Hark the glad sound

Amazing Christmas tree arch at St. Paul's, Winneconne.
That's my dad in the tie.

It was Christmas Eve, and we were at church with my parents. The choir sang a lovely song, accompanied by a violin, and in the beat of silence that followed, Timothy produced a joyous...trumpeting...fart. Yes he did. And Jesus Mary and Joseph, it was stinky.

In the Christmas story, God takes on a human form, experiences life as one of us. This is one of the things that keeps me bound to Christianity: the intimacy and grittiness of a god who has been there, skinned a knee, grieved for a friend, felt rejection, and even passed gas. (Of course it's not just in Christianity that holiness and humanity meet. Exhibit A: this video.) 

So thanks TJ, for making the Incarnation so vivid for me. Next year you can sit by Grandma.