We’ve been out traveling the last week or so – Christmas with one branch of the family in Memphis, Tennessee, and then a few days after Christmas with the Florida panhandle bunch. What wonderful times in both places! Yesterday was our last leg home – up I-65 north of Nashville through Kentucky and Indiana and on to a snowy welcome in Auburn.

The day, New Year’s Day, began with a reading from Psalm 103, and I pondered the words of its first two verses as we headed towards Bowling Green and Louisville, passing Mammoth Cave and the Jim Beam distillery:

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

I am not much of a New Year’s resolutions person, but it seems that remembering God’s benefits to us might be a good thing for any year. His benefits, not my list of happy memories or my collection of things accumulated. Benefits – life, family, friends, purpose, the call to discipleship. Benefits – enjoying and glorifying him forever. 2026: forget not all his benefits.

As we drove along, the Kentucky Highway Department used its electronic signs to wish us happy new year with its own resolution for 2026. “New Year. Same Goal. No Deaths,” the signs flashed their message to us as we passed under them. But if goals are meant to be achievable, resolutions keepable, the Kentucky Highway Department is bound to be disappointed in the new year. We motorists are sinners, every one, and I am pretty sure I saw some candidates for highway fatalities whiz by at 90 MPH. Last year, Kentucky averaged about two highway deaths a day. They’re not going to meet their goal of no deaths in the new year.

About the time we crossed the Ohio River into Indiana, my thoughts crossed into how a Christian might best resolve to live out his or her discipleship in a world where we are tempted to drive too fast or follow too closely. Kentucky Highway Department resolutions won’t work. If I resolve to think no selfish thoughts, utter no unkind words, cast no covetous glances, I will fail. Sanctification is not about perfection, it is about taking off the old and putting on the new, as the Apostle Paul says.

The Christian’s New Year’s resolutions are filled with “more” and “less,” not “always” and “never.” More kindness and less selfishness by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, not always kind and never selfish.

As I thought about Psalm 103 and the New Year’s resolution of the Kentucky Highway Department, the words of an old prayer came to mind (yes, via Godspell). In the Thirteenth Century, Richard of Chichester wrote,

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.

A resolution for 2026? To know him more clearly, love him more dearly, follow him more nearly. And to forget not all his benefits.

Happy New Year!

. . . in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

The story as told by Luke:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:1-20 [ESV]}

Like a glass ornament falling from the Christmas tree to the hard plank floor below, our cultural Christmas traditions have shattered into a thousand pieces. We will never put them back together again. But as we sort through the colored shards scattered below the tree and under the furniture, we recognize parts of the design.

Of course, our Christmases have long been split between sacred and secular celebrations, the commercial and familial, the sentimental and recently the political.

I am not much of a partisan in the Christmas wars; I don’t insist that the clerk at the post office wish me a Merry Christmas instead of happy holidays. I am not inclined to think of an army of heavenly host appearing to the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night made up entirely of pudgy cherubs, but that’s okay. I am completely fine with the Magi showing up at the cattle stall, though the image (both the cattle stall and the Magi at it) is not scripturally warranted. I love Luther’s lullaby even if the little Lord Jesus made a lot of crying.

On the more secular side, I still tell our grandkids that I believe in Santa Claus though every one of them is now a non-believer and mocks my naiveté. I am not sure why Jimmy Stewart and the people of Bedford Falls sing “Auld Lang Syne” on Christmas Eve, but, yes, it’s a wonderful life. Continue reading →

Long ago and far away, a much younger me was teaching an adult Bible class to a wonderful group of people mostly much older and most definitely in higher income brackets than the junior staff church member teaching the class.  I don’t remember the text we were dealing with; maybe it was Proverbs 22:7: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”  In any event it seemed pertinent to mention something I had recently read about consumer debt. People were swimming in it. Fortunately, the junior staff member in the lower income bracket had avoided debt, and so, when I spoke of those about to be swept under by a riptide of debt, I spoke with some disdain, shaming those who would allow themselves to be enslaved to a lender.

I would later discover that more than one member of the Bible class was one of those whose weight of debt was pulling him down like a swimmer being pulled to the depth of the sea by a concrete block tied around his ankles.

My disdain and shame had only added guilt to the fear of pending financial ruin. Continue reading →

I did not know about the National Customer Rage Study, but I was not surprised to learn that we American consumers (and voters and neighbors and maybe church members) are madder than ever (here and here). We are sadly divided in so many ways.

So why the rage, and exactly what is “rage”? Why are customers so angry? It turns out that it is not so much shopping – online or in person – that makes us mad, it is trying to fix a problem when there is something wrong with what we buy. “The study found that 77% of consumers experienced a problem with a product or service in the past 12 months. This is a record high and more than double the share reported in 1976.” Part of the problem is having to navigate a labyrinth of chatbots and call centers before you can speak with a human being who 1) might know what you are talking about and 2) can do something about it. It takes a click to buy and an hour or more on hold to just begin to fix a problem.

Now, we’ve all groused about lousy customer service or muttered under our breath about long waits and inefficiencies. But the rage the Rage Study is talking about is something else. It’s the authors of the study call “uncivil behavior.”  Specifically: Continue reading →