Over at NRO, Joseph Loconte offers insight into the problem of Jesus:

No wonder liberals and conservatives both have trouble with him. The Jesus of the Bible offers forgiveness to murderers, but drives hucksters out of a temple with a whip. He dines with prostitutes, but promises hell-fire for religious hypocrites. He blesses the pure in heart, though never fails to call evil by its name. Wherever he goes, devotion and bitterness seem to follow.

What a Christmas. If it wasn’t some members of my family acting like 50-year-old children, it was the virus that Santa brought me. My voice is nearly gone, my nose runs continually, and I’m stuck at home. Gee, thanks, Santa.

If anyone sees him, please kick him in the shins for me. Thanks.

There’s a stack of books on my desk that are Christmas gifts from my wife, we spent the weekend at a cabin on Turtle River Lake up in the Bemidji area. The books include Posers, Fakers and Wannabees by Brennan Manning; the Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll; Photographing Wildflowers by Craig and Nadine Blacklock, and a book by Father Capon that Valerie Capon asked my wife not to talk about because Valerie gave my wife too good a deal…

Don’t throw the turkey carcass out! Boil the thing in a huge pot, with carrots, onions, celery, etc. The turkey strips off into wonderful strings, and the fatty skin suffuses the whole pot with wonderful cholesterol & tryptophan (a controlled substance). And it makes the house smell FANTASTIC. And it takes at least 5 days to get tired of turkey soup.

Myself, I have been munching on turkey, but more so on Honeybaked Ham. The dagnabbed stuff is like candy. Salty, glazed, sweet, cocaine-addiction-like candy. Unca Scrooge (my employer) gives us a coupon each year for x-mas. Bless him.

My 3-year old has played with his Thomas trains non-stop for two days. He has foregone eating, naps, you name it. Christmas madness. (My. God. Following the link, I see that the SAME CORPORATION owns not only Thomas, but Barney and the Wiggles as well. That’s positively evil. Because they are far, far richer than I will ever be.)

Thank you for introducing me to the John Piper poem. I wish I could communicate sentiments like that to people who need to hear them. The matter of suffering was on my mind, juxtaposing itself with the traditional happy Christmas ideal, and this poem really distilled it all for me.

The gift of myrrh intrigues and troubles me. It seems to be a substance especially used for embalming. I have not done my archaeological/artifactual homework here, but this is the quick impression I gathered. The theological import here seems huge. I am sure this has been discussed for millenia, but I am still constantly amazed at biblical trivia like that which throw me for a loop and introduce new wonder into it all. Perhaps not a big deal, perhaps an incidental matter only. Still intriguing.

Has anyone read Gilead yet? I may have to visit the library soon. All of Marilynne Robinson’s works look very interesting.

I didn’t notice that my church was not having traditional services at all 3 worship times this morning (due to smaller Christmas crowds). Therefore, I was forced to attend the contemporary service at 10:45. Actually, I’ve been to it a few times. It’s really not that awful. The music is vapid compared to real church music, but the vapid music they choose is much, much less vapid than some praise music I have heard. And the musicians are very talented, bright, shiny, and obviously in love with Jesus. They have relatively good taste. And it is amusing to watch the senior pastor preach, clap his hands, smile (genuinely) through it all. Why, it’s enough to erase my own awful cynicism. All things to all people. Nothing wrong with that. But it would help if “all people” weren’t so, well, vapid.

No doubt about it. This was the only flaw in the whole thing.

I am supposed to be eating Christmas dinner with Denise’s family right now, but western Kentucky got the blizzard (Minnesotans and Canadians quit honking) and we were told to wait. So it looks like we might try to go Tuesday-Thursday. I have a speaking engagement Friday that involves free steak, so we have to be back for that. So instead of Christmas dinner at the in-laws, we are in for the advanced rounds of leftovers.

BTW- does anyone else feel that going out to a Chinese restaurant late on a Christmas Eve (or other night) is now part of the celebration? I just can’t figure out how to nicely ask the help to sing to us. “Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra, Ra-ra-ra-ra!”

