I recently discovered a prayer called Blessing of Breathing by Jan Richardson. The selection can be found in her book entitled The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief.

That the first breath will come without fear.

That the second breath will come without pain.

The third breath: that it will come without despair.

And the fourth, without anxiety.

That the fifth breath will come with no bitterness.

That the sixth breath will come for joy.

Breath seven: that it will come for love.

May the eighth breath come for freedom.

And the ninth, for delight.

When the tenth breath comes, may it be for us
to breathe together, and the next, and the next,

until our breathing is as one,
until our breathing is no more.

Amen.

The Northside Church staff wears nametags featuring our Celtic cross logo. The badges identify staff to members and guests.

I also wear my nametag in the community. The practice facilitates visits at hospitals and other institutions; and it has inspired impromptu conversations about church and faith.

Sometimes I forget that I’m wearing a nametag.

A group of five staff members went to lunch at a local eatery. Food service took forever in the uncrowded restaurant. We may have expressed our disappointment to the server before realizing all five of us proudly boasted a Northside Church nametag.

Disciples claim Christ’s name while acting all too human. People witness whether our practice reflects our profession. Wearing a nametag reminds me of who I am . . . and who God calls me to be.

Suppose you wore a Christian nametag this week. How would it transform your words and actions?    

Comparisons in English confuse many would-be grammarians. Words with less than three syllables typically use the suffix er for comparisons and est for superlatives. Examples: John is taller than Juan. Susie is the faster runner in her class.

Words with three or more syllables use the modifiers more or most. Examples: Sean is more effective than Jean. Katie is the most productive employee.

My elementary-school teachers worshipped these sacrosanct rules. Today’s linguists take a more wishy-washy approach, mumbling that words with two syllables can go either way. One site advised that er and est should be used UNLESS the newly created words sound awkward. Glad we cleared that up.

Comparisons include a subgroup of irregular words that march to the beat of their own drummers. Examples: good (better, best), many (more, most), and bad (worse, worst).

Another group called absolute adjectives allow no comparison or superlative. Examples: perfect (nothing can be MORE perfect) and unique (something cannot be uniquer).

I’m a self-professed grammar geek with the proud motto To Serve and Correct. Therefore, strive to be righter in your comparisons and most carefulest in your grammar. Otherwise, you might look like the most foolishest one of aller.

Weather reporters come from hardy stock. Chronic miscalculations never daunt them. Whatever the weather, they project confidence whether right or wrong.

Georgia’s climate is predictably unpredictable, making forecasts a risky business. The ancients divined the future by reading animals’ entrails. Modern meteorologists employ computer models, satellite images, and Doppler radar. Both approaches share equal odds of success.

Meteorologists during my childhood limited themselves to predicting the immediate future. The public demanded more, so they introduced the three-day forecast following by its five-day and seven-day bigger brothers. Then came the mother of all reports: the ten-day forecast.

An inverse relationship exists between time and accuracy. Projections past twelve hours contain more fiction than fact; but meteorologists remain a tenacious lot.

I saw a Weather Rock for sell in the store. The instructions said to place it outside and regularly check it. Dry suggests sunshine. Wet means rain. Cool to warm indicates temperature ranges. The device promises a higher degree of accuracy than my local TV station.

The Bible says that it rains on the just and unjust alike. Just do not depend on the local weather reporter to forecast when.

I invite you to join us for Christmas Eve worship at Northside Church.

Sunday, December 24

• 10:00 am      Family Service in the Sanctuary
• 12:00 noon    Family Service in the Sanctuary
• 2:00 pm         Family Service in the Sanctuary
• 4:00 pm         Contemporary Service in the Faith & Arts Center
• 6:00 pm         Traditional Service in the Sanctuary

10:00, 4:00, and 6:00 Services will be live-streamed and archived at www.northsideumc.org/worship.

O, Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord!

I invite you to test your Christmas intelligence quotient. Much of what we KNOW about Christmas comes from TV specials, greeting cards, holiday songs, legend, and tradition. Is your knowledge about The Reason for the Season based on Matthew and Luke or Currier and Ives?

