Feast of St. John

It's St. John's day, worth noting because it's the name day of our boy Johannes. Poor kid -- his birthday is December 16, and his name day is just a couple days after Christmas. We feel sort of celebrated out. Anyone have fabulous ideas about handling those near-to-Christmas birthdays? Remember, this is a pastor's kid.

John's Gospel has never exactly been my favorite. Jesus seems to talk too much, mostly in circular fashion about how tight he is with the Father. I know that's heresy for a Lutheran, but I prefer the earthiness of Luke and Mark. I make an exception for John 1, however, which is poetry in any language and comes as close as anything in Scripture to capturing the mystery of this Light/Love/Word we call Christ.

An icon of John the Evangelist hangs above Johannes' crib (his godparents are Orthodox), and every night the last thing he bids good night as we go around his room is "heilger Johannes". I hope he grows to feel that the evangelist is a companion. . .he could do worse.