Reflections of a Boston Lawyer

When I was a teenager, having been raised in a Christian tradition, I began to ask two overarching questions:  Who is Jesus? and How should I live?  Decades later, I still ask them, although the farther I progress in life's journey, the more I focus on the first.  Was Jesus simply a wise and compassionate first century Jew, the Son of God, or something in between?  Are the gospels to be taken literally, or can we learn from their historical context?  I have read books by classic Christian scholars like C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and more recently by historical critics like Kung, Borg and Spong (the resemblances in their names escaping me until I juxtaposed them now).  All ask the same questions, all revere Jesus, and yet all have different answers about who he was and what it all means. Every year at this time, as we reflect on the nativity stories, I am propelled back to these questions of faith.  Having chosen law school over seminary as a young man (though having mi

I am enjoying a quiet night at home, reflecting once again on the meaning of the approaching holiday.  I was contemplating how I miss the sense of wonder that I had for Christmas as a child, or even as a young adult.  Then, as if on cue, a friend posted a stunningly beautiful rendition of "O Holy Night," which happened to be performed in a very familiar space.  Rather than craft another blog post like the one I wrote last year , I will give you the wonderful gift of this performance .  Peace.