Love is Messy

Best speech/sermon I heard this year was given at the Family Life Services Banquet.
http://www.women-helping-women.net/index.html

John Ensor http://johnensor.org/ spoke about the fact that love is messy.

He elaborated that when we take on one commitment out of love for another, then what proceeds from that is further commitment. Specifically when we encourage women to carry their babies to term then we have a continued responsibility for that woman and her baby. Or when we take in someone who doesn't have friends or family, we incur an additional responsibility and we also have to deal with aspects of their personality or life that we perhaps would rather not.

He also said that every generation is called to respond to a crisis on the nature of humanity in a very practical way. Whether it be the Holocaust or slavery or now abortion. We cannot generally respond by stopping the crisis in toto but one person at a time. The underground railroad saved people one at a time. He related a story of a person who was helping to hide a Jewish family during the Holocaust who responded with love when one of those hidden took ill. He contracted the illness himself, on purpose and then when medicine was prescribed for himself, he shared it with the hidden one.

I often become reluctant to help someone because I can see all the additional needs they have and am now more sensitive to the fact that this is a rule of love. It is messy.

So, as we begin this new year, everyone lets get messy!!

Good faith effort

Will the ACLU ban all phrases that have even a hint of religiousity? Apparently not yet.
See this from the Weekly Standard:
"City of Angels
On Friday, December 17, two copies of Los Angeles County's 47-year-old official seal--the ones hanging on the front wall of its Board of Supervisors hearing room--were quietly covered over with temporary stick-um decals featuring a newly designed logo the county has chosen as a permanent replacement. What will eventually be a $700,000 county-wide reinstallation project got started back in May when the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent the Board of Supervisors a formal letter of complaint about the original seal, one minor iconographic element of which was a cross. The old seal was thus unconstitutionally Christian, the organization argued. And the supervisors--by a subsequent series of 3-2 votes--agreed.
Here's the thing, though: By the time the Board of Supervisors got back to work on Monday morning, December 20, the covered-over cross had somehow made itself clearly visible again, right through the stick-um decal's paper fabric. "It's a Christmas miracle," said a spokesman for supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, one of the Board's two replacement-project opponents. Antonovich's colleague, supervisor Don Knabe, agreed: "It is very symbolic that the cross has reappeared on a new seal directly above the new icon of [the San Gabriel] mission, which does not have a cross."
Nah, "I'm pretty sure it's a graphics problem," explained Tom Tindall, a general manager of the county's Internal Services Department. Either way, ACLU spokeswoman Elizabeth Brennan tells the Los Angeles Daily News that it's unfortunate the cover-over effort seems to have failed. "But they've made a good-faith effort," at least.
That "good-faith effort" part all by itself makes the whole story worthwhile, don't you think?"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/
000/005/072ijrxf.asp?pg=2
emphasis mine.

He has made me glad

I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,

I will enter his courts with praise.

I will say this is the day that the Lord has made,

I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He made me glad,He made me glad,

I will rejoice forHe has made me glad.

He made me glad,He made me glad,

I will rejoice forHe has made me glad.

Psalm 118:24"This is the day which the Lord hath made;we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Phil Christensen:
When I first heard "He Has Made Me Glad," I was a bus boy pouring coffee for an aging Women's Aglow group. A little blue-haired pianist pumped out a polka beat while those old saints clapped like school girls on each syllable of the chorus.

Though I wasn't yet a believer, I knew these women: some had been widowed or abandoned; others were riddled with cancer; and some were raising their grandchildren. My heart was moved as brittle, battle-worn voices rang with supernatural joy, singing, "He has made me glad! He has made me glad! I will rejoice for He has made me glad!"

Though Leona Von Brethorst's classic praise song overflows with triumph, the composer-much like me-didn't have many obvious reasons to be glad. Born in 1923 in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, Brethorst was raised in abject poverty. "We didn't know we were poor," she says, because "everyone else was like us." She remembers going to school without shoes while she and her sister shared three dresses. She and her ten siblings also shared the arms-length attention of a harsh father.

Cold winters kept them home during most of the year, but in the summer the family walked three miles to a Full Gospel church. The heartfelt praise of Appalachian saints made a deep impression on the young woman; fiddles, guitars and banjos rang through the valley while some clogged before the Lord. "It was tremendous!" Von Brethorst recalls, "They'd really get happy and dance!"

