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Christmas

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December 2020

December 25, 2020

Good People All: Have a Blessed Christmas

Good people all, this Christmas time Consider well and bear in mind What our good...

December 23, 2020

Grace and Peace Be with You

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck,...

December 22, 2020

That Mary Thing

I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric...

December 10, 2020

Advent 101–Finding a Retreat Within Yourself

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . ....

December 05, 2020

Are You the One Who Is to Come?

The great but incredibly difficult German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in a rare moment of clarity,...

November 2020

November 14, 2020

Don’t Make Me Come Down There

As is the case with many of the things in my life, my knowledge of...

September 2020

September 27, 2020

“It has been done in your name”: When Christians do un-Christian things

One of my teaching teammates this semester in the interdisciplinary course I regularly participate in...

August 2020

August 21, 2020

The Big Sister I Always Wanted: Remembering Marsue

Every once in a while, our lives are blessed with a person who uniquely and...

May 2020

May 30, 2020

A Pentecost Reflection: Sometimes Fast Food Isn’t Good Enough

Pentecost celebrates one of the high points in the Christian liturgical calendar, the coming of...

April 2020

April 11, 2020

New Life is for Real: A Childhood Easter Tale

Several years ago, just in time for the Christmas holiday season, a new book by Sarah...

December 2019

December 29, 2019

A Family on the Run, and Dead Babies in the Streets

This Christmas season seems more dissonant than most, with violence across the globe, an impeachment...

December 26, 2019

Dammit, It’s the Incarnation!

Last year around this time, I posted an essay that turned out to be more...

December 23, 2019

Why the Details of Jesus’ Birth Don’t Matter

A couple of years ago, I was asked to take on a temporary administrative position...

December 21, 2019

A Really Awesome Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time....

December 17, 2019

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Cages: Why Faith is Always Political

When Claremont (California) United Methodist Church unveiled its annual outdoor Nativity last week, it caused...

December 15, 2019

What May We Hope For?

Advent is the liturgical season that is most meaningful to me. I first encountered the...

December 12, 2019

“It has been done in your name”: A Dickensian Tale of “Good Christians” Doing Harm

One of my teaching teammates this past semester in the interdisciplinary course I regularly participate...

November 2019

November 29, 2019

Black Friday and the War on Christmas, or How to Celebrate Christmas Like a Real American

Today is Black Friday, the unfortunate beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Apparently in service...

October 2019

October 31, 2019

I’m In a Halloween Frame of Mind

It’s Halloween!–one of my least favorite holidays of the year. I know that offends many...

December 2018

December 31, 2018

Slouching Toward 2019

Love does not say “I ought to love”—it loves. Pity does not say “It is...

December 30, 2018

It’s the Incarnation, Dammit!

On Christmas Eve morning, I noticed that a Facebook friend had posted a poll on...

December 27, 2018

Murdering the Innocents: A Different Kind of Christmas Story

This Christmas season seems more dissonant than most, with violence across the globe, a partial...

December 24, 2018

Christus Natus Est

Christmas movies are a big deal at my house. Jeanne goes for the classics, such...

December 23, 2018

Mary with No Assumptions

I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric...

December 21, 2018

Advent 101: Making Advent a Season of Recentering

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . ....

December 20, 2018

An Advent Reboot

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . ....

December 18, 2018

The Season of Grace and Peace

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck,...

December 16, 2018

Joseph: An Awesome Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time....

December 11, 2018

Advent is for Introverts

I was raised in a version of Christianity that had no sense of the liturgical...

December 04, 2018

The Taming of Christmas, and How to Make it Wild Again

Just when you thought you had heard and read it all . . . "If...

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