Quick Note: This a letter relating to the First Sunday in Christmas, Dec. 28. I’ve posted on the Christmas Eve and Day readings here. Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes, all we can do is sing. This past fall we observed the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. And so there were the requisite reviews in the news media of the events leading up to, surrounding, and following that remarkable and largely unforeseen event. One of the items that was routinely left out of those reviews, however, was the weeks of peaceful protests by the citizens of Leipzig that led up to the fall. Gathering on Monday evenings by candlelight...

I thought I’d mix in some Advent hymns for our poetry this month. Nevertheless, the first poem and hymn that I thought of is a beloved Christmas carol. Perhaps because it’s so darn cold in Minnesota right now, the carol that keeps coming to mind is Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Mid-Winter.” All of Rossetti’s work is so melodic, fluid, and vivid, and makes great reading or singing. It’s such a wonderful song that there are some fantastic covers by pop artists like James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg that have helped to make it popular well beyond the church. But my favorite version is probably by Shawn Colvin. There is something...

Tonight millions of Christians will gather to hear the Christmas story read, preached on, and – perhaps most especially – sung. And as we prepare to hear this story once more it occurs to me what an odd, even slightly absurd story it is. Shepherds, virgins, wandering kings, angels, stars. It really is quite a tale. Which is why, I think, that lately I’ve been struck by the ads and billboards atheists have purchased once again this year suggesting that Christmas is, to put it kindly, a myth. Struck. In light of my own musings, I have to say that I’m not particularly offended or angered, just struck. The gist of the advertisements is...