Von Brethorst's childhood faith faded during World War II as she took a job in the defense plants of Detroit. After the war, she married and had her two children.

When her toddler became critically ill with polio-related seizures, she cried out to God in faith, begging, "If You don't let him die, I'll give the rest of my life to You." God did heal the child, and doctors confirmed the miracle. The joy of her renewed faith was soon overshadowed by her husband's distaste for Christianity. He laid down an ultimatum: choose between him and Jesus.
Leona chose Jesus. She never remarried and, as a single mom, battling exhaustion and clinical depression, she worked odd jobs and raised her children to know the Lord.

It was during those years she discovered her gifts as a worship leader. She wrote dozens of praise songs and taught them to her fellowship. "God would give me the melody to every word," she explained. "I don't know a note of music or how to play any instrument!"

"He Has Made Me Glad" sprang not out of the poverty, abandonment or the depression she had experienced, but out of the loneliness of seeing her children grown and moved away. The song was God's way of teaching her that thanksgiving is the key to experiencing the joy of the Lord.
The morning she taught the song to Calvary Fellowship, Von Brethorst says laughter and dancing erupted, lasting for hours. The youth of the church soon took it with them to a summer camp where it began its global journey. Now found in every modern hymnal and songbook - the fourth most Licensed praise song through CCLI (refer to the current CCLI Top 25 Songs list) - "He Has Made Me Glad" provides retirement income for Von Brethorst. Penned in the mid-1970s, it has been recorded in a variety of styles, but most recently, the song was remodeled with a clever, fresh rhumba beat in the 1996 Maranatha! Praise Chorus Book Audio Series.
Pondering the song's enduring popularity, Von Brethorst exclaims, "It's strange! I don't feel different than anyone else singing it. I do feel the Lord has blessed the song because it contains the Bible's pattern for worship. We do enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise," she adds. "It's a choice we make."

"I believe worship leaders are as important as senior pastors; you can cause the Word of God to lodge in people's hearts through worship." The secret, she says, is to "stay very close to the Holy Spirit."

Now 74 years old, Brethorst lives in Long Beach, California, still active in her community and at her home church, Calvary Fellowship.
Phil Christensen is the Worship Pastor at Chapel of the Hills Community Church in Sandy, Oregon. http://www.ccli.com/WorshipResources/SongStories.cfm?itemID=8


The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2000.
The Psalms: 100

An Exhortation to Thanksgiving

A Psalm of praise.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness:
come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD he is God:
it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him,and bless his name.

5 For the LORD is good;
his mercy is everlasting; 1 Chr. 16.34 · 2 Chr. 5.13 ; 7.3 · Ezra 3.11 · Ps. 106.1 ;
107.1 ; 118.1 ; 136.1 · Jer. 33.11
and his truth endureth to all generations.

Published by The American Bible Society http://www.bartleby.com/108/19/100.html

Word of the Day (for yesterday)

Word of the Day for Tuesday December 28, 2004
raillery \RAY-luh-ree\, noun:1. Good-humored banter or teasing.2. An instance of good-humored teasing; a jest.
I moved from one knot of people to another, surrounded by a kind of envious respect because of Sophie's interest in me, although subjected to a certain mordant raillery from some of this witty company. --Peter Brooks, World Elsewhere
Her raillery and mockery are fun -- but ultimately rather tiring, and tiresome. --Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, "Eastward Ho!" review of Shards of Memory, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, New York Times, September 17, 1995
Raillery is from French raillerie, from Old French railler, "to tease, to mock."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for WOTD
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Cool Toy -- 20Q

Has anyone else seen this nifty little handheld toy? Its called 20Q and basically you think of something and it asks you 20 questions and then guesses what it is. It is amazingly good. It is a lot of fun to try to find things it cannot get. The first question (standard for the game) is Animal vegetable mineral or other? From there it plays fair and asks the usual bigger than a bread box type questions. I hear there is a web site with more info. Will check it out at: www.20q.net/ or http://20q.secondthought.com/ Taking nothing away from the game it does not give specific answers to many questions. For example just "turtle," or "rabbit." Once you know its an animal most people can get it by 20 questions. The "other" category is, to me, more impressive.

