You made it! It’s Christmas Eve. Everything that will be done is done. If it isn’t done, it won’t be done - unless you still have gifts to wrap or items like bikes or toys that require assembly. Either way, there is joy and peace to be had now. Breathe. Relax.

We all have a lot going on this time of year, of course. There are decorations, lights, and trees. Some plan ahead and buy Christmas presents all year. Others are more like me. I began shopping on Friday. There are decorations and lights to set up, food to buy and other preparations for family and friends. Baking cookies.

There are gifts to give to churches and other charities before year end, and service to those in need.

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It’s 3AM.  The phone rings.  It’s the red phone, the crisis phone.  No, wait, it’s the Bat phone.  You pick up the phone, but it’s not a phone at all.  They are bells – church bells – and you’re late. And your shirt is twisted or something. You cannot get your arm through the sleeve and everyone is waiting.

Only you’re not late, you’re asleep.  You’re dreaming, just dreaming. You wake up with a mix of your chest pounding and relief. Then you laugh inside. The anxiety of your dream was just your brain sorting out a mix of experiences and emotions. Maybe you check to make sure your alarm is set, but you don’t get up to make sure your shirts aren’t twisted.

I hope you identified with my nightmare because you have had a similar experience. Let’s keep that in mind as we remember Joseph’s vital role with Jesus coming into the world.

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A friend texted me this week to ask about hell. It seemed a bit dark given the holiday season, but he had been looking at different Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspectives on it. I told him that while the history of interpretation is endlessly interesting and can be useful, I always start from the Bible, the scriptures themselves. We say, “The Word of the Lord,” because we hold them as coming from the highest authority.

Like heaven, the scriptural picture of hell is a mix of ideas and images. It’s not clear what is to be taken literally, symbolically and metaphorically. But it’s clearly the opposite of heaven and impassably distant from it. It’s clearly the opposite of Jesus, of God, of good.

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