Hot off the press!

This is what nearly 50 copies of a new book look like — nearly 50 copies of my new book, to be precise.

I just got them from the publisher today. They’re for giving away to friends and family, and for showing off and selling (at a huge discount from the cover price) at a launch party.

I got them at an author’s 50% discount, meaning half of the $23 cover price, plus shipping (not unsubstantial). Hardback and Kindle editions may be forthcoming, but even I probably won’t order the pricey hardback.

On the Books page, you can find out how to order a copy from several outlets that I know are carrying it. There may be others, but these are the ones I am aware of.

It’s always exciting to hold a copy of a new book in your hands for the first time. This is what I worked so hard to achieve! Then you page through it, and periodically you think, “Well, that sentence was clunky. What was I thinking?”

The pride of authorship never wears off, though — even when you get a box of 50 copies delivered to your door.

When you see the books all piled up, you realize that your literary baby is now a commodity. It’s not unique at all. It’s something that will be bought and sold, like any other book. Some people will love it. Others will toss it across the room. You can’t control the reaction. You can only hope and pray that what you wrote will connect with the right people and in some small way change the world for the better. That’s why most writers write. It’s sure not for the money! It’s for the connection.

May your new year be as blessed as mine is so far.

Ugly wallpaper & more

We wrap up 2023 with a column of potpourri – a mini-rant about wallpaper and a shout-out to the designer of my new website.

 To begin:

 Some time ago, while I was looking at some old family photos, I was astonished by the ugliness of the wallpaper in the farmhouse of my dad’s parents.

 The pattern resembled large cabbages.

Large, ugly, cabbages.

While rehabbing the rooms of several old houses, my wife and I have stripped lots of wallpaper and paged through many books of replacement rolls, so I am aware that a lot of wallpaper is ugly. Apparently ugliness comes with the territory.

Not just passively ugly but aggressively ugly.

In-your-face ugly.

So, though I was astonished by the ugliness of the wallpaper in my grandparents’ farmhouse, I was certain that they did not have exceptionally bad taste in wallpaper.

They were simply following a fad of the times. They bought what they could get from Sears & Roebuck or Montgomery Ward or wherever.

That impression was reinforced recently when a friend posted some old photos on Facebook – old photos of family members standing or reclining in rooms with seriously ugly wallpaper.

All those photos, too, were taken in the 1950s. Maybe that was the heyday of ugly wallpaper.

At least in this country.

N.T. “Tom” Wright, an eminent New Testament scholar, has been making educational videos for the last couple of years.

Some of these are recorded in what I assume is an Anglican church parlor, most likely in Oxford. Or maybe it’s a room in Tom’s home. Wherever it is, the room has several “Victorian” design elements, including an elaborate fireplace – and fiercely ugly wallpaper.

It’s hard to concentrate on what Tom is saying when in the background you can see – in one degree of focus or another, depending on how the shot is framed – wallpaper that shouts to the world “UGLY!”

OK, maybe in the UK it’s the height of fashion and considered lovely. Sorry, not to me.

I know this is not even near top of the list of world concerns. Still, I must utter a small prayer, “Lord, save us from ugly wallpaper.”

*  *  *  *  *

From the ugly to the … words fail.

Several walls of rooms in the Aloft Hotels chain feature, uh, whimsical wallpaper.

There’s a repeating horizontal pattern of two images: one row of an abandoned gas station and one row of an empty strip mall.

Appearing randomly among them are such entertainingly out-of-place things as a drink-slurping dinosaur, a giraffe and flying saucers.

The quirky wallpaper is part of the hotels’ “different by design” theme. The design is relentlessly hip, a looney triumph of design over function and sense.

And there are no grab bars in the toilet area. How in the world do they get away with that? Apparently by saying it’s not a restroom designed for wheelchair users. Sheesh. Don’t even young hipsters need something to help them up?

*  *  *  *  *

My new website comes from Anna Spencer, proprietor of Anna Spencer Creative Media & Design. She’s easy to work with, knowledgeable and affordable. I highly recommend her to you.

She even taught me how to use a new piece of software – no easy task, for sure.

Check her out at https://www.annaspencercreativemediadesign.com.

*  *  *  *  *

Making resolutions for the new year? Here are a couple to try.

1.     Be kind to yourself.

2.     Be kind to others.

Doing those thing will help make your new year happy.

Let it be

Sorry, Mariah, you are not the Queen of Christmas. Another Mary is. Sometimes she’s also called Queen of Heaven.

There also is a King of Christmas, who is also called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His is the coming we celebrate at Christmas.

I’m not sure why I’m so focused on Mary this Advent. Maybe she’s popping up more than usual in my daily reading.

The other day I read an essay in the American Century by Katie Kirk, who noted that when Mary gave her assent to the angel’s proclamation, she essentially said, “Let it be so,” or simply, “Let it be.”

