
I have waited more than 11 years to finally be able to unwrap a gift of truth that I want to present to you. In 2002, while visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel, a light pierced the darkness of tradition and caused me to take down our tree and cancel the Johnson family Christmas celebration. Before you consider me just another Grinch looking to spoil your family festivities, hear me out.
This has not been an easy journey for me. I grew up in Minnesota—you know, the frozen tundra where Santa Claus recruits many of his helpers. I obtained my undergraduate degree in social work, the area of study that depends on the Christmas season to turn up the heat on the “haves” in order to serve the needs of the “have nots.” I earned a graduate degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, where Christmas is taught as one of the cornerstones of Christian practice and belief. I am also an ordained United Methodist pastor (until further notice) who counted on the green in the Christmas Sunday offering every year to keep the church out of the red. In other words, as a born-and-bred Bible-believing pastor, I would have been out buying last-minute gifts with my credit card or preparing my Sunday sermon hoping to preach myself out of debt for the next year! Instead, I am sharing this light of truth with you.
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