Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired.

A Peek Into the Future?

I feel like I should apologize. Most of the country is getting blasted. My parents are confined to their house in Seattle because of snow and ice. My older brother and his wife are under 24" of the white stuff in Spokane, and my Michigan peeps have been warned that their trouble will begin at midnight and have their world closed down by morning. Our "cold" weather meant that today's temps topped out in the upper 50's. Sorry.

You've probably heard or read that Burger King has come out with a body spray with the scent of a flame-broiled Whopper. Woman shows up wearing that and I'm toast.

Last week's TIME magazine was their annual "List" issue. The center section is just lists - all kinds of things rated 1-10. We get a lot of those this time of year, each accompanied by one or another superlative. Best, worst, biggest, most, least....
Why should we be left out of the fun?
So beginning tonight and at irregular intervals until the end of the year I'll be sharing my lists from 2008, except mine are only going to be one entry long. Which technically means they're not lists. But that's where you come in. I hereby solicit your contributions, which will round out the list I begin. So for example:

Best New TV Show from 2008

1. I select "Life" on NBC Wednesday nights. We both like that show, which each week runs two plot lines. The first is the standard, crime/detective work/apprehension scenario. The other is the ongoing story of who lies behind the conspiracy that sent the lead character to jail for a murder he didn't commit. He's now out, restored to his position on the police force, and working to uncover that plot. He's quirky and engaging.OK, now you submit your entries for this category.

Most Remarkable Political Development of 2008

1. I select the diversity that showed up in the Presidential campaigns. Before we were done we had two women, Hillary and Sarah, and a Black man. Add in an evangelical pastor (Huckabee), a Mormon (Romney) and a half-asleep actor (Thompson). Has a Presidential campaign ever included such a mixed bag? OK, your submissions?

Click on the comment tab below and leave your items for these two categories. And take a look at those who have gone before.

To begin my sermon last week I gave them a brief multiple choice quiz on Christmas. We went through this quickly, so no fair looking anything up or taking it with someone else.

1. To get from Nazareth to Bethlehem:
a. Mary rode the donkey and Joseph walked.
b. Joseph rode the donkey and Mary walked.
c. They both walked and the donkey carried their stuff.
d. They both walked and the donkey took the bus.

2. When they arrived the innkeeper said:
a. I don't have any room.
b. I don't accept indigents.
c. Come back after the Christmas rush.

3. The animals present were:
a. Sheep and goats
b. Sheep and donkeys
c. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
d. Sheep and camels

4. A manger is:
a. A hay storage bin
b. A place to put baby animals
c. A stone feeding trough
d. A misspelling for the guy who runs a baseball team.

OK, how'd you do? Oh yeah, you need the answers:
1. e, none of the above. The Bible doesn't say anything about their trip.
2. d, none of the above. The Bible doesn't mention the innkeeper
3. e, none of the above. No mention of animals, either
4. c, a stone feeding trough. Wood was (and still is) too rare in Israel to waste on feeding troughs. So they would hollow out the top of a block of sandstone (very common there) and use it to hold the grain that the animals ate. We have examples from archeology.

Unless you're pretty up to speed on the biblical narrative you probably had some trouble with that quiz. Most of us have constructed our understanding of the Christmas story from the front of Christmas cards, not the Bible. Oops. Sure, I threw you some curves by not including the correct answer for the first three, but you didn't seriously expect me to play by the rules, did you?

Unless you got 100% you are hereby instructed to read the biblical narrative (Luke) at least once between now and next Thursday. Look for what's there, and take special not of what isn't there. (What time of day did the shepherds arrive at the manger?)