Jesus

When the magazine Vanity Fair asked comedian Bill Maher to name his favorite hero of fiction for its June issue, he replied "Jesus of Nazareth. " Maher's is a minority view. The 2010 New York Times Almanac notes that over 2 billion living Christians in 260 countries not only believe Jesus to be real but to be alive. Still, believers are not credulous. Even the most fervent of them acknowledge that there is something enigmatic about Jesus. In this they share some of the confusion that his own apostles suffered during his ministry.

The Kiwanis Club of Hagerstown will presents its second program of the travelogue series, “Jesus in Egypt:  The Greatest Untold Story,” hosted by Marlin Darrah, on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The program will be held at South Hagerstown High School auditorium at  7 p.m..  The travelogue series is a community-service project of the Kiwanis Club. Season tickets for the remaining programs cost $25 for adults and $10 for students. Single admission tickets are sold at the door on show nights.

by Richard T. Meagher / staff photographer see the enlargment By DON AINES Staff Writer, Chambersburg CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Several hundred people from about two dozen churches are expected to take part today in two Marches for Jesus in Shippensburg and Chambersburg. "It's not a protest. It's just to celebrate what God has done for the churches in the past year," said march coordinator Scott Brown of Shippensburg. The annual March for Jesus began about nine years ago in England, according to Brown.

HAGERSTOWN - Once a year, Shawn Bushman grows a beard. This ritual has nothing to do with hunting deer and everything to do with sharing his Christian faith. The associate pastor at Virginia Avenue Church of God, Bushman has taken a break from shaving right around the beginning of Lent for each of the past 10 years so he'll look the part when he portrays Jesus in "His Story," a play performed at the church each spring. This year, the free public performances of the 90-minute play will be held at 7 p.m. on March 30, 31 and April 1 at the Hagerstown church.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - While everyone else was feeling the heat Saturday afternoon, participants in the March for Jesus were feeling the warmth of Christian love. Between 150 to 200 marchers braved the blistering weather to walk together through town from the Coyle Free Library to Southgate Mall. There they stood together and prayed together and held hands as they professed their faith aloud ... together. "We're saying to all of Chambersburg that we are Christians," said the Rev. Mike Yeager of Jesus is Love Ministries.

To the editor: As an occasional substitute teacher, I have encountered on several assignments a rather interesting phenomena in the classroom. After telling rowdy students to stop talking, they immediately say they were not talking. This reply is not delivered in the sheepish fashion of someone ashamed of being caught in a lie, but rather with complete self-assurance. Their total and brazen disregard of the truth goes beyond merely lying; it serves as a declaration of their willingness to dismiss reality to best suit their interests.

HALFWAY -- Wayne Tusing was new to the Virginia Avenue Church of God in 2000 when he first saw the annual presentation of "His Story," a dramatic play about the life of Christ. "It really made an impact on me," Tusing said. "My wife, Jackie, and I were saved because of this drama ... it was that inspiring. " Beginning the next year, and in each year since, Tusing has helped stage the production, along with longtime director Lisa Miller. Public performance dates are March 14, 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. each evening.

How much do you know about the Christian celebration of Easter? Today is Good Friday, the day on which Christians commemorate the Crucifixion of Christ. Sunday is Easter, the day Christians believe Jesus resurrected from the dead. There are many references in literature and popular culture to the happenings of Holy Week, but these references might seem obscure to those who were not raised in the faith. To help you understand the events or to see how much you already know, here's a short quiz.

Harmony United Methodist Church, 9455 Williamsport Pike, Falling Waters, W.Va., Aug. 13-17 from 6 to 8:15 p.m., ages preschool through 12 years old, theme - Take the Plunge - Make a Splash with Jesus, a week of learning about Jesus through classes, music and stories, also crafts, recreation and snack time also.

Easter is seen as a children's holiday. Kids dye eggs, munch chocolate bunnies and scramble to grab the most plastic eggs at the community egg hunt. It's a happy, simple day of candy and bunnies. Easter can be uplifting. Coming in early spring, it coincides with flowers blooming, birds nesting and animals coming out of hibernation - all signs of renewed life. For Christians, Easter is not simply inspiring. It is the high point of the year - the annual commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus, when he showed sin and death had no power over him, and that by believing in his message, believers also could be saved from sin and death.

What are the implications of the 'Jesus stomp?' To the editor: You might have heard about it, maybe not. A professor at a public (tax-funded) university in Florida had his students conduct the following assignment: Write the name “Jesus” on a sheet of paper. He then told the students to place the paper on the floor, name side up, and then stomp on it with their feet. According to the professor, one student in the class had an objection and refused to participate.

Easter is seen as a children's holiday. Kids dye eggs, munch chocolate bunnies and scramble to grab the most plastic eggs at the community egg hunt. It's a happy, simple day of candy and bunnies. Easter can be uplifting. Coming in early spring, it coincides with flowers blooming, birds nesting and animals coming out of hibernation - all signs of renewed life. For Christians, Easter is not simply inspiring. It is the high point of the year - the annual commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus, when he showed sin and death had no power over him, and that by believing in his message, believers also could be saved from sin and death.

A Hancock family continued a Christmas tradition this year by placing a display featuring a three-tiered birthday cake that says "Happy Birthday Jesus" in lights. The display can be seen in the yard of Shirley and Lewis Mills, on a hill across from the Park-N-Dine Restaurant. Shirley Mills and her brother, Melvin Iden, repainted and repaired the birthday cake, which has drawn compliments over the years from people who stopped to look at the display. The Millses say they hope people will look at the cake and remember the true meaning of what Christmas stands for, which is the birth of Jesus.

Authorities are investigating 13 soda bottle bombs that were found Saturday afternoon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints parking lot at 1253 Mount Aetna Road, according to the Maryland Fire Marshal's Office. The fire marshal's office described the bombs as “chemical reaction devices,” according to a news release. The bombs were made by mixing hydrochloric acid with aluminum foil, Maryland Fire Marshal's Office spokesman Bruce Bouch said Sunday night. Heat builds up in the bottle until it explodes, he said.

The Kiwanis Club of Hagerstown will presents its second program of the travelogue series, “Jesus in Egypt:  The Greatest Untold Story,” hosted by Marlin Darrah, on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The program will be held at South Hagerstown High School auditorium at  7 p.m..  The travelogue series is a community-service project of the Kiwanis Club. Season tickets for the remaining programs cost $25 for adults and $10 for students. Single admission tickets are sold at the door on show nights.

Poor Allan Powell. He seems to have shaken the foundation of Christianity with a column founded on fact and acute observation. Professor Powell is an asset to The Herald-Mail and we readers value his insights. The letters of Roger Stone and Phillip Snyder attack him for his knowledge of American history and religion. Thomas Jefferson, our most brilliant and thoughtful president on the subject of religious freedom, has been  pulled this way and that way in a tug of war by libertarians, humanists, fundamentalists and agnostics since the founding of our nation.

Youth on Fire for Jesus will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at People's Gospel Tabernacle, 543 Security Road, Hagerstown. David Davis will give his testimony on how God brought him out of the drug scene. For information, call 301-491-0638.