Much in this country's political landscape has centered on equal access and opportunity for all. First century C.E. New Testament literature points to similar struggles.

Some extreme politicians are blaming hard working people for the economic hardships facing many of our states and communities. The attack on public sector workers is evidence of leaders who want to ask for more and more.

A God who is "just" is inclined to show special generosity to the poor and outcast. No wonder the respectable people get anxious.

Scripture advises that anger clouds our vision and hardens our hearts. It makes us base rather than noble. It blinds us to our own failings and encourages a dangerous arrogance. It makes us forget we need forgiveness as individuals and as a nation.

For Christians today reading it as insiders, the text may evoke nods of approval at some memorable statements by Jesus. Start poking around a bit, though, and a host of questions arises.

Few Christians abandon everything for the Gospel's sake. Most of us simply fit our Christianity into the open spots on our calendars. But Jesus links the life of discipleship with his own path.

Controversy about whether God, Joseph or another man impregnated Mary has been intense and perennial. The New Testament itself represents various views of Jesus' birth.

Jesus was converted that day to a larger vision of the commonwealth of God. He saw and heard a fuller revelation of God in the voice and face of the Canaanite woman. If Jesus could be changed, can we?

The truth is that many Western Christians could give a full tithe to their churches and a full second tithe toward the eradication of extreme poverty without losing much of our lifestyle.

Not that the evangelical old guard hasn't served others, but we are seeing a seismic shift in emphasis to one where it's all about translating belief into righteous action on behalf of others.

I figured in modern bible translations "homage" was left in the story of the Wise Men because it is such a classic, old, venerated expression ... "they paid him homage". Imagine my surprise when I opened the King James and found no "homage" at all.

I can't imagine a better way of celebrating the original Christmas event, or a better way of kicking off a new year, than by allowing our genuine and well-warranted joy to be interrupted by the suffering of our world, even for a moment.

How overwhelming the first Christmas must have been for Mary and Joseph. Few things can provoke such intense worry as a newborn child. But few things promise such unreasonable hope, such unexpected change and such unbounded joy.

While theories vary on who the "historical" Jesus really was, there's general agreement that Jesus was not born in Bethlehem. So why was it so important for the gospel writers to claim Bethlehem as Jesus' birthplace?

Of all the characters who appear in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth, the "Three Wise Men" are by far the most fascinating. Who were these mysterious foreigners? Where did they come from? What was their star? And were there even three of them?

Matthew read Zechariah without poetic parallelism but rather as a straightforward narrative. The result: Jesus enters Jerusalem straddling two animals.