It's Christmas Eve, which rhymes with peeve, and now that I have finished my Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts, I have two Christmas pet peeves, both of them regarding language... which of course goes deeper than words.

First, I squirm when the phrase "we have Christmas" or "we do Christmas" or even "we have three Christmases" is used to mean exchanging and opening gifts with various groups of people. We could just call this what it is: "we exchange gifts."

Gift giving can be wonderfully meaningful, but by and large it doesn't truly help most of us to remember Jesus' birth, something we could certainly do in a meaningful way without needing to exchange gifts. Exchanging gifts is a side show. But it could easily occupy the lion's share of our time, thoughts, money, and energy around Christmas time if we were to let this happen. Could you imagine this happening?

I'm guessing that most of us, Christians included, don't give gifts because we truly view them as symbolic of God's gift to us in Jesus' birth. We do it because it's part of our cultural tradition, and we like to show an expression of our love and appreciation for our friends and family members.

Generosity, whether it's simple or extravagant, is a rich experience for givers and receivers.

It's hard to knock gifts at Christmas time when our cultural traditions do have parallels to God's amazing gift of the baby Jesus and all that would come about from his birth. I'm not a scrooge and don't want to sound like one.

Second, I squirm at hearing the question, "What did you get for Christmas?" because the focus is on the recipient and "the goods," as conveyed unto the deserving ME. Last year I slightly tweaked the question to a few people and asked, "What did you give for Christmas?" Most of my test subjects didn't really notice the rewording of the question, or hesitated, thinking I had mistakenly jumbled the question a bit. Then they proceeded to list what they had received.

It's only fair to acknowledge that Christmas is about receiving AND giving, not just one or the other. But it's really about the miracle of Jesus' arrival, much more than what objects we received in our modern day cultural traditions of sharing gifts.

Gift giving at Christmas time is quite common tradition in much of the world, among nominal Christian societies as well as people who really follow Jesus.

I suspect that for many followers of Jesus in other cultures and countries, as in the U.S. they struggle with the balancing act between gifts and traditions versus meaningful remembrance of Christ's birth. The temptation of stuff, versus the plight for new understanding of God's mystery in the incarnation.

Most important of all is not just the remembrance of Jesus' birth long ago, but the translation each year of what this birth a long time ago means for ME, today: how it should inform my choices; how should it align my allegiances; how it might empower my living today and tomorrow and next year?

What Joy is God ready to pour out in a new way now, through the Word become flesh a long time ago?

When we get a good glimpse of Jesus, we get a good glimpse of God.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- Colossians 1:15

It's Christmas Eve Eve.

A day that was born 48 hours too soon to get much respect. Just some wait-it-out, hang-in-there, generic pre "holiday" day, around two corners from here along the path toward a much more important day.

Perhaps this premature day, the eve of The Eve, knows what it might have been like to be Mary's mother (the grandmother of Jesus) -- emotionally and relationally very involved in the Christmas story but never written into the script. Or someone like maybe John the Baptist's uncle -- you know, some old guy who knew the kid who preached for people to repent and prepare the way and even got to baptize Jesus. The uncle who was near the edges of the story of Jesus, but nobody knew him from any other son of Adam.

Well what if Christmas Eve Eve is more important than just a relative doormat to the Big Day of remembering Jesus' birth? What if every day in advent, including today, is a unique time to ask God for some new glimpse, new insight, new face of worship?

In fact, what if every insignificant day of the rest of the coming year is a unique time in its own way to learn about and draw near to God? That's what I'm hoping for.

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
- Luke 2:10

Much of the "good news" you'll find, if in your quest you use Google News, is about sports; as if in the other arenas of life, there is not so much.

Good news is often tempered by its inseparable bad news twin, to the extent that a "good news and bad news" joke, started well, can make people chuckle before they've even heard the sorry punch line.

What makes "good news" what it is? Who's to say it's the genuine article?

Here are some observations, pardon that this is overly simple stuff. And of course, stuff, even if it's simple, is better in threes.