Of course, that got me to thinking about the Beatles song “Let It Be.” Though it doesn’t have an explicitly Christian message, songwriter Paul McCartney has said he’s not opposed to reading something religious into it.

In times of trouble, the song says, “Mother Mary comes to me.”

That’s his own mother Mary, not the Blessed Virgin, McCartney has explained. But the song sure works if you hear it thinking that Mary of Nazareth is the one who is “speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”

Some critics think the phrase “let it be” is fatalistic rather than faithful. I think that’s a real stretch.

To evoke a positive message with possible Christian overtones, a pop song surely does not have to spout Christian dogma word for word. Many popular hymns sung in church each week might flunk that awful test.

When the angel made his outrageous request, Mary faithfully said, “Let it be as you have said.”

Let it be so.

Let it be.

Sometimes we kill the simplest things with a thousand complications, a thousand tiny cuts.

Mary said, “Let it be.”

That was good enough.

This likely is my last blog posting before Christmas.

 May you have a merry – which is to say, a blessed – Christmas! 

Mary didn’t know

Twice in recent weeks I’ve heard two tenors sing the Mark Lowry song “Mary, Did You Know?”

Hearing the song back-to-back two Sundays in a row got me to thinking. Did she know?

I’ve read a couple of commentaries by writers who dismiss the song as trivial because, they say, of course she knew.

I find their arguments thoroughly unpersuasive.

Mary did not know. How could she have known?

How could she have begun to grasp the magnitude of the commitment she was making when she said “yes” to the angel Gabriel?

The story is told in Luke 1:26-38.

Gabriel tells her she will bear a son and name him Jesus, which means “God saves.”

He promises: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

There’s a lot there to ponder. Essentially the angel is telling her that her son is God’s Messiah, or long-promised king.

He also says that her son will bear the title “Son of God.” But be careful reading Trinitarian theology into that statement. Before the birth of Jesus, it was a high honorific title that was applied to royalty without implying that the king was divine.

I think Mary might have known that she would be called Christotokos (Mother of the Messiah, or Christ). But I don’t see how she could have anticipated being called Theokotos (Mother of God), as she was from at least the Council at Ephesus in 431 CE.

Let’s look at the song more closely.

Did you know, Mary, that your son would one day walk on water? Or that that he would give sight to a blind man or calm a storm with a gesture of his hand? How could she have even imagined those things?

Did you know that he would save all humankind? Well, his name suggests that, doesn’t it? But what kind of salvation could she have envisioned? In her song of praise known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:47-55), she declares that God delivers on ancient promises. That’s suggestive, but only suggestive, of what the apostles would proclaim soon after Jesus’ death.

Did you know that he had walked where angels trod? Presumably this means that he walked in heaven, where God abides with the angels. This line has a certain rhetorical force, but I’m not sure how to interpret it. Does it mean he walked with God before his birth?

Did she know that kissing her baby would be kissing the face of God? It’s a brilliant rhetorical line, but it may be pushing too far ahead theologically. How could she know that her son is Lord of all creation? That’s a proclamation the world won’t hear until the opening of the gospel of John. And it’s a far greater thing than merely ruling the nations.

Did she know that her baby is heaven's perfect Lamb who would die for the sins of the world? Most unlikely. That’s a conclusion it took Jesus’ disciples far too long to grasp.

Finally, did she know that the sleeping child she’s holding is “the great I AM.” Did she know her son would be not only king of Israel but also is, literally, Son of God?

She was not only Chistotokos, mother of God’s Messiah. She was also Theotokos, mother of God. Not that she was mother of the Eternal One. But that she bore God in human form in her womb. She gave birth to God incarnate.

I don’t know how she could have known what it took the deepest thinkers of the Christian church centuries to figure out. We have to beware of reading their thoughts back into a story written ages before.

All we can know for sure is that God asked Mary to step out in great faith to do something she could not begin to understand. And she took that step of faith. Praise God that she did!

It’s not what she didn’t know that matters. It’s what she did know. She knew that God is faithful. That was enough for her. Praise God that it was!

There’s still time!

It’s beginning to look a lot like .. the best time of the year to sell my book that was published four years ago.

 It’s titled Keeping Christmas: Finding Joy in a Season of Excess and Strife.

 It’s part history – how Christmas came to be the cultural mess it is today.

 It’s part cultural commentary – how cultural and political forces keep trying to bend Christmas to their own purposes.

 It’s part survival guide – how you can create the best Christmas ever for you and your family.

 It’s part spiritual guide – how to find the true meaning of Christmas.

 Paging back through it, I’d change a few things – cut a thousand words or so and sharpen some points – but overall I’m satisfied with it.

 What it really needs is readers! That may mean you! Try it. You’ll like it.

 Amazon has it three ways: hardback for $37 (forget that); paperback and Kindle for $4.90 (now we’re talking!)

 Cokesbury lists the hardback at $32.49 (still outrageous).

 Barnes & Noble has the hardback for $37 and the paperback for $19.

 Guess which one I’d choose?