By LORETTA FULTON Each December, members of Religion News Association, including Spirit of Abilene creator and editor Loretta Fulton, choose the top religion stories of the year. Those include the top national stories, international stories, and newsmaker of the year.Many of the Top 10 stories, as voted on by members, had local implications, including the No. 1 story, the Supreme
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Inspired by Janice Six Come, visit, share,You are welcomeAt the table. Come, one and all,You are welcomeAt the table. Come, be yourself,You are welcomeAt the table. Come in joy and love,You are welcomeAt the table. Come, join, and sing,You are welcomeAt the table. Come, sit, smile, eat,You are welcomeAt the table. Come, be with God,You are welcomeAt the table. Come,
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By LORETTA FULTON Exactly 25 years to the day after Janice Six joined the staff of her lifetime church, she will be retiring as associate pastor. Click here to read a Q&A with Janice Six Six grew up in First Central Presbyterian Church, joined the staff as director of Christian education in 1997, and was ordained and installed as associate
Read moreEditor’s Note: Janice Six, associate pastor of First Central Presbyterian Church, is retiring effective June 1. Following is a Q&A with Janice. Click here for stories and photos from Janice’s retirement luncheon. Q. Where did you grow up and what church did you attend? I was born and reared here in Abilene. My grandparents and their 10 children moved to
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By JANICE SIX Matthew 27:3-5: “When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he
Read moreBy JANICE SIX Peter waivers on the edge of night, attempting to remain anonymous as he awaits the verdict of the high priests. The very thing he vowed he would never do, he does. Pushed over the edge by a couple of observant servant-girls who remember seeing him talking to Jesus, Peter is called out. Shouting curses and swearing an
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By THE REV. DR. JANICE SIX “In a world filled with images of Jesus, this one made headlines. He [Jesus] stood in a stained-glass window wearing a simple white robe and a dark tunic. He held a staff in his left hand and with the knuckles of his right rapped gently on a large brown door. Wavy auburn hair fell
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By THE REV. DR. JANICE SIX The Women’s Rights Movement for women’s suffrage celebrated the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, securing women’s place in the voting booth. In the ecclesiastical realm, God had already called women into the pulpit decades earlier— in some branches of the Christian family tree. One mover and shaker of
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By JANICE SIX It occurred to me that even though we define Advent as a time of preparing for the coming of Christ, the majority of our attention focuses on that which has already taken place: Christ’s birth, and Christ’s ongoing presence with us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, rather than preparing for the coming of Christ,
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