I also have a personal Christmas ritual that brings great joy. After carving the turkey, and then pulling meat off of the carcass, I throw the remains of the turkey into the back yard for the cats. The next morning, the carcass is GONE. (We live over a fairly steep, uncleared hill, overlooking a cornfield and a creek.) This little ritual causes great excitement in the animal kingdom, and I feel like standing in the cold and snow, raising a glass and speaking forth some ancient blessing on the turkey carcass. Appropriate words?

We shared Christmas poems at midnight. Noel’s choice of Denise Levertov’s “On the Mystery of the Incarnation” was the hit of the program. I became reacquainted with the greatness that is T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi.”

After Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols (very well attended for such cold weather and such old people,) we visited friends who prepared Aebleskivers. Oh My. I had 7, which may explain why I was wide awake at 3 a.m. Think the world’s most wonderful pancake, in the form of a tennis ball, covered in powdered sugar and syrup. Good times. Good times.

I wrote reviews of the two Donald Miller books I’ve read on break. I still feel guilty. Blessed and guilty.

Today I preached on the journey of the wise men as an example of a mid-life crisis. Something I know about very well.

Christmas morning photos are here, including several of Clay that are totally hilarious.

Happy second day.

The BHT is closed until 6 p.m. Sunday, December 26th. May the presence of Jesus Christ fill your Christmas, your home, and all the world.

Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Flocks feed by darkness with a noise of whispers,
In the dry grass of pastures,
And lull the solemn night with their weak bells.

The little towns upon the rocky hills
Look down as meek as children:
Because they have seen come this holy time.

God’s glory, now, is kindled gentler than low candlelight
Under the refters of a barn:
Eternal Peace is sleeping in the hay,
And Wisdom’s born in secret in a straw-roofed stable.

And O! Make holy music in the stars, you happy angels.
You shepherds, gather on the hill.
Look up, you timid flocks, where the three kings
Are coming through the wintry trees;

While we unnumbered children of the wicked centuries
Come after with our penances and prayers,
And lay them down in the sweet-smelling hay
Beside the wise men’s golden jars.

Thomas Merton (1946) (Thanks to Amy W)

Tim Challies seduced me into this link. If you are offended, blame him. He’s the devil…or one of his evil minions. Ladies….don’t go here. Trust me. Guys….it’s been a winter fantasy, but we all don’t have snow. Well….now you are in business.

Why do people on the radio need to tell us to “bundle up when you go outside?” Is someone suing the weather guys because they didn’t give clothing advice?

A chapter excerpt from Hannegraff and Brower’s new book: The Last Disciple. (Can someone say “Amillenial?”)

Luke 2:7 7 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.

BTW- if there is someone out there who is offended that BHT members are consigning people to hell based on sports and music preferences…..it’s a joke. Sad, sick, perverse….but a joke. We actually have no authority to send anyone to eternal torment.

The fighter is no longer a young man. Mike Tyson doesn’t age gracefully. Think Ty Cobb.

Who is really skipping the Christmas season? (An excellent post at GetReligion)

How Red State religion looks from Blue San Francisco: A gay marriage sympathizer surveys Christian use of the book of Leviticus.

Heaven:
Johnny Cash
John Coltrane
Billy Graham
Flannery O’Connor
Fred Rogers
Thomas Merton
William F. Buckley

Hell:
O.J. Simpson
Creflo Dollar
Ty Cobb
Yasser Arafat
Michael Jackson

It’s a Larknews Christmas.

I just got this thermos/mug set, plus tea, coffee and a nce basket from Basketville in Williamsburg, Va.

Lutheran critique of the Reformed view of the LS. Very short and well stated.

UPDATE: Josh (and a bottle of scotch) take on the same questions. With mo’ flava.

Heaven: James Naismith, Alexander Cartwright, Abner Doubleday, football players who played with leather helmets, hockey goalies that played without face protection, Al Gore, Bill Simmons, Gregg Easterbrook

Hell: Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Bud Selig, Paul Crouch, Robert Tilton, Kobe Bryant, Soccer players, Soccer fans, Little League Dads, Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith

Heaven: My brother, my Mother-in-Law (whom I never met but she must a saint to have created such a daughter as my wife)

Hell: I don’t wish it even on the worst of the worst (which, had I actually included someone… would have included Patrick Roy and the two kids I can see fishing in the creek outside my office window).

Purgatory: I’m gonna have to be in there an AWFULLY LONG TIME…. if Mike is granting indulgences.