First, good news must be GOOD. We know what bad news is, there's a ready all-you-can-eat buffet of that within reach 24x7. Good news is different. It's good. It lifts us up and refreshes. It surpasses our expectations and hopes for what otherwise might have been. It can surprise the finest optimist, and foil even a pessimist.

Second, good news must be NEWS. Not something everybody already knows, something we all are accustomed to. It's news. It cuts across the grain of what we consider to be the norm. It's something we didn't know or realize before. Because it's news, it travels quickly along the grapevine.

Third, good news when it arrives is CONSPICUOUS. If life was so saturated with good that we knew nothing else, so-called good news would be nothing of note.

Good news isn't so because someone claims it is. It is recognized by the person receiving it whether it's good, and whether it's news, and whether it's conspicuous.

A while back, in a relatively short period of time, there were dozens of historical accounts of experiences that were "good news" in their day. There were so many that that several witnesses were compelled to write them down. Here are just a few highlights.

• Shepherds and "wise men" (apparently such an unusual combination of these two words that these three men were notably singled out) went far out of their way to honor the birth of a new baby boy. They didn't understand his significance, just that something historic was happening.
• A young man discussed new insights about God, with a refreshingly simple authority in the things he said.
• A dozen ordinary men were offered a new career.
  
• A miracle turned a wedding catastrophe into a cause celebre.
• An ostracized woman was shown friendship and acceptance.
  
• Sick people were healed. For free. Canada did not even exist yet.
• A shepherd risked the rest of the flock to save one lost sheep.
• People with lifelong physical disabilities were made able to walk again and to see again.
• Some people who had died were raised back to life. Imagine being the dad, or the sister, and hearing this news. Good, yes?
• The "good news" was preached to the poor. (What would you consider to be good news, if you were poor? In most cases, it was actually something other than the removal of their poverty.)
• A crazy man, possessed by spirits his whole life, was miraculously freed.
• A paralyzed man was healed and able to walk, even carry his stretcher.
• A man could make the waves and winds obey; and he could multiply food to feed thousands of hungry people.
• A woman was healed of her lifelong bleeding.
• People with a heavy burden were invited to exchange it for a light one.
• A persistent widow who doesn't usually get justice got the judge's attention, and got her request.
• A woman caught in adultery was saved from being stoned to death by a bunch of hypocrites.
• The following people were declared as BLESSED: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because of righteousness. Thankless jobs, now declared blessed. Good news.
• A temple was torn down and rebuilt in 3 days.
• A veil which had separated people from the holiest, unapproachable places of God's temple was mysteriously torn in two. Good news? Quite possibly.
• The donated grave of a victim of capital punishment was disturbed, the body was gone, and hundreds of people claimed to have seen the man alive and he even spoke to them. Good news? Could be.
  

Wait till Google gets wind of all this good news. People must be searching for this kind of thing, don't you think?

Was this good news spiritual, or was it material? Was it practical, here and now, or was it eternal, by and by? Was it free, or was it costly? The recipients of all this good news would tell us enthusiastically, "Yes!"

The really good news is that the best news is quite old, but it's new every morning. Its arrival is conspicuous, and it cuts across the grain of what we accept to be the norm. In fact, it often contradicts conventional wisdom. It is good news that travels along the grapevine, because people who learn it want others to know. Who would hesitate or hoard this news?

And yet this good news doesn't have guaranteed acceptance. And in a sense it is also cloaked. Lose life to gain it? Give up freedom to be free? Be last, which is really first? (No, really.) Weak things shame the strong and foolish things shame the wise? Humble myself and be lifted up? Love and even pray for my enemy? Lay down my life for someone else? Take up my cross (uh... the symbol of horrible suffering and death as a recruitment strategy?) and "follow" someone who died a criminal's death a long time ago?

OK... So what's the BAD news?

You see, things we thought we knew are turned on their head by the teachings and life of Jesus then and now. If popular consensus has a say (and it does like to weigh in) this news would likely be syphoned off from most other good news by the editor and the sponsors. News today competes with entertainment for advertising dollars.

But this good news is better than any so-called reality programming, except it's not staged and it's not entertaining in the lean-back-on-your-couch sense. This is the lean-forward kind of good news, participatory and interactive.

