In the December 2018 issue of The Lutheran Witness, an official publication of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a title of one of the articles really grabbed my attention: “When Jesus Ruins Christmas.” It begins, “Up against the glorious reality of Christ’s incarnation, a ‘holly jolly Christmas’ loses all it’s...

I recently ran across two strange, but interesting, folk stories pertaining to some Christmas traditions. One of them was about a spider and the other about a pickle! How peculiar is that? There are many variations as to how and why these traditions got started. So, I’ll try to offer...

O Come, O Come Immanuel “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 The ancient and prominent Advent hymn bids God to fulfill His promise and come to us in His incarnate...