December 2006 Archives

It was December 1976 and I decided to write President Ford a letter. He had just lost to Gov. Jimmy Carter and I wanted to console him. I recall writing some very 9-year-old sort of things - something about how Gov. Carter was just a peanut farmer.

One day the following spring I came home to find a very official looking letter. Inside was this note. It went directly up on my wall.

I knew nothing about political correspondence at the time - I had never heard the term "autopen" - and assumed my letter had passed before his very eyes and had prompted him to write and sign this letter. Who knows, maybe he did. I will always have a special love for President Ford.

It can't be true...

- a virgin birth?
- an old pregnant cousin?
- angels appearing left and right?
- God become not just man but a baby?
- astrologers from the east?
- a murderous king?
- a loyal husband?
- a birthing room attended by cows?

It makes no sense. Plus, the stories all contradict each other, right? They aren't reliable.

But what if... what if the stories tell different parts of the same story? and what if the differences themselves are the greatest proof that these stories have been recorded accurately? after all, smoothing out the differences would have been pretty easy. What if all that stuff were really true and the story is real and the greatest thing about this season is that we are commemorating a miracle?

It seems insane amidst the need to run off and buy more stuff and get the perfect gift and make cider and decorate the tree and put up lights and.... It even seems a bit nuts given old phrases like "Jesus is the reason for the season." But what if it is simply true?

That is, I think, a good thing to consider.

I am taking a blogging break until Thursday the 28th of December. After that date I will be blogging more than I ever have but until that date I am going to be resting and celebrating and considering the impossible.

Thank you for reading my blog these past few months. Thank you for emails and comments and thoughts and prayers. Merry Christmas.

My colleague and friend Patton Dodd wrote a beautiful article for the Financial Times. It is titled simply, "My pastor disgraced our church." Please read. My favorite paragraph:

Even when I winced over things Pastor Ted would say as a representative of evangelicals, even when I wished he’d focus on poor people rather than Republican party priorities, even when I wanted his theology to resemble that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Karl Barth instead of Oral Roberts, Pastor Ted was a man I was glad to call a friend. He’s still a friend now. Anything less would be a paltry definition of love. Love rejoices with the truth, wrote St. Paul, which means that anyone who loves Pastor Ted has to tell the full story - especially to themselves.

News reports like this one reveal that U2's Bono was "...alarmed we could not get a commitment from the Democratic leadership to prevent the loss of $1b in the continuing resolution to fight AIDS, malaria and extreme poverty." The problem, of course, isn't just a Democratic fault or a Republican fault (as both parties point out). It is, rather, just a political problem arising from no new appropriations (money) for the government.

Why do I point this out?

A couple of reasons. First, to just express sadness that in the midst of their politicking, our political leaders didn't do their jobs even though they were out there trying to get reelected to do their jobs. It isn't a big deal except when it is a big deal - like to the people who will now die because that money was expended. It is, I think, further evidence of the need for a fast from politics. Everyone hold back your money from supporting these candidates until they do what they are supposed to do.

Second, I am reminded of Bono's lyrics in U2's famed song I still haven't found what I'm looking for... there he sings, "I have held the hand of the devil, it was warm in the night and I was cold as a stone." That sentiment is true not only of the temptations that the night often brings but of the political tempations too...

A couple of weeks ago I posted an open letter to James Dobson and Chuck Colson. It was in response to various misrepresentations about my book and about my argument for a Christian "fast" from politics.

This week I received a private letter from Chuck. While I can't share the content of the letter, I wanted to publicly acknowledge the response and to say that it was a very warm and thoughtful letter. I hope our private dialogue will continue and that out of it something useful and constructive will emerge.

My daughters (9 & 11) are leading me astray:1. Click on the link below.2. Click once on the snowman to activate the penguin3. Click again on the snowman to hit the penguin as he descends from the cliff.Click here for:...

here is the email that went around this morning to the New Life staff:Dear Staff, Wow, what an amazing week! Wonderland [New Life Church's Christmas program]was attended by more people this year than ever before. Sunday morning wasan incredible display...

