Mockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas, dear reader! Tis the season when the team at Mockingbird HQ takes a well deserved break to hop offline and celebrate the lil’ stranger in the manger with family, church, and friends. We have some year end articles in the hopper queued up for you over the holiday — end of year reflections, our end-of-year appeal, news and dates to save for 2024 — so don’t stay too far away. In the meantime, to keep the season bright, check out the roundup below of some of our favorite Christmas posts, podcasts, and memes from the Mockingbird archives.

Also, as you’re planning out your charitable giving for the year’s end, if you’d like to help us meet our end-of-year giving goal, here’s where you can help Mockingbird in 2024. More news on this next week!

Holiday Theology:

Put the Sad Back in Christmas. “Maybe the most beautiful part of Christmas is the sadness. Because if we try to ignore the grief and pain of human existence then we are left with the worst part: the command to be happy at Christmas.” The Mockingcast trio discuss Sarah’s reflections on sadness during the holidays too.

The Brothers Zahl Christmas Special. An exploration of the themes and traditions that make Christmas the special holiday it is, with musical deep cuts and pop culture picks.

How to Preach at Christmas, according to the dynamic duo of our Same Old Song podcast.

The That Is Every Bit as Miraculous as the What. — Jason Michelli, with help from Karl Barth, reflects on what Christmas truly celebrates: the miracle of grace made flesh in our midst. Also: the Virgin Birth as divine judgment.

Stealing Joy from the Gospel of Luke — our resident New Testament PhD Todd Brewer clarifies that Mary and Joseph had a rough go of it, but probably not as rough as we’ve often been led to believe.

When A Dragon Tried to Eat Jesus — Chad Bird reminds us that the Book of Revelation contains its own apocalyptic version of The Christmas Story.

“This does not make sense.” — Martin Luther’s preaching and writing on Christmas are always evergreen.

I Asked AI to Write My Christmas Sermon. 100% accurate theology, but a total snooze fest for the congregation.

Christmas in Colombia — Bryan J. finds parallels in the disarmament of terrorist group FARC in Columbia and the Christmas story.

Christmas Pop:

Love’s Pure Light: Christmas with the Herdmans: “Having no access to even the basic cultural Christianity of manners, morals, and traditions that many of the kids in the book grew up with, the Herdman kids come to the Christmas story without baggage.”

We Wish You a Scary Christmas: Resident horror expert Ian Olson offers six spooky Christmas stories featuring ghosts (that aren’t written by Charles Dickens).

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown: Everything you need to know about a Charlie Brown Christmas can be found in Matt Schneider’s “Law and Gospel According to Peanuts,” part 1 and part 2.

Home, But Not Alone: Stephanie P. highlights the surprising maternal love in the holiday classic, Home Alone.

A Christmas Carol and Grace in Practice: Allison K. catches herself Scrooging away in the airport while reading the Charles Dickens classic.

Mockingcast co-host RJ Heijmen shares his top 10 Christmas movie picks.

Sam Bush offers up his thoughts on the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life with “The God Who Makes George Bailey’s Life So Wonderful.” See also this blast from the archives (2009!).

The Best Christmas Music You’ve (Probably Never) Heard:

Move over Bing Crosby and Harry Connick Jr.! Here’s a Christmas playlist with beats, guitar, and heart: David Zahl’s Low Anthropology Christmas Playlist (see also his more recent list of holiday deep cuts).

Jason Mehl shares the greatest Christmas song according to many in the UK: “Fairytale of New York,” by The Pogues.

Alan Jacobs’s favorite Christmas song is Charles Brown’s, “Please Come Home for Christmas.”

Stephanie Phillips has some choice words for whoever wrote “Away in a Manger.”

Law, Gospel, and Santa Clause:

The Sinners’ Christmas Pageant: Jason Micheli shares a story about a Christmas Pageant he worked on with a unique cast of characters. What he discovered was grace, and a promise that is too good not to believe.

Ready or Not, Here He Comes: Ken Sundet Jones’ reflects on what it actually means to “get ready” for Jesus’ coming. Hint: It’s nothing you do, but what has already been done for you.

I Asked A.I. to Write My Christmas Sermon: Todd Brewer told his computer to “Write a Christmas Sermon based upon Luke’s birth narrative, with quotations from Karl Barth, Martin Luther, Irenaeus of Lyon, and Barack Obama.” The results are fascinating.

Santa and Jesus: Charlotte Getz wonders if her childhood buy-in on Santa Clause made her develop adult trust issues.

Seasonal Surveillance: It’s been a decade since David Zahl first reviewed and skewered the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon. Not much has changed since 2011.

Family, Friends, and Yuletide Cheer:

How I Found Myself at the Bottom of a Dumpster on Christmas Eve. God humbles Drew Rollins as he frantically searches for extra church bulletins ten minutes before the start of Christmas Eve church.

Real Christmas Trees Are Messy. Ali Holcomb doesn’t leave dirty dishes in the sink, but she’s OK with the mess made by her annual real-tree tradition. “I don’t love that there’s all this mess, but that feels like an important part of the process.”

Butter From Heaven — Grace Leuenberger’s love language is butter and her spiritual gift is cookies. “Maybe the act of baking cookies with butter can be one way to taste and smell and touch and see and hear that the Lord is good.”

“Buy Hot Pockets. You are welcome.” — This and other advice from Sarah Condon for staying married this time of year. Also, what happens when your kid refuses to participate in the church Christmas pageant.

An Act of Teeth-Gritting Goodwill — Carrie Willard sends Christmas Cards to “at least two people who have unfriended me on Facebook, a sister who hasn’t spoken to me in nearly two decades, and a friend with whom I had a very painful falling-out four years ago.”

Grace with Every Christmas Card — Sam Bush doesn’t mind the posturing and posting of the Christmas Cards he receives — he’s just happy to be thought of.