I like bumper stickers.  Mostly on other cars.  I have two on mine, a VT Alumni emblem and my favorite Dan Fogelberg lyric.  Last week I was stopped behind a 4x4 sporting "I Love Fast Food," with the picture of a deer.  I laughed out loud in my car, though I would not shoot any animal unless it was to put it out of misery.  Even then, I would have nightmares.  My point is, I don't have to agree with you to enjoy you.

It snowed here in Virginia, in case no one heard.  Remember that short snippet of our president bounding out of Air Force One in a blizzard, just in from a tense meeting about global warming?  We border D.C. blizzard country.  Not exactly his best photo op.

It's cold here.  But today I was able to go on an errand, gleeful at the opportunity to see other neighborhoods without fear of falling.   It took only a stop sign for me to be able to be reminded of the miracle of Christmas.  I was behind an SUV with another favorite bumper sticker:  "Jesus Is The Reason For The Season."

If that turns you off, you can stop reading right here.  But I have been searching for a bumper sticker that states "Democrats Can Be Christians, Too."  If I had one, it would be on my car.

I don't know when people began assuming that Democrats cannot be Christians.   But this year it got so obvious in an area church, I left it and transferred my membership where I feel included and welcome.  I'm still a Christian.   And I'm still a Democrat.  And still a Presbyterian.

Jesus is what matters.  And as we celebrate His birth, I ask that you think about the humble beginnings of the miracle child.   His parents were given a stable in which to stay.  We don't know where in Bethlehem.  We don't know if the animals were in the stable or barn.  But this baby was born and surely even the animals could sense the importance, whether they were present or had been moved, that people still do not understand.  

Imagine giving birth to Jesus and having no clothes for him.  In an environment that probably was not pleasant.   Where He was born says a lot to me.  It humbles me.  Important people began arriving, with expensive gifts because of miracles occurring around and above them:  an angel and a star.     

Jesus is the reason that I feel joy and love and peace and hope during the Advent season.  He is the reason for the season.

I don't know whether Jesus would be a republican or a democrat.  Maybe an independent.  Kris Kristofferson wrote that Jesus was a Capricorn.  None of that matters.  What is in my heart matters to me.

I hope I can share my joy and love and peace especially on December 25.  I fail miserably some days.  But I try every day because I believe Jesus saved me from my sins when I asked Him to forgive me.  

Now about that bumper sticker.  Where can I get one?