I buy and read several noteworthy or interesting books per year. Usually, these will sit collecting dust on my shelves afterward. (I rarely read political or theological books more than once). I could donate them to a library somewhere, but they are usually obscure enough that they would probably just collect dust there, too.

It would give me greater pleasure to know that someone else could get edification or enjoyment out of them. There may be one or two BHT fellows with close enough interests to find some of them worthwhile.

Therefore, I will ship this book free of charge to the first BHT fellow who requests it.

The tree and the piano
noel
noel baking cookies. yum.
clay
denise harassing people who thought we moved away

Heaven: Jim Rice, Bobby Orr, Socrates. Al Lindner, Roland Martin, Patrick Stewart, Teg Nugent, Chuck Mangione, P.G. Wodehouse, Patrick McManus, the guy who invented Poutine, Alton Brown, Bugs Bunny, Chef Boyardee

Hell: Most televangelists, Finney, the guy who first cultivated brussel sprouts, Madeline Murray O”Hare, the RoadRunner, Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy

Kurt: How long a story can it be? I was once presented with a golden toilet seat by the president of my company, who said, and I paraphrase: “Let this be a reminder to all that Phillip’s fecal matter has no odor.”

A fellow employee was mortally offended, saying that he would quit the company if he was ever presented with an award like that. Stifling the urge to suggest that he wasn’t likely to ever receive an award of any kind, I hung the toilet seat up on the wall of my office so that it was visible from his cubicle if he turned in my direction. I also strongly encouraged the president of my company to present that offended employee with a golden toilet seat of his own, just to see if he would make good on his promise, but he either feared that the employee would make good on his word and quit, or that the employee would think it was a reward for a job well done, and declined.

I could make the story longer, I suppose, but that’s the gist of it.

Michael: The lucifer reference is revenge for me listing the non-Trinitarian T.D. Jakes as heaven-bound, right? :-P

And yeah, I’m teasing, don’t be alarmed. +{:)}+

We do the Lessons and Carols at church every Christmas Eve. I don’t read any of the lessons (even though the last lesson, from John 1, is traditionally read by the pastor or the highest ecclesiastical official present) but I always read The Bidding Prayer and, religiously at least, it makes my Christmas every year. What wonderful words!

“Be it our care and delight” to hear the story again. Not our casual once-yearly duty but our Solemn Joy! (Piper would love this, I think :)

“And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children;” This takes us out of our cosy candlelit chapel into the cold world outside. May this glad news touch the needy… and please use us, Lord, as your agents of redemption!

“let us remember… all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not,” - Lord use us to reach them too. May they see your worth and love You as you should be loved. And may I love you more too!

“Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are one forevermore.” – This always brings a flood of memories of the ever increasing company of relatives and friends who are now gone. I think of my grandfather, my mother in law, and the many friends who have fallen asleep in Jesus. It gives me hope.

However you celebrate may you all enjoy a blessed Christmas!

Tech Central has “A Christmas Carol: Remixed.” Way cool and a must read.

Apparently, it’s a long story, but I think that Phillip should have to tell it.

Heaven:
Tom Waits
Linus Torvalds

Hell:
Darl McBride
The title company and the sellers of the home we just bought
Benny Hinn
Ted Rall
Most everybody in Hollywood
Most everybody in Pop Music
Motorcycle Cops

Heaven: Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Mark Twain, Shakespeare, Shirley at Shirley’s Pizza, Bob Dandridge, Oscar Robertson, Wade Boggs, Harry Carey, the entire Big Red machine except for Pete Rose, the guy who invented orange sherbert, Mrs. Milkey (my 4th grade teacher), Tom Rogers and Ed Beavin (my college Bible profs), several girls from my high school days who shall go un-named, but are really appreciated. All ball park organists. Emril. All my fans.

Hell: George Steinbrenner, the inventers of the DH, astro-turf and stunts between innings at minor league games. My high school geometry teacher. This guy at Southern Seminary who said I cheated on my entrance exams, called me a liar and made me take them all over. (BURN, baby BURN!!) The person who ran over my dog, Tiger. Anyone who was ever mean to my mother. The inventor of my public school lunch menu. Several girls from my high school days who sahll go un-named, but ruined my life. The inventor rap music. Anyone associated with MTV. Several BHT commenters.

