For the past 5 years, Barbara and I have made it our gift to each other to go to a beach a few days after Christmas. So, it’s a sunny and seventy-five degree New Year’s Day 2021. We’re mostly shaded by our umbrella. Barb’s caught up in a murder mystery and I’m watching the pelicans fish. I’m also reading a book, it so happens, on fishing. It’s about fishing for folks like Jesus called his disciples to do.

“Wait a minute...that’s what I weigh? Is that right?” “That’s what the scale says, sweetie. Don’t feel bad, that’s everybody this year.” I knew 2020 had been a year of stress eating. My daily dose of stress relief during quarantine was anything covered in cheese dust (popcorn, Cheetos, Pringles, chips, goldfish, etc.). And yet I was still slack-jawed in the doctor’s office, staring at that number. I just wasn’t prepared to see exactly how much I had gained. That was a week ago, right before Christmas. And now...to plan.

Agape and Eros are two of the three key Greek words for love, (the third being Philia), and is the title of a book by Anders Nygren that used to be on my shelf in my dorm room in West Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love. My last year at seminary I dove into the passage from John 21 that many consider the greatest dialogue in scripture. That is the 7 exchanges between Peter and Jesus, vs 15-22.

This year my son had a Lego Star Wars Advent calendar. Yes, such a thing exists. Each day he opened a little cardboard flap to take out the pieces of a tiny tie fighter or Darth Vader in a Christmas sweater. He loved it: every day a new discovery, something to look forward to. I need that, too.

Christmas shopping is when you go to a shopping center and become a moving target for hundreds of half-crazed and half-blind drivers – drivers who know no fear and would challenge a Sherman tank for a parking place. It’s where you go to cash in on all the non-bargains Madison Avenue has prepared for you to purchase. It’s tiring and draining on me, Christmas shopping.

Have you heard of the “Get Along Shirt”? Faced with bickering siblings, you can stuff your two kids into a man’s extra large T-shirt, so they are forced to be together and work it out. I have never tried this in my home, but when my two older ones were younger, I used to make them give each other a hug after an argument. Then they had to look into each other’s eyes and say one nice thing about the other person. Sounds great, right? The reality was that they hugged each other in the most reluctant, insincere hug they could conjure. Then, when told to say something nice, their answers would include a monotone, deadpan, “You have nice hair.”

As you look at what lies ahead:

Have you ever misheard song lyrics? You really thought you knew what they were singing until someone laughingly corrected you. Here are some misheard lyrics from Christmas songs—can you guess the originals? (Answers at the bottom.)

"What sort of follower of Jesus does God want to send into the world?" This, ever so basic, question has been a constant companion of late. So who comes to your mind? What distinguishes a follower of favor? How would you describe the perfect follower?