The Gospel according to Luke (Luke 2:1-20) About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's hometown,...

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The Greatest Gift

What is the greatest gift you've ever been given at Christmas time? Maybe it was that new ten-speed bike at age twelve, or a highly prized trinket you received from a special someone that holds special sentimental value. In this video, Santa Claus (the patron saint of snowy holiday consumerism) suggests that the greatest gift of the Christmas season...

What does the Christmas season promise you this year? We all have an expectation even if we rarely pull it out to look at it. For some it’s the expectation of a credit card bill that takes too long to pay. Others dream of just the perfect gift to buy. Some dread to go shopping. Some delight in family visits that are all too rare. Others...

On a cold Christmas Eve in 1952, when Korea was in the throes of civil war, one young woman struggled along a village street, obviously soon to deliver a child. She pleaded with passersby, "Help me! Please. My baby." No one paid any attention to her. A middle-aged couple walked by. The wife pushed away the young mother and sneered, "Where's...

Even though many members of my extended family (myself included) have never seen the little mechanical Christmas tree stand that now sits in my nephew Clarence Krause’s home in Saskatchewan, we all hold a special place for it in our hearts. More than just a neat little trinket from a by-gone era, the little stand – manufactured in Germany...

Oh, my precious Sara. A girly-girl through and through. Last year she went through a bit of a phase of wearing a leotard (fully loaded with tutu and crown and scepter, I might add) around the house just for kicks. Like, every day, basically. I thought it was cute, until I tried to take her out in public and she refused to put on anything else. Well,...

The Christmas of 1949 we didn’t have a tree. My dad had as much pride as anybody, I suppose, so he wouldn’t just say that we couldn’t afford one. When I mentioned it, my mother said that we weren’t going to have one this year, that we couldn’t afford one, and even if we could – it was stupid to clutter up your house with a dead tree....