Merry Christmas, everyone! Here is the introduction to the chapter on incarnation in my 2008 book Faith Lacking Understanding. The excerpt invites Christians to rediscover the magic and mystery of incarnation by way of a celebrated children’s story. In her delightful children’s classic The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Barbara Robinson tells the story of how the […]
Christmas
Atheism and Christmas: An interview with Rick Marazzani
At the end of my book Is the Atheist My Neighbor? I offer Christians some practical tips for building bridges of hospitality with those from the atheist community. Among the suggestions, I propose a rather obvious one: get to know some atheists and take the time to learn their views. In the spirit of that […]
A Journey Through Christmas Posts Past
It’s a crazy time of year, innit? Yesterday I foolishly ventured into Costco to do some last minute shopping. This was the lineup just to get to the lineups for the cash registers. Is it any surprise that many people think “relaxing Christmas holiday” is an oxymoron? In light of all the craziness, I say […]
Sending Out Christmas Curses
Tired of the same old Christmas cards? According to the satirical Babylon Bee “news” site, this family unwittingly stumbled upon a brilliant alternative: imprecatory psalm cards. (Thanks to Samuel Choy for forwarding the Babylon Bee article to me.) After some reflection I’ve decided that this is not such a bad idea. At least your greeting […]
How young was the Virgin Mary … and was that too young?
I’ve posted some more-or-less heart-warming Christmas greetings in years’ past. See 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011. This year I’m going to instead offer a brief word on the Virgin Mary. If not particularly heart-warming, hopefully it is at least thought-provoking. And if honest about the problems it raises, hopefully it is not impious for doing so. Let’s start […]
The real scandal over Starbucks cups
These days I rarely go to Starbucks. But I can’t help commenting on the latest installment in the interminable and patently ridiculous “war on Christmas”. I speak, as you can probably guess, of the “controversy” that has arisen over Starbucks’ decision to serve its coffee in plain red cups this holiday season. Personally, I haven’t met […]
Sometimes it is okay just to say ‘Merry Christmas’
The White House had a lovely Christmas card this year, though reliably contrarian Sarah Palin was deeply offended at the outrageous inclusion of the family dog: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/sarah_palin_white_house_christ.html. My Christmas well wish didn’t get quite as much press as that of the Obamas, but I guess I should have expected that. Perhaps next year I’ll include my Maltese […]
How do you schedule a convenient Christmas service?
In a new poll 28 percent of Canadians said they would be attending church for Christmas. Ironically, 68 percent responded on the survey that they were Christian. (See ” Traditional holiday customs on the outs in Canada: study” available here: http://www.canada.com/life/holiday-guide-2011/Traditional+holiday+customs+outs+Canada+study/5905786/story.html) Wow, a little over one-third of Canadian “Christians” go to church at Christmas. If you’re not going to church at […]
Why you shouldn’t sing “Silent Night” at city hall
The other day my daughter reported to me on the drive to school that she and her class would be singing in city hall, possibly in front of the mayor. “Which songs?” I enquired. “Swingle Bells” she said. “It’s like, a swinging version of ‘Jingle Bells.’ Oh and also ‘Tue Tue.’ It is an African song […]
Bad idea of the week: Michael Buble singing “Santa Baby”
My wife is a big fan of Canadian wall-paper jazz/pop singer Michael Buble. Me? Not so much. (Not that I dislike the guy. It is just that I’d like him better if he included more guitar distortion and double bass.) Right now his album of holiday standards is number 1 in North America, having sold a staggering […]