From http://librarystories.blogspot.com/2004/12/20qnet.html: "20Q.net is an experiment in artificial intelligence. The program is very simple but its behavior is complex. Everything that it knows and all questions that it asks were entered by people playing this game. 20Q.net is a learning system; the more it is played, the smarter it gets."

Common Law v Civil

Many thanks to Jimmy Akin, http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1594439 who has such a good mind and a diverse set of interests. This piece from Legal Affairs, details the theory of four economists who analyzed how the laws (or the legal tradition of a country) impacts its economy. Some of their conclusions are just what we might expect. Others are not.
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/feature_thompson_janfeb05.html

It seems to me the greater difference in economies is in those countries with a STABLE legal system as opposed to those which use either system (common or civil). Is common law older than civil law? As I understand it common law developed out of custom or rather practical experience, whereas civil law derived from legal theorems and their interpretation.
I found these sites helpful: http://www.svpvril.com/comcivlaw.html http://www.bartleby.com/65/ci/civillaw.html
http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/commonla.html

So, little do I know about this subject. I will ask my lawyer friends at pajamaguy to opine.

2004 one sentence summary

What will be the one sentence summary of the year that (almost) was 2004?

In America? America still divided politically by two visions of man's relationship to God.

In the World? The world is still a very scary place to be: War in Iraq, Terror, Natural Disasters.

In the Church? (American) Catholic Bishops begin to assert themselves on "conservative" political issues. (Rome) Pope John Paul II continues to lead with words over discipline.

Supreme Court pick?

Michael McConnell http://www.ck10.uscourts.gov/judges.cfm?part=2&ID=18 is the rumored pick of President Bush for the next Supreme Court vacancy. He is pro-life in his writings. He currently serves on the Tenth Circuit court. He has a history of good relations with liberal law professors at University of Chicago and elsewhere. I don't know his record in the Tenth. His writings indicate he would support school choice and (hopefully) pro-life issues.

The rumor through my friend LAGuy @ http://pajamaguy.blogspot.com/

Hat tip to the rage monkey (lifted with attribution)

From RageMonkey: "Graffiti implosion Several months ago Fr. Tharp commented to me about some graffiti on a building in his mission town of Cherokee, Oklahoma. At the time, he told me he was going to post on it. Well, he never did. Today, he and I went to Cherokee and he showed me the graffiti. He still hasn't posted on it and so I am going to share his witty observation. The graffiti reads as follows:
Listen to yourself, not others!
OH, masterful town rebels, I am trying to follow your advice/command, except that YOU told me to do that, not me, and I'm supposed to listen to myself and not others! It just all comes crashing down."
http://ragemonkey.blogspot.com/

Circular logic and thus perhaps not "crashing" down but swirling down.

Only fables . . . two legends kill time.

Interesting. Thanks to Jimmy Akin.
"Only fables," he (Godel) said, "present the world as it should be and as if it had meaning."
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?%20id=7ixqqc97xiroy9hnb9o2154f61c2wl02

Word for the Day

operose (OP-uh-roas) adjective
1. Tedious; diligent.
2. Requiring great effort.
[From Latin operosus (laborious, painstaking; active), from oper-, from opus (work). Ultimately from Indo-European root op- (to work, produce) that is also the ancestor of words such as opera, opulent, optimum, maneuver, and manure.]
"He (David Brown) is an operose Bachelor of Music, with a reading knowledge of Russian acquired in the national service, who has never been to Russia." Richard Taruskin; Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man; The New Republic (Washington, DC); Feb 6, 1995.
"'How do you feel?' asked Carol. 'Old, operose and obese,' he said pointing to his paunchy stomach." Linda Varsell Smith; With a Human Touch: Karen Harmony Rainbow; Rainbow Communications; 2003.
From the most noble soul to the most dastardly individual, we all share traits that extend over the spectrum. It would be rare to find a person who can be completely characterized by a single word. This week AWAD discusses five adjectives that will help you describe people you may encounter. Can you see the face of a friend, relative, neighbor or co-worker in these assorted arrangements of the alphabet?

X-Bonus Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965)


http://www.wordsmith.org/words/today.html

Funny---Stolen from Disputations

A Christmastide cooking tip:
Add booze. If that doesn't help the taste, you can always set it on fire. If there's one thing people think is fancier than cooking with booze, it's setting food on fire on purpose.
http://disputations.blogspot.com/


Another one (unattributed because I can't remember where I saw it): The three wise men are bringing gifts to the infant Jesus and they are heard to say, "These gifts are for Christmas and your birthday." That one especially for all the December birthdays out there.

