To quote the Charlie Brown song, "Christmas time is here." Every year at this time I contemplate the meaning of the holiday that is really two holidays - the religious celebration of Jesus' birth, and the secular celebration of the winter solstice. As a young man, I often despaired at the commercialism that distracted the world from the "true meaning" of Christmas, and in later years I have come to new understandings of that truth. I also have often distinguished between what I consider "true Christianity" and the distortions of that perceived truth that occur in many religious circles. In that vernacular, "true Christianity" should reflect the teachings and example of Jesus. When I look at the Biblical Jesus, I see a person of extraordinary love, wisdom, integrity and faith. He taught and exemplified compassion, acceptance, mercy, forgiveness, selflessness and inclusivity. The stories of his birth in a manger, his life among the po
Meditations on Law and Life