My gift to Jesus

ByHal Hammons

This time of year, most of us have cultural, familial, and guilt-induced obligations to bestow gifts on various ones near and (to one degree or another) dear to us.  For the Hammons family, thankfully, our holiday shopping is just about concluded.  (I deceive.  Apologies.  Tracie’s holiday shopping is just about concluded.)

But I keep hearing talk about Jesus being “the reason for the season.”  I like Kylie’s response to that saying — “That’s ridiculous,” she says.  “Jesus is the reason for everything.”  (They do make you proud, don’t they?) 

Negative

ByHal Hammons

So the 2018 election campaign is officially over (or as a cynical friend of mine put it, the 2020 election campaign has officially begun).  Every election I think we’ve hit a new low with regard to decency and civil discourse. 

Easter

ByHal Hammons

Our good friend Tenson Mangwinyana contacted me last week, saying he was going on the radio that night (our early afternoon) to discuss the topic of Easter.  He wanted to know if I had any relevant material on the subject.  I gave him what I had — in a nutshell, that Easter is a human creation with pagan origins; that  early Bibles such as the King James Version substituted “Easter” in Acts 12:4, knowing full well the word was “Passover”; that the early Christians celebrated every “Lord’s Day,” including what we call Easter Sunday, by communing with Him in His death at His table. 

Thanksgiving

ByHal Hammons

The problem with having a day on the calendar specifically dedicated to the giving of thanks is twofold: one, we are tempted to save our expressions of thanksgiving for “the day”; two, when that day arrives, we wind up repeating ourselves.  How can something so sacred be ignored and cliché at the same time?  And how do we avoid them both?