The Denver Post reports this morning that another member of New Life Church's staff has been asked to leave because of sexual misconduct.An executive staff member at New Life Church in Colorado Springs has resigned after admitting to sexual misconduct...

I came across a very moving article via Andrew Sullivan's site - it is entitled Surprise Ending and is found in The Christian Century. The author is reflecting on the end of his life and writes:If ever there were an...

I saw The Nativity and wanted to love it and be moved by it and have my life transformed by it. Such wasn't the case.It was fine.That, I suppose, is a view shared by most people, as the movie has...

Opened my mail this afternoon to find a desperate fundraising plea from the Family Research Council. Plastered on the outside in big letters: "Liberals have revealed their 2007 agenda for America." Inside, "94 percent of congressmen who stood with FRC...were...

...to all those parents out there... is it wrong for a father (me) to conspire against his wife, his bride, the love of his life so he gets more of the tuck-ins of their little girl than she does? I...

Beliefnet blogs - with the exception of my colleague Rod Dreher who must be truly living right - were down all weekend through yesterday afternoon. In a way it was a bummer because I didn't get to write, and in...

I heard part of your interview on XM as I was driving to pick up my daughter from Kindergarten today. Thank you for what you said. Especially poignant to me was your discussion of abortion and our society's failure to...

When I saw that John W. Whitehead of the controversial and Christian Rutherford Institute had written an article after the election about evangelicals and politics I figured it would be fairly predictable - Christians need to be more engaged, Republicans...

Christianpost.com reports, "College student Carli Marino won this year's "American Idol" style "Gospel Dream" talent contest with her debut album slated for 2007."Youngest of 10 finalists, 19-year-old Marino launched her new gospel music recording career with millions of viewers watching...

My Beliefnet colleague Alana B. Elias Kornfeld is a guest blogger - a blogger of conscience on Darfur:I am Jewish and I've often felt an inexplicable, magical power when I am in temple and worshipping with members of my faith...

For those of you with XM and interest my interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz (better known as simply Dr. Oz) airs today at 1pm and 7pm on channel 156. I think it was the best interview of the past several...

Andrew Sullivan has posted a wonderful piece from a reader: go here to read it....

My colleague Rod Dreher has written a brilliant entry about Iraq and today's report. I encourage you to read it. Here is how it begins:Well, I've read as much of it as I can manage this afternoon, and it's pretty...

Arguably this isn't the best time for me to be writing this. This just isn't a good health day. I think day one of chemo does that to a person. Of course, this could be the perfect time so here...

Apart from not being Caucasian, not working in an office, and not answering calls, this could be me....

This from the Financial Times:Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two per cent of adults own more than 50 per cent of the world’s assets while the poorest half hold only 1 per cent...

Writing for the small but influential newsletter put out by The Gathering, Ralph Reed writes about Sen. John Danforth's book on faith and politics. Danforth argues that the Republican Party is unduly beholden to the religious right. You can read...

I notice a new piece on the Focus on the Family website called "Tempting Bitterness" by Gary Schneeburger, editor of something called Citizenlink. It is important for me to address its accusations and point out its staggering number of inaccuracies,...

Last week I spoke at American University. I just talked about the book -- the intensely personal one I actually wrote as opposed to the purely political one some people think I wrote. Below is a note from a young...

A Muslim is coming to the United States House of Representatives, and he wants to be sworn into office with his hand on a Koran and not on a Holy Bible. Some conservatives have decided this may well be the...

For my interview with Busted Halo, an online magazine for spiritual seekers in their 20s and 30s, click here. Here is one of the exchanges:BH: This seems to be a theme in your life: the struggle between political differences and...

David van Biema in Time.com has just posted a very interesting article: The Real Losers in the Obama-Warren Controversy. He says, "Rick Warren's invitation to have Barack Obama speak at his mega-church's AIDS conference has sparked a furor in the...