This good news requires some choices of faith, before the key is turned and the blinders come off and the impact of this news is real-ized. This is like when seeds are planted, and water and sunlight try their patience, before roots eventually take hold. There are obstacles, and there are risks; there is reluctance, and sometimes even casualties: birds and thorns and rocky soil and drought.

Journalism is about sifting and distilling information. God's good news is about sifting temporal and eternal, distilling truth, making choices with the long view, and living into the announcement we remember this month, that someone has arrived who can make goodness out of brokenness.

These claims of good news are all written down by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, always worth another read. Take a couple hours this Christmas to read this news.

What good news is God ready to announce in your world today, and how do you plan to lean forward and participate?

"I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest."
- John 10:10

By the time you might read this, the scheduled execution of Crips founder Stanley Tookie Williams in California will have either seen a last minute clemency or, more likely from the looks of it, it will have already taken place.

Punishment with a Capital P is irreversable and final.

122 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. 74 other countries and territories retain and use the death penalty, although the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any given year is much smaller.

Last year, 97% of all known executions took place in four countries: China, Iran, Viet Nam and the USA.

Tonight with one ear I have been listening to Larry King Live on CNN, with a couple dozen people weighing in with their somewhat predictable positions on the impending execution at midnight. Family members of deceased victims; an NAACP spokesperson; a conservative Christian spokesperson; legal analysts pro and con.

I was listening for the Christian man to offer some kind of brief Biblical basis for his position of strongly favoring the death penalty, but he passed up several opportunities to do so. His, like the others, came across as a subjective opinion, based on unstated assumptions and foundations, not necessarily more correct just because it was believed or spoken. He was another fallible person just like you or me, with an opinion.

The use of the words "conservative" and "liberal" are confusing to me, especially in the North American Church.

One would think that among Christians who look to the Bible for the answers to tough questions like this, to mercifully preserve someone's life (even while they spend every remaining day in prison) would perhaps be the more "conservative" position -- erring on the side of caution in judgements in the matter of taking a human life.

And one would think that to go ahead and take the life of a criminal who was convicted for murder would be the more "liberal" position.

But today when it comes to capital punishment it appears that the more "conservative" Christian stance is generally in favor of NOT conserving the life; and the "liberal" stance is generally in favor of a measure of caution and leniency or even abolition of the death penalty since there have been many overturned convictions, and executions of people who were later proven to be innocent.

What's liberal here, and what's conservative? What do these labels mean any more?

Talking with my spouse tonight about this, I admitted I haven't made up my mind about capital punishment from a Biblical perspective. This means that given the issue, if I haven't made up my mind, I can't yet be in favor of the death penalty. That would require me to be really sure that we're sanctioned by God to take a human life for special reasons.

I have heard some credible arguments against the death penalty from a Biblical perspective of God's forgiveness, especially the ultimate, extreme, and undeserved forgiveness by Jesus for those who of us who are the reason he made his incomparable sacrifice.

I have not yet heard a credible, Biblical argument in favor of the death penalty. There may be one, but it has not darkened my door.

I think I am capable of as much "righteous indignation" as the next person, against those who do evil especially when it causes immense pain or even death to others whom God has created and loves.

Consider this capital punishment scenario in the gospels -- a woman about to be stoned to death for her offense, and Jesus seemed to say that only hypocrites or truly sinless people would qualify to carry out the sentence. His position contradicted the Law of Moses. I can't escape the image of Jesus writing in the sand as each accuser walked away one by one (perhaps one of the most honest moments of their lives) after he said that those without sin could cast the first stone.

As someone who is still wrestling with this question, here are a few thoughts:

First, I hope to never reach a comfortable conclusion on this or any other controversial issue of faith, that out of my pride or insecurity or laziness becomes closed off to any new insights or respectful dialog.

Second, I don't yet find enough weight in scripture to endorse with confidence the position of capital punishment as a reliable protocol for human communities. There's too much room for error as we try to employ human judgement which is vulnerable and, measured from God's perspective, hypocritical. The teachings of Jesus don't appear to ascribe to men or women the responsibility to judge and end life.

