Christmas Contradictions

  It’s so pervasive. Songs, shopping, Santa. Sometimes we feel it. Sometimes we don’t. Warm memories fill our hearts. Sad realities replay over again in our minds. It’s fun. It’s obligatory. Rooted in faith. Embedded in culture.   Yet, it is real. Though, we have made it fake. It was… Continue reading

Christmas Prayer

God become man. Entering the world in the most humble manner. Defying religious preconceptions. Shocking people with his radical way of loving them in spite of their shortcomings. Suffering constant misunderstanding and persecution. Finally, he was tortured to death. But that was not the end, because… Now, his death is our redemption.… Continue reading

The Paradox of Christmas

Our culture’s way of celebrating Christmas is to cram as much in it as possible, while exhorting us to reflect on its deep meaning in relationship to faith and family. It’s like mixing oil and water, or Nat King Cole and Metallic. It’s impossible. “More” is the mantra of the… Continue reading

Christmas Collision Course

Image by Tim Samoff. Creative Commons. Christmastime is full of expectations. I am not referring to the expectation of a Messiah. I am referring to all of the pressure that we put upon ourselves. We want to have to have festive get-togethers with friends, memory-making family time, a Better Homes and… Continue reading

Let Christ Out of Christmas

The war on Christmas is all the “rage” in some conservative and Christian circles. Their cry is to keep Christ in Christmas. Everybody knows that our cultural celebration of the holiday involves a lot of traditions that do not overtly express the origins and deepest meaning of the season. I… Continue reading

Christmas Gathering

We love having our family around us at Christmas. Every year for forty-three years we have had a Christmas Eve gathering that originally included our kids, then their wives, then the grandkids, then the great grandkids, and occasionally other family members and friends who need a place to feel loved. Some… Continue reading