Religious Affiliation May Lower Suicide Risk

Religious Affiliation May Lower Suicide Risk

December 27, 2004 11:05:21 AM PST , Reuters

Depressed men and women who consider themselves affiliated with a religion are less likely to attempt suicide than their non-religious counterparts, according to new study findings.
"If someone acknowledges being religious, all else being equal, they are at lower risk to act on suicidal thoughts than someone who does not acknowledge religious affiliation," study co-author Dr. Maria A. Oquendo told Reuters Health.
Further, she added, "it does not appear to make a difference what religion they state their affiliation for."
Previous research has shown that religious countries tend to have lower rates of suicide than secular nations. Studies have also shown that a higher degree of religious commitment is associated with less suicidal behavior.
In the current study, Oquendo and her colleagues at Columbia University in New York City examined the influence of religious affiliation on suicide attempt in a study of 371 depressed inpatients at a psychiatric institute. About half of the study participants had attempted suicide at least once in their lifetime.
Overall, men and women who said they belonged to a religion had a history of less suicide attempts than those who reported no religious affiliation, Oquendo and her team report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Specifically, 48 percent of patients affiliated with Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism or other religion reported having attempted suicide, compared with 66 percent of those with no religious affiliation.
Religious patients also reported experiencing less suicidal thoughts than did their non-religious peers, despite similar high scores on assessments of depression and hopelessness.
Patients with no religious affiliation were more likely to have had a first-degree relative who committed suicide and to have a history of substance abuse, the study's findings indicate. They also tended to be younger, were less often married or had children and were less often in contact with their family members.
Upon further analysis, Oquendo and her team found that attempted suicide was most common among patients who did not think suicide was immoral and those with less feelings of family responsibility, both of which were most common among men and women with no religious affiliation.
"It appears that people who state they have a religious affiliation are more likely to have moral objections to suicide and may not act on suicidal thoughts because they think it is wrong to do so," Oquendo said.
"These findings suggest that asking patients about such topics and supporting their involvement with their religious group may be protective against suicidal behavior," she added. "Of course that has not been demonstrated, but our study suggests it is a possibility," she said.
SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, December 2004.
http://health.yahoo.com/search/healthnews?lb=s&p=id%3A67045

Asia Quake's Tsunamis Kill Nearly 11,800

Asia Quake's Tsunamis Kill Nearly 11,800
From yahoo/AP: "COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Legions of rescuers spread across Asia Monday after an earthquake of epic power struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, unleashing 20-foot tidal waves that ravaged coasts across thousands of miles and killed nearly 11,800 people and left millions homeless. " http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041227/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

Prayers:
For all those who lost their lives so suddenly and tragically.
For all the families who lost loved ones or suffered injury from this devastating earthquake.
For all those who lost their homes or businesses from same.

Next question: What can we do to help?
International Red Cross/Red Crescent http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/index.asp
Catholic Relief Services: http://www.catholicrelief.org/
Disaster relief organizations by religion:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/66/story_6607_1.html
Reliefweb through the UN: http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf

Christmas Season not just a day

"The Christmas season celebrates the birth of Jesus (on December 25) and continues until the Baptism of Our Lord." http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/rules.html


Christmas is traditionally celebrated as an octave. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family and remember the fight to Egypt and its cause. We don't know how old Jesus was when this event took place. The take home message commonly is an intertwining of obedience and trust. How families are (ideally) places where one can trust that the others have your best interest at heart. And that trusting and obeying God is not unlike a child's obedience to his parents. He might not always understand why they ask something of him. But he knows that they have his best interest at heart and so obeys on this basis.
http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/calendar/day.cfm


A great discussion of the seasonality of the Christian calendar is here:
http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/time.html "Unlike pagan religions which see time as an endless cycle, Christians see time as being linear; it has a beginning and will have an end. Within Christianity's linear, "big picture" sense of time, though, the passing of hours is experienced as cycles of meditations on holy things (think of a spiral -- of a circle of time moving ever forward toward His Coming). The Catholic year (the "liturgical year") is made special by celebrations commemorating the lives of Jesus and His mother, the angels, and the legion of Saints who lived their faith.

