Commentary

At the risk of being a Grinch who ruins Christmas, I would like to go behind the Christmas Story and relate what scholars know about the biblical texts involved. I hope that the result will be a more enlightened perspective on the role of such stories in the common life of humankind.

I am angry. Really angry. Have been for the last several years. And I am certain many of you are angry, too.

The Bab was executed six years after his proclamation, but not before promising the advent of one greater than himself, “who would usher in the age of peace and justice promised in all the world’s religions.” Baha’is believe Baha’u’llah was the fulfillment of that promise.

I don’t decorate for Christmas, I said. I don’t own any ugly Christmas sweaters. And I don’t bake holiday cookies. I sound like such a Scrooge.

It is in the midst of such difficult times that Massachusetts poet and abolitionist, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, penned the poem, “Christmas Bells.”

On Dec. 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will cross paths in the night’s sky and for a brief moment, they will appear to shine together as one body.