The value of traditions

This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of my most beloved Christmas tradition: a mid-December all-day gaming party. This started as an all-night party of board games and card games, back when my friends and I were young and could pull all-nighters. This year we finally admitted we’re middle-aged and shifted the party to daylight hours.

People are fascinating. So much of who we are is wrapped up in our peculiarities, our memories, our traditions. We have some lovely examples of unique identity formation in this week’s new content. Lesley Finn writes about her young son’s conflation of Jesus with the narrator character of the Frosty the Snowman movie—a mixup that will likely leave a hilarious mark on his entire spiritual journey. Columnist Julian DeShazier shares one of his own valued traditions: reading Leo Tolstoy after every election season.

Scroll down for even more great new content. Our video of the week features scholar Victoria Barnett, who interrogates people’s ideas about “a Bonhoeffer moment.” Plus a review of Sharon Brous’s book of (more than) homilies, essays from our readers inspired by the word seed, and more!

The Christmas of Baby Tommy

“Calling Jesus ‘Baby Tommy’ made my son sound in the know, the way calling Billie Holiday ‘Lady Day’ can make you sound like you know something about jazz.”

by Lesley Finn

After every election, I turn to Tolstoy

“It is a broken institution, this empire, and as a Black man I have come to trust its brokenness almost like clockwork. So for me, placing even a sliver of my spirit into this realm is a fool’s game—or worse, idolatry.”

by Julian DeShazier

VIDEO: Victoria Barnett on the question, “Are we in a Bonhoeffer moment?”

Jon chats with scholar Victoria Barnett about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the stories we tell about him, and what we might learn from his real story.

In the Lectionary for December 22 (Advent 4C)

Is Matthew so embarrassed by Bethlehem’s lowly status in Micah that he feels the need to punch it up a little?

by Nadia Stefko

Advent 4C archives

Eight homilies for practicing presence

“Rabbi Sharon Brous draws inspiration from an ancient rabbinic tale as well as from the words of religious leaders as diverse as St. Francis of Assisi, Rumi, and William Barber.”

review by Emily Soloff

Essays by readers: Seed

“I give myself permission to get lost in a flower, to be in awe that so much beauty and strength can exist in such a small, commonplace, and fragile thing.” – Mary Trollinger, one of the winners in our essay contest

by CC readers

Click here for details on our current contest.