Cafeteria Catholic

There's uproar about a Nativity scene. It's always something at Christmas, right? Rage. War. Anger. It's not Christmas until someone has flipped out for using the wrong words to share well-wishes. We're ungrateful ninnies. What is it this time? Same old everything. Wishing happy holidays is declaring war. Starbucks Christmas cups carry more political baggage than coffee. And new this year: the Vatican Nativity scene included distracting ugliness, so I'm told. What should a Nativity scene look like? Who belongs in the Nativity? What should we see? First, we should see our family. The incarnation fundamentally changed our relationship with God. He is human. We, formed in his image, are like him. He, born a child, is like us. Fully God. But also truly and fully human. He came to us. He came for us. He came as one of us. What else? Well. The first people there were the shepherds. Shepherds. Stinky and unwashed nobodies. They are us. We, stinky and unwashed nob...

Personally, I'm a fan of confusion. All the best things are confusing. I went to St. John's college in Annapolis. That tiny old school is a really wonderful place. There I learned to treat ideas as friends. Sometimes, comfortable but not always. Sometimes you want to chat about nothing over a hot cup of tea. Sometimes you want to delve deep into yourself. Expose things you didn't know were there. Be vulnerable and cry. Sometimes you want to enjoy a lively disagreement- but that's only fun if you can indulge in the possibility of wrongness, otherwise you'll never understand this other view. Ideas change and grow. They challenge you and strengthen you. They comfort you. Ideas can be wonderful friends. There are writers who articulate what you've been thinking. That's useful. There are writers who make you feel good about the things you already think. That's comfortable. There are writers who are wrong about everything. That's... That's just ...