variety of comments

1. If as President Bush says that the intelligence was wrong which was used to begin the war in Iraq, but the results are right...why do we need intelligence agencies in our government?

2. All the hoopla about saying or not saying "Merry Christmas" feels like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Merry Christmas has become the signature statement of the secularized expression of Christmas. It sounds to me like folks who want to keep Christmas as they have known it with a little Jesus and a lot of carols and trappings, are using the term "Christian" in self-centered ways to keep what they want. And among many of those same folks there is a demand for Biblical inerrancy. So...where is Merry Christmas in the Bible? Where is Christmas in the Bible!! Only two of the Gospels have birth narratives that we use at Christmas and at that most folks couldn't tell you what are the different particulars of each one.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. That phrase has become entwined in the U.S. It is a wonderful greeting. But it doesn't necessarily mean much about the incarnation of God entering the world full of truth and love. In this case, we would be less verbal and more humble because we are so awed by the gift and the presence of this One!