Every single year, aware Catholics "re-live" the Gospel, from Christ's birth to His Ascension and Heavenly reign. In Spring He enters the world by coming to rest in Mary's immaculate womb; nine months later, in Winter, He is born, circumcized, and given a Name. He is raised in the Holy Family, and meets His cousin, John. He goes into the Desert and we go with Him during our Lenten Season. Then follow His Passion and Agony, which are soon vanquished by His Resurrection, His Ascension, and the Pentecost. Now He reigns -- and forever, and we await His Second Coming as we prepare to celebrate again His First Coming. The cycle begins again, like a wheel that's been spinning for two millenia. The Catholic who is aware of this wheel is necessarily aware of Christ; the Catholic who also celebrates the Feasts well and practices the traditions of the Church lives intimately with Him.. All of the Church's Feasts fall into one of the 2 main "liturgical cycles" made of 7 "liturgical seasons." Each of the Seasons has an associated mood, its own "feeling in the air," its own scents and ornaments. There is even for each Season an associated color which will be reflected in the priests' vestments and liturgical art, church decoration, and so on (though on certain Holy Days within a particular season, that Day's color will take precedence over the season's color). "

Jonah G has it right on the Christmas Wars

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Just caught this pre-Christmas piece by Jonah Goldberg. http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg200412230837.asp

I think it says better what I was attempting to say earlier, here: http://imsoglad.blogspot.com/2004/12/christmas-wars.html

Ten Reasons Not to Die . . .

. . the Dr. Kevorkian way.

This Spiked piece reviews, from a non-religious viewpoint, why a proposed amendment to Britain's Suicide act is not a good idea.
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA82B.htm

For me, the money quote: "The Assisted Dying bill will instead place an onus on doctors and carers to help individuals to commit suicide. One of the most ugly arguments to come from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society is that disabled people should have the right to die, too. We must be clear that we are being obligated to give the proverbial man on the bridge a push (or perhaps to make the bridge wheelchair accessible)."

"Christmas Wars"

I have nothing to say about the so-called "Christmas Wars" being fought all over blog-dom. Okay I have a little to say: This seems to me to be an attempt by some (on both sides) to redstate-bluestate (=politicize) everything, including Christmas.


As Santa would say, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Another of the many reasons

I'm so glad to watch my youngest as she sleeps.

This is a special parental thing that almost defies description, and in my case probably does. But I have talked to hundreds of parents who feel the same thing. The utter joy at just watching your child sleep. And this not because you like 'em better when they are not all rowdy and noisy. She looks so peaceful and truly beautiful. I sorta wish I could upload a picture but I doubt it would quite capture the sublimity of the moment.

Midnight Christmas Mess

This year I will be going to Christmas Eve Mass. We are looking forward to a bustling Christmas in which we enjoy the company of our family and some close friends. Traditionally we have a kid gift exchange on Christmas eve. We will go to Mass first where the Kings Choir will sing, and then dinner and then the gifts. We hope the weather won't put the damper on too many people's celebrations.

My friend LAGuy ( http://pajamaguy.blogspot.com ) has an old vinyl record of mine titled the same as this post. I remember it had a bittersweet song from Wednesday Week as well as some garage band mixing Them's (Van Morrison's) Gloria with Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Somehow it seemed they were able to pull it off without being blasphemous. Certainly I have heard Christian Rock that would be more upsetting to a saint's ears.

Sorrowful Christians? or Joyful?

Is there a legitimate theology of sadness or sorrow among Christians?

The word sorrow is used 69 times in the Old and New Testaments. Joy is used 165 times. Many of the references to "sorrow" are actually talking about how one's sorrow will be turned to joy. However it is important to remember that there are many reasons for people in the Old and New Testament to feel sorrow. Most notable of these is the Passion of Christ. Traditionally and scripturally Mary shares this with Jesus in a special way. Christians should also be considered realists. To look at the world and see much abject suffering and not to acknowledge this and incorporate it into Christian theology would be grossly negligent. So, clearly there is a legitimacy to Christian sorrow.

