Articles

Can you tell us a bit about your spiritual journey? I had been studying a variety of spiritual texts, when a minister I met mentioned Christian Science. Throughout my life, I had always been interested in spirituality, and loved to read books on metaphysics.

Millions of people struggle with depression. In fact, more than 40 million new prescriptions were written for antidepressants during the year 2000.

During a special service at a local church, I asked myself, why has peace escaped us? Why is it that people only seek it out at Christmas or when governments are entering a military conflict? When the pastor began his sermon I hoped he would talk about how peace can come to the world. After the sermon the next minister said to the audience, "May the peace of the Lord be with you," and told us to repeat this to our seat mates.

Does your family have any special Christmas traditions? Perhaps you make cookies for all your friends at the holidays. Or maybe you volunteer at a soup kitchen on Christmas Eve, or buy a present for a kid who doesn't have as much as you do.

This time of year is special to so many people the world over. In New England, it's crisp, often dusted with snow, and the wonderful smell of hearth fires is in the air.

Christmas was coming . There were so many things I had to do.

"Talk me into Christmas," my friend said. "Sometimes I think Charles Dickens's character Ebenezer Scrooge was right.

Christmas Day 1966 —my first Christmas in Turkey. I was married and had a small child.

"Can we do christmas baking now?" my daughter pleaded early one December when she was eight years old. "I just love it when the house smells like spice and cookies.

A few years ago my wife and I were in Aleppo, Syria, at Christmas time. While most people think of Syria as a Muslim country—and it is—it also has a significant Christian population.