Merry Christmas from the Century!

Statistically speaking, I don’t know very many of you. (Special shoutout to John, Vicki, Marian, Gail, and all of my other “regulars” who email me back and share your lives with me—it’s a joy to be your pen pal and hear your stories.) Yet I still feel connected to each of you, even if our only connection is this email list and this magazine. Because that connection means we are both likely striving for love, justice, and peace as we try to follow the way of Jesus in this difficult moment. So I mean it when I say “Merry Christmas” to you.

On this week of Christmas Day, I’m happy to send you some new content that is both thought-provoking and encouraging. Mac Loftin notes that while there has been some uproar about ICE-related nativity scenes, these scenes have always been deeply political. Mordechai Beck explores rabbinical teachings about Nimrod and draws lessons for those of us who live under power-hungry rulers. Our video of the week, with Liz Charlotte Grant, focuses on the political transformation of Norman Rockwell—and the hope it holds for those of us longing for similar changes in those around us.

Scroll down for even more great stuff, like a new essay about the ways the biblical concept of collective blessing challenges the normalization of collective punishment, a column about the troubling rise of sports betting, a Screen Time piece about motherhood in Die My Love and beyond, and even more.

Jon Mathieu
Email me: What are your plans for this week?

All nativity scenes are political

“A properly apolitical nativity scene, we’re led to believe, would tastefully decorate lawns and mantles, signifying nothing other than the common faith that transcends conflict over things like war and oppression and binds communities and families in a higher unity. But what could possibly be more political than that?”

by Mac Loftin

The bad king

“The sages see in Nimrod’s deeds the necessity of a constant check against the arrogance of power. Yet they also offer a warning to his followers: You follow a bad king at your peril.”

by Mordechai Beck

VIDEO: The political transformation of Norman Rockwell

Liz Charlotte Grant chats with Jon about the stunning shift in Norman Rockwell’s politics and his late career as a painter-activist.

In the Lectionary for December 25 (Nativity)

It’s likely that Jesus was born in a cave. Does that make any difference?

In the Lectionary for December 28 (Christmas 1A)

The incarnation means God enters the world as it stands, not as we wish it to be.

both by Roger Nelson

Collective punishment

“The idea of collective blessing in scripture is a direct critique of the way power is being wielded to punish in our country. Collective punishment in politics has become normalized, but it does not have to be so.”

by Michael Woolf

Playing to lose

“Because FanDuel and DraftKings contribute money (however paltry) to anti-addiction efforts, while also steadily deepening fans’ dependence on betting, there’s no clear line between those who cause harm and those who treat it. It’s moral laundering reminiscent of the tobacco companies that once insisted they weren’t encouraging teens to smoke.”

by Peter W. Marty

The mother load

“All she had to do, really, was turn on her TV or go to a movie theater to see just how dismal the state of motherhood in popular culture has become.”

by Kathryn Reklis