In this fast-paced world, we often treat the end of a semester or an academic program as a mere finish line—a sprint toward getting good grades or a diploma. However, drawing from David Smith and Susan Felch’s Teaching and Christian Imagination, ending well is not just about finishing a task, but about honoring the entire journey. In the first part of their book, these authors invite readers to re-imagine Christian education, considering the journey/pilgrimage metaphor. I understand the importance of Christian education through the lens of this metaphor, as it invites us to see the way we conclude our educational journey …

Christians have understood Lent practices in different ways throughout centuries. For example, the early Church practiced Lent through prayer, fasting, and charity. The first two practices have remained, but have shifted their purpose. The old believers joined the new believers, and those who needed repentance in praying, fasting, and doing charity works together to prepare them for their baptism or Easter. These public expressions of faith had a strong communal dimension. Rather than focusing on the mature Christian themselves, those expressions were practiced for the benefit of those who recently became Christians or who had repented from sin. Don’t get …

Because our modern society has taught us to be resistant to change, we might struggle to experience new seasons. Setting goals in a new year, starting a new job, moving to a new place, or struggling with health are good examples of life-changing seasons. Depending on the situation, new seasons can excite us or bring us anxiety and fear of uncertainty. Three years ago, a leg injury changed my life. During this journey, I gained valuable insights and learned key lessons that shape how I navigate new seasons in life. My recovery took more time than I thought. During this …

Thanksgiving is a traditional celebration that has its roots in the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. In 1789, George Washington declared it a national holiday. Thanksgiving as we celebrate it today, however, dates back to 1863 when Abraham Lincoln officially made it recurrent on the last Thursday of November. Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been understood as a twofold holiday with a cultural-historical and religious dimension. People not only celebrated the earlier tradition of the first harvest but also offered a prayer of gratitude to God. This prayer had different purposes over time such as thanking …

I grew up in Latin America, in a country where hardly 4 or 5 percent of the population was Protestant. It was also a time and a place where Protestantism was understood almost exclusively in terms of opposition to everything Catholic, and where most Catholics knew very little about Protestants, beyond the fact [they] were heretics. Most of my classmates in high school were Catholic in a very superficial manner. But some others were very devout, and one of the manifestations of their devotion was that they crossed themselves when they learned that I was a Protestant. In the first …

In a workshop I attended a couple of years ago, the speaker asked his audience some questions about Christian leadership. After participants answered with a variety of interesting responses, the speaker offered his definition of a leader. Without entering into details, I found myself struggling with this speaker’s definition of a Christian leader: everything he said reminded me of a corporate boss. I have to accept that at the end, a boss is kind of a leader. What I cannot accept, however, is that this kind of leadership is how Scripture depicts an “after God’s own heart” leader. Unlike other …