Cheery Christmas message for the day:   the real St. Nicholas might actually intimidate and unsettle most of us.  I don’t mean intimidate and unsettle in the way many of us were when we were five years old and found ourselves in an department store sitting on the lap of a strange man in a red suit with a fake cotton beard who was asking us questions about toys.  Yes, that was kind of intimidating and unsettling to many young ones.  I mean intimidate and unsettle in a way that shakes us into asking hard questions about what it means to be a person of deep Christian faith.  Intimidated and unsettled in a good way.

Jolly old St. Nicholas….?

Peter Enns calls St. Nicholas a beast.  I won’t tell you more here, because his  post is so good you need to read it for yourself.  You should check out what he has to say about St. Nick and ask yourself if maybe it might be helpful to get shaken a bit this Christmas.