Purgatory just enough to scare him: Joell (jn)

Michael: Last year my church did the full “9 Lessons and Carols,” but this year they combined it with the Christmas pageant, substituting pieces of the Christmas story for the traditional lessons. We still used the traditional bidding prayer, though. It was truly beautiful, and that service was the moment I “felt the Christmas spirit” this year.

The surprise snow yesterday helped, too. :-)

Judson: I’ll play!

Heaven:
Michael Spencer
T. D. Jakes

Hell:
Jim Nicholson
Me

Santa’s CIO was interviewed and gives you a glimpse into how things are run.

However, there are some boys and girls who would rather NOT see Santa this Christmas.

Question of the femtosecond (look it up)

In the charitable spirit of Christmas, I propose the following question:

Name some people that are probably going to (or have gone to) heaven.
Name some people that are probably going to (or have gone to) hell.

(disclaimer: The bible says not to talk about who’s going to heaven or hell. So don’t do this if you don’t want to go to hell. Also, God wants everybody to go to heaven. And you don’t get to decide. Thank God. But, if you don’t mind doing something unbiblical, and you’re feeling “judgemental” so to speak, have at it.)

HEAVEN
Bill Monroe
John Rutter
Wolfgang Mozart
Johann Bach
most pacifists
some conservatives

HELL
Those guys who shot Margaret Hassan in the head
Spammers
Fred Phelps
some conservatives

John at Confessing Evangelical has The 9 Lessons up at his site, as well as a beautiful post on the “Bidding prayer.” Thanks John. This is the one week I would love to live in England! Or at least near a Cathedral.

Here is the schedule for the BBC broadcast from Cambridge.

I like this guy. Besides a kickin’ name, he’s got a viewpoint we need to hear. Read his stuff on Christmas.

I’m no fan of Frank Rich, but read his thoughts on Christmas in a diverse America, and how fundamentalists are whining because they aren’t getting everything their way. I am getting the feeling that the people banning “Merry Christmas” and the people screaming “persecution!” may have a lot in common: they are scared.

A John Updike Christmas memory.

The in-laws just called and said they are snowed in with 16 inches of snow in the driveway. They want us to postpone the Christmas visit. Oh well….I can deal with it. We have to be back at work January 1. I can be flexible.

Scott: Welcome back. And I have sent at least 25 e-mails attempting to get back www.noelspencer.com, and he won’t even answer. Jerk.

Peggy Noonan has a Christmas memory.

The New York Daily News Gossip Page is to be saluted: they have sworn off Paris Hilton. The racist stuff is enough. Please world, catch the wave. Dump this person and everyone like her.

CT on the Real Twelve Days.

Want a miracle? My daughter’s college bill arrived today. Paid and finished. $11,600+ for the upcoming semester. Yes, it’s outrageous, but we paid $300. God is good and I thank him for so many generous people that make it possible for my daughter to get a great education. When she tells me what she is doing in classes, and then I listen to kids from other schools talk….it’s an awesome difference. Here’s to liberals who still understand the meaning of liberal education.

It’s that ring-jing-jingly jing-jing-jingling sooooound of the…

Chick Tract Translation
Yes, boys and girls… it’s been a while. Sadly, as the 5minutewebs website goes down and as my domain still hasn’t been transferred to me (dang that Bloghosts), it’s time for Translation Industries, Inc. to go off and find a new home. Until that lovely day, I give you… Sin City.

As so many of the best Chick tracts do, this one opens in the middle of a gay rights parade. Yes, sir… homosexuals a-flyin’ everywhere. And yet – in their midst, stands a man… a lone man… who is willing to stand up and risk catching The Gay, all so that he can hold up a sign that says “Homosexuality is an Abomination”. Of course, that’s exactly the kind of sign you want to hold up at a gay rights rally. I guarantee you’ll live at least 12 seconds.

In the midst of people threatening to run over him and calling him a gay basher… wow. Our hero’s in danger and stuff. No need to fear… the cops are on the way… except.. uh… why is that cop calling him a “stinkin’ straight”? I mean – OK, most cops I know are family guys who go home to their wives… so, where did this yahoo come from? I mean, a gay cop? I mean, all we need is an Indian, a construction worker, a leather freak, and a guy in overalls, and we’v.. go…

Oh dear Lord, it’s the Village People.

