Yes, I realize that in many ways, Christmas cards and letters are a thing of the past. Some say they don't really even like the ones they do get because people just brag on their children and their grandchildren. Oh come on now, friends.  What's wrong with that once a year?  They aren't the firstContinue reading "Keep those Christmas letters coming, folks!!"

You have heard of Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly character in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge has no no need for Christmas. He found the whole Christmas season utterly disgusting.Before I ever heard of Ebenezer Scrooge and Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," I heard my mom walking around the house singing the old hymn "Come ThouContinue reading "During Christmas you can be someone’s Ebenezer!"

Isaiah prophesied that with the coming of the Messiah, the wolf will one day play with the lamb. In my News-Gazette column yesterday, I gave this implausible idea some some thought.  Even after I read the column in the paper, I said to myself: "Sounds impossible."  I offer the column to you, knowing that ifContinue reading "Only with the power of Jesus’ Spirit will the wolf ever play with the lamb!"

How will the young woman bear a child without a bridegroom?Or as an Advent liturgy in the Anglican book of Common Prayer asks:How can He whom nothing can contain, upon whom none can gaze, dwell in the womb of a virgin who He Himself has formed? And how shall I conceive God the Word, whoContinue reading "The beauty, majesty and wonder of the Godhead"

Most months I attend a Taize prayer service at the First Mennonite Church in Urbana, IL.  This kind of prayer service arose in the early 1940s in Taize, France.  These kind of services are growing in popularity among young adults who are longing for a deeper connection with the Lord. In the simple services, 4Continue reading "Waiting, waiting, waiting … waiting, praying, waiting…"

In my column today, I address the idea of Jesus deciding to be born in a barn full of animal poop. I argue that it is the reason we can talk about the "vulgarity" of Christmas.  Read on...

Tomorrow, December 6, is the first of the feast days of Advent. Celebrated by congregations in the West and in the East, it is called St. Nicholas Day.  Yes, St. Nicholas is the man from whom all the stories of Sinterklaas, and later, Santa Clause, originate.St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, living from MarchContinue reading "“Santa Claus” signed the Nicene Creed"

After turning to the Lectionary and the Book of Common Prayer to consider the readings for this first Sunday of Advent, I wrote my Sunday Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette column on how Advent starts by encouraging the faithful to reflect on the final Advent when Christ the Lord will return in great power and glory.