Third, I do believe in lowercase punishment: cautious, deliberate judgement by a legal system that is accountable to the people and aware that it too is fallible; with consequences responsibly enforced by society's correctional institutions -- imprisonment for crimes but continued care for the person, made in God's image, however flawed. This does protect society, and appropriately constricts the freedom of the person believed to be guilty.

But even this kind of legal system is elusive. In the United States, there are abuses of the system, abuses of prisoners, and some innocent people are punished while some guilty parties -- especially those who can afford better lawyers -- do escape the consequences of their illegal actions.

Fourth, an observation about American culture which ascribes, perhaps uniquely among other cultures in the world, an elevated importance of every individual forming and holding a personal opinion, and the freedom to express it. What about some issues which will take a lifetime to form an informed and balanced opinion? What about issues outside our expertise? Our culture rushes us along. "We report, you decide" as if a sound byte is enough information for the average citizen to form their own mature verdicts on a matter.

Often we hear people expressing what sounds like a hastily formed opinion. We are all capable of learning to speak with manufactured conviction, taking an oversimplified stance, unable or unwilling to acknowledge the arbitrary assumptions that form the basis for our conclusions.

And we're all capable of forming opinions without a reasonable measure of humility.

Fifth, one thing I do know with certainty is that Jesus commends us to visit those who are in prison. I have not done this for over 15 years, since the last time that someone I personally knew was imprisoned. Some people take this on as a spiritual gift and special calling. I do not think that every Christian is called to this, but rather that part of the body of Christ should be proactively involved in visiting, befriending, and loving those who are being punished and "corrected" by reasonable systems.

God created and loves every person, regardless of the sin they may have committed, however heinous. Is there some unforgiveable sin before God that warrants death beyond any alternate provision, outside the reach of forgiveness or mercy?

Which of us is ready to throw our handful of stones? When do we choose to be pro life and when do we choose to be pro death? This is complicated, and the way words and emotions get manipulated doesn't always help.

Is murder more offensive in God's eyes than the internal sins of pride, arrogance, or greed? We can speculate.

Is our theology of capital punishment consistent with our theology of war and our theology of preserving life? Hm.

Are our sins all worthy of death? According to scripture, yes.

This may be un-American, but I don't have a personal stance on the case of Stanley Tookie Williams. Maybe he did it; maybe he didn't. Maybe his trial was fair, maybe not. Maybe his exemplary change of heart and his several years of positive influence on others from prison deserves a break; maybe it doesn't.

For me, the jury is still out on what justice people should administer on God's behalf, with any degree of certainty when it comes to ending human life.

Mercy is not receiving from God what we do deserve.

Grace is receiving from God what we do not deserve.

The difference is the placement of one word.

What do you think about this?

Many of those who strive to follow Jesus crave a deep, meaningful Advent experience as we enter this time of year. Not necessarily compared to someone else's experience (so, relax, technically this is not envy) but all we want for Christmas is "the Best Christmas Ever" -- a new spiritual awareness and hearing God's voice this season. Is that so much to ask?

Have you dreamed that maybe this year the noise would be drowned out by God's quiet presence; the districtions would be diverted; the stress and hectic pace would be tempered; and Advent -- the miraculous arrival of the creator in the form of the created -- would take center stage in your mind and heart? That somehow God's spirit would break through everything else and there would be peace in the heart (if not on earth) and a new understanding about God's best mystery?

Advent. "Arrival." It's here.

In the midwestern U.S. corner of the northern hemisphere, winter has come and is a signal for some of us that the season of Advent is here as well. It's a beautiful time of year here for many reasons. The stiff smell in the air, the crisp breeze, the first snowfall, the hibernation of nature's vital signs; hot chocolate, perseverance, and hope for the new life that will eventually come, if last year is any indication. There are no outward signs of any sure outcome; only promises, based on past performance. Not even the stock market can offer this.

I love midwestern winters, the tolerance of cold for the beauty of snow, and the miracle of apparent death (a permanence which turns out to be temporary) transforming after a long pause into resurrected life.