Not only have they invaded the music airwaves and perfectly good movies like “Down Periscope” and TV shows like “The Simpsons”, but now they’ve made it into Chick Tracts. Either they’re on the next step towards world domination, or they need a new agent. Meh. So the Village people gang up on Our Hero and do the only sensible thing. In the midst of his butt-whoopin’, a news crew decides that they’d rather film daisies than crimes being committed. I mean, come on man, where’s Michael Moore when you actually need him?

I know, I know… he’s at Taco Bell.

Well, Our Hero ends up in the hospital looking like The Mummy. To cheer him up, the local gay rights contingent sends him a basket of flowers, a box of liquid candy (for until his teeth grow back), and a lawyer. Apparently, they have conditions… they won’t press charges for Mr. Wesley (oh, so THAT’S his name…) committing a hate crime by kicking the snot out of a stra…. I mean, holding up a sign, if he’ll have a sit-down with Reverend Ray.

Reverend Ray, in case you were wondering, is queerer than a football bat, and looks like Dom DeLuise with really big hands. I mean… good Lord, which ape family did this guy evolve from? It’s like he’s the gay brother of the big-handed woman from Seinfeld. More importantly, and purely in the interest of the laws of physics, how exactly can Gay ol’ Ray hold up those monsters with wrists limper than wet linguini?

The mysteries of the Chickiverse continue…

Well, fortunately for Gay ol’ Ray, I guess to hold up those monster grabbers, he’s brought along a friend… Zanah. Zanah is, well, let’s call him a “Horned American”. And no, it’s not Barbara Streissand. Zanah’s is Gay ol’ Ray’s personal demon. But fortuantely for Our Hero, his wife is direct on the phone to none other than the Chickiverse’s very own computer expert, astrophysics professor, and theology kingpin, Bob. And let me tell ya, before Gay ol’ Ray can say “faaaabulous”, ol’ Bob’s done run on over to the hospital with a demon-casting-out prayer on his lips and a copy of “How to tell gay people they’re going to hell” in his hands.

Bob swoops on in and start’s asking tough questions like “What do you think God destroyed Sodom for”? His brilliant theology exegesis suddenly convinces Gay ol’ Ray that being Gay ain’t as much fun as it sounds. And before you can say “redecorate”, Big Gay Ray’s on his knees becoming Big Not-Gay Independent Baptist Ray.

And that’s just faaaaabulous.

I have a wonderful new book: Christmas at the New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art. The word Christmas occurs throughout, so it must be a very dangerous book.

Someone at IM mentioned a similarity between some Christians’ emphasis on law and the kind of Wahabi Islam that is so appealing these days. Karen Armstrong writes books about how the various fundamentalisms have more in common than we want to admit. I’ll admit it. When some ordinary Christian gets bonked by a fundamentalist, I always wonder if the similarity to the Pharisees- and the Saudi religion police- ever occurs to anyone? Are some Christians really envious of the kind of religion you see in Islam? The certainties? The enforcers? The public humiliation? I can’t help but think one of these days, we are going to look back and say the unbending doctrine of inerrancy was a big, big mistake. Because instead of taking us to Christ, it takes us to the book of Leviticus and says that is as much God as John 3:16. Go ahead. Write me, but that’s whack.

My son is very upset that he’s been cheated out of a white Christmas.

Jack will not be moving to South Carolina because these bozos still worship at the altar of The State.

That government is best which governs least.

The State is not the solution to any problem except:

1. Enforcement of legal contracts
2. Defense of the borders

I can argue that gay marriage is a bad idea all day long. But The Statedoes not belong in the marriage business. If Bruce and Steve want to enter into a marriage contract, then The State has the (God-given) authority to enforce the contract if either party reneges.

Thanks for thinking of me, though.

Lots of good Christmas reading at NRO today.

The BHT Krampus celebration is still planned for today. Don’t miss it.

Amanda: There are bazillions of stray animals to be adopted. There are missionaries to be supported, children to be educated, and hungry, cold people to be helped. As a Christian, the idea of standing before God saying I spent $50k on the fanstasy of replacing a pet is more than creepy. It’s sick.