• Q1:      Christmas has always been celebrated on December 25.
• A1:      False. No one knows the exact date of Jesus’ birth. December 25 originally marked the Winter Solstice. The church baptized the date to celebrate the advent of the light of the world during the 4^th century.
• Q2:      What did the innkeeper say to Mary and Joseph?
• A2:      The innkeeper supposedly said, There is no room in the inn. Despite countless children’s plays to the contrary, the innkeeper does not have any speaking lines in the Biblical accounts.
• Q3:      Who saw the star in the east?
• A3:      The wise men saw the star in the east. Many Christmas cards show the shepherds following the star to the manger; but the shepherds went to Bethlehem after the angelic chorus announced the Christ’s birth.
• Q4:      How many wise men made the journey?
• A4:      Most people know the correct answer is THREE. Most people are wrong! The Bible never mentions how many wise men came to see the newborn king. They DID bring three gifts. By the way, they were not kings, either. The carol We Three Kings is inaccurate in every detail!
• Q5:      What is frankincense and myrrh?
• A5:      My favorite response is that frankincense is an eastern monster story! In reality, it is a precious perfume. Myrrh is a spice often used for preparing bodies for burial—a strange gift for a newborn. Even at his birth, the babe of Bethlehem was also the Christ of the cross and the Lord of the empty tomb.
• Q6:      Where did the wise men find the baby Jesus?
• A6:      Months and even years may have passed before the wise men arrived. Matthew states they found the Holy Family in a home and not a stable.
• Q7:      Which animals does the Bible say were present at Jesus’ birth?
• A7:      Don’t throw away your manger scene’s barnyard menagerie, but the Gospels say nothing about any animals at the nativity.
• Q8:      Where do I find the Christmas story in the Bible to check these answers?
• A8:      Matthew and Luke contain the stories of Jesus’ birth. Matthew focuses on Joseph and includes the wise men. Luke focuses on Mary and describes the angels appearing to the shepherds.

Many families enjoy the tradition of reading holiday books together. I encourage you to include the Gospel accounts of the first Christmas, too.

By the way, there WILL be a test.

I am republishing this blog from last year. It reminds me to enjoy the Holy Day Season before it slips away.

A Hallmark display at a local store caught my eye. The sign above the holiday greeting cards declared, Christmas is December 25^th. Huh. Good to know.

Many bemoan how the holidays arrive earlier each year. Retailers anxious for Christmas sales begin Black Friday sales on July 4^th. Costco erected a winter wonderland of snowmen and penguins in September. XM Radio premiered their holiday stations on November 1.

And Hobby Lobby . . . well, the home goods store celebrates three seasons: Last Christmas, This Christmas, and Next Christmas.

I’ve always resisted the Hallowthankmas holiday madness, choosing to observe the day after Thanksgiving as my personal advent of the holidays. However, I’ve experienced a Dicken’s-like change of heart.

December days rush by so quickly with over-committed calendars and hectic schedules. December 26^th always dawns with an awareness that I never accomplished everything planned during the holiday rush.

Therefore, this year I’m celebrating an early Christmas.

I’m decking the halls, listening to Christmas music, and singing The Twelve . . .. OK, I draw the line at singing The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Seven Nativity Scenes adorn my office. A candle ornament plugged into an outlet bubbles merrily away. I’ve been sipping egg nog since mid-November. If I had some chestnuts, they would be roasting on an open fire. 

Oh, I fight the occasional urge to say, Bah, humbug. I’m a recovering Scrooge with occasional lapses. However, life’s too short to miss the advent of the Holy Day Season.

Christmas is December 25^th this year. But why wait? Start celebrating an early Christmas today!

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
²     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

My childhood education was politically incorrect. Our teachers taught us a pseudo-historical story of the first Thanksgiving that went something like this:

• The Pilgrims left England in search of religious freedom.
• They crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.
• Their Indian friends (Native Americans and Indigenous People had not yet been invented) taught them to farm the land.
• Pilgrims and natives gathered in the fall for a Thanksgiving feast.
• They ate Butterball turkey, cornbread dressing, and canned cranberry sauce with imprinted ridges on the side.

And they all lived happily ever after. The End. Amen.

Looking back decades later, I realize my teachers omitted some critical facts:

• The English settlers claimed land that others possessed. 
• The Pilgrims established religious freedom for themselves but denied it to others.  
• Over half of the colony died during the harsh winter.
• The seed corn they planted that first spring was stolen from native farmers. 
• And the Thanksgiving meal did not feature a turkey with a popup timer.

Despite past tragedy and future uncertainty, the Pilgrims paused to give thanks. They recognized their present bounty and praised God.

Our forebears’ example instructs and inspires us today. We are a blessed people. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Recognize the gift, recognize the Giver, and give thanks.

Lord, may it be so. Amen.