It may seem insignificant that John the Baptist answered "no" to the question, "Are you the Christ?" In fact, his "no" shines a light on our tendency to say "yes" and to act as if we are our own saviors.

While on a conference call this morning, I took a look at "Kevin Laughery" on Google and found a number of references to my having expressed concerns last week about setting up a Nativity scene in the Illinois State Capitol. I repeat my sense of the situation: that one must be wary of getting into the religious-symbolism business in the halls of government. I have been told that this is a free-speech matter; I still hold that there are also serious non-establishment concerns. I will be happy to discuss this issue.

Can we hold together the words "comfort" and "repent" in the same thought? If not, we need to open ourselves to the chastening received by God's people when they returned from the Babylonian Captivity.

See November 16.

See November 16.

For four weeks I failed to get my software to recognize my hardware. This morning, at last, it worked. Off the top of my head, I can't remember exactly what I was talking about in these earlier ones.