Below several links here are images of the sorrowful Christ or sorrowful mother.
http://www.mfa.org/artemis/fullrecord.asp?oid=32324&did=500
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=45910+0+none
http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/andre/sorrows.html

Also is some discussion of the theology of sorrow:
http://sycophants.info/good-friday.html
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/sorrowsmed.html
http://www.catholictradition.org/7sorrows.htm

And how does this correspond with the joy and gratitude Christians claim?
http://www.stlukesrec.org/sermons99/11trin99.html
So there are two emotions in the heart of the praying believer. On the one hand, we sorrow, like the Publican, over our sin. On the other hand, we are exhilarated by God's grace and forgiveness in Christ. Which brings us to the challenge posed by Sartre at the introduction. Does the Christian constantly grovel in the dust before God like the actor in The Flies? Is the Christian life primarily sorrow or joy? Gloom or sunshine? A vale of tears, or a feast of jubilation?
The answer is yes. Both of them. G. K. Chesterton called this one of the odd, yet delightful paradoxes of Christianity. In his book Orthodoxy he explains how orthodox theology has a mystical talent for combining vices which seem inconsistent with each other. That is why atheists like Sartre are constantly getting it wrong. They'll accuse Christians one day of being too glum, and the next day accuse them of being too jovial. They denounce Christendom as being too pacifistic, and at the same time too bellicose, too worldly and too unworldly.
Here I quote Chesterton, "Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. The Church was positive on both points. . . . It has kept them side by side like two strong colours, red and white, like the red and white upon the shield of St. George. It has always had a healthy hatred of pink."
http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/02087.htm

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Current reading

I am currently reading Jacqueline Kasun's, The War Against Population. This is a economic based analysis aimed at planning agencies who believe (apparently against the evidence) that over-population is the cause of poverty. It does not largely deal with environmental issues, though it touches on them. The solution Kasun proposes is market-based with individual property ownership, but to be fair she does not indicate how this could be achieved in countries in which the rule of law has long been superceded by thugocracy or other. Still interesting reading. The book was updated and revised in 1999.

I'm so glad that Jesus was born in a manger

. . . and NOT in the editorial offices of Time or Newsweek. Ever careful to not directly condemn belief in the accuracy of Scripture, this genre of articles (which appear each major holiday to 1. sell magazines to Christians who see the beautiful classic Christian art work, and 2. assure all those agnostics, atheists and liberal religionists that the Jesus myth is okay as long as we take it to mean simply: be nice.) is yet another display of the great cultural divide on one side or the other of which we now reside. Suffice it to say that either magazine could have found any number of theologians, scholars, "experts" or even regular church-going folk to provide the other side.

What would the other side say? First that if this Jesus story is merely a myth, then the authors of the Bible themselves urge you to ignore or reject it. See 2 Peter 1:16 "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. " and as St. Paul says: 'Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the death, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith is in vain.' (1 Cor. 15:12-14) Second that the authors testify that they report accurately and died rather than refute any word of it. See the preface to Luke's Gospel and the above petrine quote. Also they would answer the specific false claims one by one.

This is now done all over the internet by many. See Belief Seeking Understanding http://beliefseekingunderstanding.patriotforum.org/archives/000624.html

Mark Roberts http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/jesusbirth.htm#dec904 (the first of a five part series)
and

George Sim Johnson http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006008 I liked this money quote: " But these scholars don't even bother to look at certain ancient sources. In the early third century, for example, Origen, one of the most brilliant men of his age, could write: "In Bethlehem you are shown the cave where he was born. . . . These things which they show you are recognized in the district." This is not perhaps clinching evidence; but people back then did have long memories, so why not accept this as corroboration of what the Gospel writers calmly report to be true?"

and Amy Welborn http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1521605


and numerous others Catholics and protestants

ZuZu's petals

Merry Christmas Emporium, Merry Christmas you old Building and Loan!

Yes, Capra pulled rather sentimentally at our heart strings. There is no way I can watch this movie without tearing up, even after dozens of viewings. But doggone it, it is a good movie. The contrast between the kid lousily playing the piano before and after George Bailey's conversion is amazing. Before you feel like kicking the kid, after you understand he is just learning.

It reminds me of when frequently my little kids want to help me with a project around the house. They are NOT going to actually help me. But they WANT to. That is worth alot. And by letting them help, I am doing a lot for them.

