy Land still find hope in the season by Daoud Kuttab The top 10 Outlook stories of 2023 by Rose Schrott Taylor  5 things the Catholic Church’s document on same-sex blessings does (and doesn’t) say by Claire Giangravé Feeling the squeeze: Financial pressures add up for PC(USA) congregations by Gregg Brekke In case you missed it... How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South "All this leads McCaulley to ask: If there is a God, why has racism persisted for so long?" — Colin Farmer Lawsuit: Priest says first gas execution in US poses threat to religious liberty The Rev. Jeff Hood, spiritual adviser to Kenneth Smith, argued the restrictions imposed during the execution would violate Hood’s right to the free exercise of religion. — Kathryn Post Incarnation A tritina form poem by Nadine Ellsworth-Moran on Madeleine L'Engle's Christmas quote: "Love still takes the risk of birth." Church of England to introduce same-sex blessing, as it faces ‘disestablishment’ bill in Parliament The prayers may be too little too late on an issue that has long alienated the church from politicians and peers. — Catherine Pepinster Love’s defiant song How can the peace offered by God and the chaos of the world exist at the same time, wonders Maggie Alsup? At-home Christmas liturgy Here is a tool to invite the holy into the day. — Rose Schrott Taylor "Family Christmas Eve Service" by Jenny Lee  FREE for a limited time. Click to download.