Hey guys and gals, I just wanted to take a moment before the bartender gives the last call to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas. You will never know how much you guys mean to me. In the last few months it has been a real help to find there are actually others who are as screwed up as me. :-) I had felt like I was on an island by myself.

I have learned a lot about my beliefs. I have held strong to some, discarded others, and re-examined all. I think I have single-handedly propped up the price of Google stock by using it so much. I realize now I may not understand justification and sanctification exactly, but I’m sure glad the Lord sent His son into that manger.

At the risk of leaving someone out, I would like to send along a couple of extra thank you’s:

Michael, thanks for opening the doors to this place. I know you take a lot of heat for your beliefs and transparency. Hang in there ‘cause we sure appreciate it. While I’m still Arminian, I will at least admit to being a 3-point Calvinistic Arminian. Thanks for letting me hang out.

Kent, thanks for the inspiration your photography provides. It has helped me rediscover my passion for this art form. I hope to work on my own photography website in the coming year. I would be honored to hear your input as it progresses.

Jim, since it is rarely directed at me thank you for your sarcasm. I look forward to every one of your posts to see what you say next. Several times this year I have had to quit what I’m doing to catch my breath after laughing too much. The “there’s no I in team” line was another classic I plan to use for years to come.

Fellow Baptists (and especially SBC’ers) , thanks for showing me that not every one of us will follow whatever is forced down our throats. These days dissent and free thought are precious commodities and y’all come up aces. Forgive my cynicism and anger toward the SBC and keep reminding me the only worthy thing is the Gospel.

Tom, hang in there. I’m thinking of you and praying for a great Christmas season for you!

Gotta go, my daughter and the Spongebob movie awaits!!

>I’ve still got a big problem with the idea that any one of us is responsible for confronting any brother or sister that we see engaging in one of a certain list of sins that we have somehow determined to be worth confronting someone.

It sound to me like everyone has a problem with that. Is someone advocating this? A list that ”...we have somehow determined?” I thought at least two of us made it clear that this is about the effects of sin on others or the relationships we’ve entered that take this into account, so that Michael the glutton could- conceivably- mention Joe the adulterer’s problem to him.

“Joe, did you ever think about what you are doing? What it’s doing to your kids? And to the people at church who look up to you?”

“Shut up Michael. Every day we go to Subway, you order the foot long, and all you need is the 6 inch. Who are you to talk?”

If Michael was a pastor, he would be derelict if he didn’t say something. But it might be like this. “Joe, I know you and Sue have had a lot of problems, and we’ve had plenty of hurt in our marriage. It’s not easy. But I’m telling you as your pastor and as your friend: an affair is never the solution. I’m afraid you’re involved in something that could wound your marriage terminally. If I’m right, I want you to know I love you, but I want to help your marriage get better. And I can’t be silent about an affair if one is happening.”

Or maybe Michael and Joe go to the men’s group together. Or did a mission trip together. Or worked at the youth group together. Or played football together in high school, so that Michael could say, “Joe, I love ya man. And I always think of you as a great friend, a good friend. I like to think that there are guys in the world who would ask me how things are going if something seemed to be wrong in my life. So, I don’t know how to say this, but I’m worried about you and Sue, and I know how hard marriage is after a few years. Could I ask you- man to man- if everything is OK?”

If Michael didn’t know Joe very well, but they went to the same church. I can’t see Michael walking up and saying “You don’t know me, but I’m Michael. I wanted to talk with you about your marriage. Since we both go to this church, I think we ought to confront one another when there is a problem, and I’ve noticed your car at my neighbor’s house several times this week, and I wanted to ask what’s going on. It looks bad.”

Nope. Not good. Tacky.

When one ordinary sinner talks to another ordinary sinner about sin, it needs to be about the problem they both have. When this changes is when the relationship allows it or the effects demand it. And even then, we go as broken people to broken people. Not as Pharisees to sinners, “I thank God that I am not like you. You are a mess.” Or maybe saying, “Listen. I don’t care what the story is….I know that you are doing something wrong. Stop it…or….or….stop it or I’ll keep saying stop it!”

Today, December 23rd, is Festivus.

Now is the time for the airing of grievances. I’ve got a lot of problems with you people! Especially you, Cougar! (Feel free you air your grievances with fellow BHTer’s in the comments :-)