Wiggles and amps

Being Santa may be more fun than waiting for Santa. This year I get to give an amazing variety of Christmas presents for my kids whose ages vary from 2 to 16. My sixteen year old is "in a band." Noone in the band is really brave enough to sing, but one kid was more or less elected. But they need more vocals because they actually write songs and it helps if one can hear the words. So, number one son will get an Amp and Mike for Christmas this year. On the other end of the spectrum are The Wiggles and toys, more conventional stuff. All lots of fun to shop for,(ya gotta play with those toys to see which they'll like the best). And with each kid, you really want to get them things that fit them. This is where creativity (and much of the work and most of the fun) comes in. As John Lennon said, (while Yoko seemed to whine in the background), "Merry Christmas."

Hocus Pick--Snappy

They are a Christian ska band with a song called, "I'm So Happy." Not great but still bouncy and fun. I remember about 7 years ago, my kids loved this song and everyone in the family knew all the words. We would put on the tape and just dance around the family room. Lots of fun.

(Just bought the CD for my wife for Christmas. Don't tell)

me and skip james

So, have you thought about the fact that there is a lot of bad stuff happening in the world? And there always has been, probably always will be. yes.

name one really bad thing: abortion

So, how can you be "glad" when thousands of unborn babies are killed each day? I recognize that there are some things I can do to end abortion and there are some things I can't. I do the things I can do. I support a crisis pregnancy center, I pray for an end to abortion, I try to convince others that abortion is wrong, and I encourage a positive view of life in many interactions each day. Could I do more? Perhaps. And this I work on as I examine my conscience and resolve to do more. But importantly I KNOW I cannot solve this problem singlehandedly. I believe that many people working and praying are making a difference.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on how one can have joy in the face of life's trials. I certainly don't have all the answers and my exploration of this subject is the basis for this blog.

Longfellow sums up the Christian hope well in this classic Christmas carol:

"Christmas Bells"(The original poem, complete with all seven stanzas)"

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled alongThe unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chimeA chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the soundThe carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlornThe households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

From whence this blog's title comes

I’M SO GLAD lyrics
By skip james
I’m so glad, I’m so glad. I’m glad, I’m glad, I’m glad.I’m so glad, I’m so glad. I’m glad, I’m glad, I’m glad.I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do.I’m tired of weeping, I’m tired of moaning, I’m tired of crying for you.ChorusI’m tired of weeping, I’m tired of moaning, I’m tired of groaning for you.I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do.Chorus

Biography
Nehemiah "Skip" James was born on Woodbine Plantation outside Bentonia, Mississippi on the ninth of June, 1902. Raised on the plantation Skip was interested in music early and had learned guitar by age 8. After learning piano in high school he dropped out to hobo around and began earning a living from music around 1918. He worked parties, roadhouses, jukes, and barrelhouses in the South and Midwest, notably Memphis into the 1920's. He attended divinity school and became active in ministry work from the mid-twenties. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1932 supporting himself preaching and playing churches and concerts in the forties. James was ordained a Methodist minister in 1946 and worked outside music preaching until 1964 when he started working the folk festival and college circuit riding the blues revival wave.
An influence to Robert Johnson, Skip James recorded 17 selections for Paramount in 1931. His surviving works of this time demonstrate a masterful and unique style on both guitar and piano. Skip's haunting delivery was created by his falsetto singing over a rhythmic and erratic instrumental accompaniment. The Depression suppressed his record sales and left him in obscurity until rediscovered in 1964. Illness curtailed Skip James' performing career in 1968 and he died of cancer on October 3, 1969.

DiscographySome of his songs include:
All Night Long, Crow Jane, Cypress Grove Blues, Drunken Spree, Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues, I'm So Glad, My Gal, Special Rider Blues, and 22-20 Blues.

Santa Claus is coming to town

One reason that I am full of joy is that Santa is coming. I am currently the happy father of many children. They are so excited that Christmas is nearly upon us. Of course, they know that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday. Of course, they want toys and stuff. I sometimes critique our culture (and myself) for this double vision. Still everyone is excited and we're all hoping its for the right reasons. I love to buy gifts for my chldren and others. We also (as do so many families) pay particular attention to almsgiving this time of year. Advent is the beginning of the Church year and it is a good time to reflect on Christ's beginning, his childhood. And to begin anew ourselves.

Fresh Blog

This post will soon be archived, I hope. That will mean we have lots of traffic: people who want to know why I am so happy or lots of posts from me describing this joy.