A White Christmas! I went out in the storm to get some hot dogs for the girls (no it was not our Christmas dinner). The only places open were a 7/11 and a liquor store. Even Barnes and Noble was closed (a second spiritual home). My father in Rye is without electricity and heat. And yet there is a beautiful hush in the physical and spiritual landscape... restrained joy of the presence of an unspeakable Gift.

I've been reading the NY Times since I was ten. The editorial on Christmas Times is as "spiritual" as I can remember. God is not mentioned-- but hint, hint... In this post 9/11, post-modern ethos perhaps there are cracks in the agnostic armor.
Where did this hostility begin--not just the clean skepticism toward religious institutions, but the radical animus towards the gospel? Arnold Toynbee in An Historian's Approach to Religion tells of the moral disgust of 17th century intellectual elite with the terrible corruption and wars of religion. This eventually brought: 1) new emphasis on materialism and technology; 2) religious tolerance; 3) profound metaphysical angst and spiritual crisis. Basically, modernity threw the (Christ) baby out with the bathwater.

For "tidings of great joy" to truly break in, we need to learn again to doubt our doubts-- to let the baby be born anew. Though this may take several generations...