“It ruined Christmas for me,” my friend used to say of a long ago and very sad event in her life. It had happened right before Christmas, and not only was Christmas sad the year it happened, she made sure it was sad every year, for decades, afterwards. Sharing Christmas sorrow with all around became her mission in life. Oh, she’d show up, a gloomy presence, at Christmas parties, and soon enough you’d hear her telling some unsuspecting guest about that Christmas past that ruined every Christmas present – and was sure to ruin every Christmas yet to come.

The thing is, though, you can’t ruin Christmas. You can misunderstand it. You can choose misery over joy, but you can’t ruin it. My gloomy friend could not ruin Christmas, as much as she tried, any more than Ebenezer Scrooge could ruin Bob Cratchit’s Christmas, as much as he tried.

It was never hard for me to resist my friend’s attempts to ruin Christmas. I like Christmas in its many manifestations. I can get picky about the historical and biblical accuracy of those Christmas card scenes with a star over the very European stable and the Three (!) Wisemen there on bended knee. I tend to think “not so” when we sing about no crying the little Lord Jesus made.  But I don’t need to let it ruin my Christmas. Continue reading →

During our time in Memphis last week, we had a great dinner at Belly Acres, a much-better-than-fast-food local hamburger restaurant. Although it was the evening before Thanksgiving, Belly Acres was already playing Christmas carols and songs as background music for the diners to enjoy. Bing Crosby was Dreaming of a White Christmas as you might expect, but he also sang the old English folk carol, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
let nothing you dismay,
remember Christ our Savior
was born on Christmas Day
to save us all from Satan’s pow’r
when we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.

I don’t remember when I first noticed the comma placement in the first line of the carol; I am pretty sure I was well into adulthood. I had assumed that the comma belonged before merry and that merry was an adjective describing the noun gentlemen. Apparently, those merry gentlemen needed rest. But it turns out that most hymnals put the comma after merry (the carol comes from sometime in the Seventeenth Century, long before anyone worried about punctuation).  Merry, then, is an adverb describing the rest the gentlemen seek. In the Seventeenth Century, merry meant more than a happy mood.  Adjective or adverb, it could mean pleasant, lovely, pleasing, peaceful, good. Continue reading →

Giving Tuesday seems like one more gimmick in our gimmick-addicted world.  Gimmick or not, Giving Tuesday reminds us that giving that helps others is not just a gospel imperative, but leads to joy and builds faith in our own lives. Giving Tuesday also encourages above-and-beyond giving that may stretch us past the offering plate or monthly contribution to our home congregation.

If you’re considering giving this Giving Tuesday, I offer three suggestions for your gift – causes Becky and I support and which we know help others and make the world around them a better place: Continue reading →

2024 has been a nasty year in terms of the national conversation. Most of us are glad the election is past, but we know the bickering is not. What might sooth our partisan pain? Perhaps a generous dose of thanks. The cultural left doesn’t like Thanksgiving because of the suspected colonialism and oppression infecting the story of the Plymouth Pilgrims. The theological right doesn’t like civil religion, and hence Thanksgiving, because it is theistic at best and its celebration rightly lacks credal integrity. Possibly fair criticisms on all accounts. But getting rid of Thanksgiving with its historical roots and questionable theology means we don’t listen to wise words from the past, and we have lost much. The cure will not take.  Give thanks!

Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation: Continue reading →

For the past several weeks Becky and I have been streaming a French detective show. While they have given it an (odd) English title, the dialogue remains in French with English subtitles.  So much for multi-tasking.

Though I once disastrously took a couple of semesters of French in college, and though we spent a wonderful week in Paris a few years past, my ability with French is limited, to say the least. When we started watching Season 1 of our show the dialogue was a slur of background noise.  Now, well into Season 6, I am able to distinguish individual words and even understand a few of them beyond “merci” and “bon jour.” But, please, don’t turn off the English subtitles.

We have a friend in Brazil whose command of English is quite impressive. I asked him once how he had learned our language.  “Reruns of ‘Friends,’” he answered.  It’s going to take more than seven seasons of our detective show for me to get past “Je ne sais pas,” however. Any recommendations for good French reruns to stream? Continue reading →