There are beautiful lights and thoughtful gifts and ever-green trees and lots of deeper meaning that can shine through the clutter when even these good things might become distractions from worship.

In a place like Wisconsin where warm winter coats are essential, there is a sense of cozying into the season -- candles and furnaces and fireplaces -- while also respecting winter's harshness, the stark realities of extreme weather and the vulnerability it warrants.

While winter is a signpost and a metaphor, Advent is not strictly about winter in cold corners of the northern hemisphere.

Advent is about arrival and expectation.

Have you ever arrived in an airport or bus station and not been met by anyone, making your own way to your destination? Arrival without expectation is not so memorable. But have you also arrived somewhere and found a warm welcome, by one or by many?

Arrival is always significant, even when it might feel understated. It's a culmination of a process.

In a warmer climate around two thousand years ago, Jesus arrived. This was a repeat appearance on earth, but still only half a dozen attentive people took note and went out of their way to expect and then welcome his arrival.

Today, one of the beautiful things about Advent is that in almost every nation there are people who celebrate the arrival of Jesus as the prince of peace, although he started out as a vulnerable and frail baby in a stinky barn, in a place where all male toddlers were about to be murdered by a paranoid politician. Not a princely or very peaceful beginning.

In human terms, this is a strange story, but today millions believe and experience its significance daily in tangible ways. I like that about God, how truth and meaning arrive from the side or underneath or from unexpected corners.

This season, when we remember Jesus' arrival, we won't understand it. We're human creations, for God's sake (quite literally), but even so, God's arrival among us is a strange thing, a mystery that doesn't make human sense. Yet God initiated it, and we have the option to embrace it and to ask for more understanding, which God can give. The arrival of Jesus means we can be in relationship with God, even though we will never in this lifetime fathom or flowchart the mysteries that arrive along with this friendship.

That's where faith comes in... knowing and understanding just enough to make a choice to believe a little bit, and letting that seed take root and grow, whether it might be the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere, or December on the equator, or high in the Himalayas. Faith is no respecter of hemispheres. It will grow wherever it is planted and fed, especially if it yearns.

In Mark 4, when the the disciples asked Jesus their "why" and "please explain more to us" questions about his parables, he told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." This is an easily missed lesson that a searching, inquisitive mind is the key to understanding more about God's kingdom. Seeking will be rewarded by finding.

What does it mean to seek the arrival of God?

Thy kingdom come. Anticipated arrival. "Advent."

We are taught that envy, coveting, and jealousy are wrong, but not when it comes to our yearning for God. To be jealous for God is a pure thing. It's wanting what we were made for, not what someone else has.

Where might God bring a new arrival this advent of 2005? Perhaps to our state of mind, our receptivity. Or perhaps our prayerful attitude of worship -- the kind you thread through the events of the whole day. Maybe our open hearts will receive in a new way the significance of God's arrival as a baby. Perhaps we will find a new awareness of God's character.

Perhaps we'll learn something new about God from those who are poor, something previously inaccessible to our minds. Perhaps we'll find an unprecedented willingness to let God speak into our choices and influence our priorities. God will reward our curiosity and questioning, our willingness to sacrifice other pursuits for God's sake.

I believe that for those who insist in prayer for a new view of the same arrival we remember each year, God will grant it.

Like tiny metal filings will always align to the polarity of a nearby magnet, when Jesus arrives this season, not all over again like the little baby, but in the forms of remembrance and celebration and worship and allegiance, it's time to align ourselves again.

Forgive these mingled metaphors, but even if it's winter where you are, this Advent is an appropriate time to plant new seeds of faith in fertile soil. (Fertile = seeking, asking questions. Expectation.) It's time to take new root, sprout a new shoot, defer our preoccupations in lieu of the things that God would like to do in our lives, the secrets God would like to reveal about this kingdom.

The arrival of renewed life inside can happen whatever the weather or temperature, any lattitude and longitude.

The arrival of God in human flesh is a departure from common sense. From our vantage point, God's wisdom is far from common. "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." (I Cor 1:27) But God also chooses to give a key to those who ask and seek for more.