TruthBook Religious News Blog

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and the ever-present promise of Santa's generosity so fresh in mind, it is all too easy to forget the special birth that so many celebrate today.

Yet he might feel right at home, in some respects, in today's world. His world echoed with the sounds of armed conflict -- the marching cadence of Caesar's legions. Indeed, it was because Caesar Augustus decreed that the people of Judea be taxed, each in his own city, that his parents found themselves in Bethlehem when it was time that he be born. The world of his time was no stranger to oppression, misery and uncertainty.

Thus, the song the shepherds heard while tending their flocks in the chill, starlit hours of that first Christmas night must have been balm for their spirits and warmth for their hearts.

The words and the signs they foretold, of a baby lying in a manger -- a king of kings in the humblest of surroundings -- have blazed for generation upon generation through the long centuries like the star of Christmas itself

It is a troubled world that observes Christmas this year. The marching legions of Jesus' time have been replaced by the forces of terrorism and continued violence in Iraq and Afghanistan and pockets of Africa.

In the nation's capital, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group has provided a host of noteworthy recommendations for dealing with the war in Iraq, with an eye toward orderly withdrawal of our troops as the Iraqi government assumes more responsibility for its own governance and security. President Bush and a new Congress owe the American public serious consideration of its options, and all others on the table.

In the meantime, thousands of U.S. troops, including some from Central Washington, will miss Christmas at home. They deserve and need our thoughts and prayers as we continue to hope for their return home.

As we pause and reflect on this special day, we feel the need for calm, measured responses to any challenges, at home and abroad. We have history on our side in dealing with terrorism and tyrants and their cowardly assaults on innocent people.

But we also continue to monitor excesses in the name of national security that would trample on the individual rights that are the core values of this nation.

As we celebrate the season of peace, we look ahead with anticipation of an end to war. We have just completed one of the most active elections in recent memory, one that could easily be seen as a national referendum on the war in Iraq. Democrats swept to control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994 and, obviously, change is in the offing. But rather than just knee-jerk reactions to failed policies, let proposed changes in Congress be measured and meaningful in shaping new approaches for dealing with national and international priorities.

Closer to home, we deal with the vagaries of winter, with the hope that plenty of snow in the mountains will be the harbinger of a robust spring, brimming reservoirs and a bountiful harvest. Now if spring would only put on some speed in getting here.

Christmas 2006. We still may hope and pray -- and work -- for peace on Earth, good will toward all.

Now more than ever.