Happy New Year!

A Christmas display is being blamed for spreading holiday jeer around the neighborhood.The display features Santa, Jesus and Rudolph, but it’s not your typical holiday decor.

Santa is shown dead on the ground with X’s over his eyes. Standing over Santa and staring down the barrel of his shotgun is Jesus. And the dead, limp body of Rudolph is strewn over the back of a pickup truck.

The video is the work of Ron Lake, who says he’s simply trying to make a point about the commercialized holiday.

“Christmas isn’t about Santa; it’s about Jesus,” he said. “It’s an expression of my repressed creativity.”  (Source and the rest of the story.)

Makes perfect sense, Jesus was always about gunning down your enemies. It is just art, it is not like the guy directed paint balls at little kids to make his point.

Poor people who are desperate for cash have been advised to go forth and shoplift from major stores – by an Anglican priest.

The Rev Tim Jones said in his Sunday sermon that stealing from successful shops was preferable to burglary, robbery or prostitution.

He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment ‘thou shalt not steal’ because it ‘is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve’.

But his advice was roundly condemned by police and the local Tory MP. Father Jones, 42, was discussing Mary and the birth of Jesus when he went on to the subject of how poor and vulnerable people cope in the run-up to Christmas.

‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,’ he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York.

‘I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.  (Source and the rest of the story.) (via)

Well, I suppose it is better then fighting and causing injuries including a torn scrotal sack with partially exposed testicles, but not by much.

A billboard sponsored by a local Anglican church that shows Joseph and Mary in bed has set tongues wagging in New Zealand, with the Catholic Church condemning it as others found it funny.

The controversial billboard, erected by St Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, shows a dejected-looking Joseph under bedcovers beside a sad Mary. Underneath the image, a caption reads: “Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow.” (Source)

They said, “We are just trying to get people to think more about what Christmas is more about.”  Uh, yea, nothing like feeling emasculated to make a guy think about the real meaning of Christmas.

This seems more bothersome than the Church of the Big Wood or the Holy Ghost Weenie Roast.  Why?  Because it is intentional.

A church daycare is under investigation after allegations surfaced that workers gave children an over-the-counter drug in candy to help make them nap.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office and Springfield Township police are probing the daycare at Covenant Apostolic Church, 7630 View Place Drive, according to a letter Police Chief David Heimpold sent to children’s parents on Monday. Police also personally called each parent.

At issue is whether workers gave children Melatonin to help them sleep during the daycare’s naptime, according to the chief. (Source and the rest of the story)

Maybe they should have used the Swedish Fortified Communion Wine, instead.  It would have been both practical (protect from the Swine Flu) and Sacramental.

(Via)

There’s a different type of story out of Burleson this holiday season.  A couple in the city, 13 miles south of Fort Worth, believes God has given them a divine sign and it’s a message spelled out in the most unusual of places.

Tracy and Pam Norrell are calling it a miracle, a gift laid before them on their small farm.

And what is this miracle?  This egg.

Why would God give them this egg?  Here is their best guess…

“This time of the year, we get so taken up with the presents and money and we forget about the reason,” Pam explained.  “I think he [God] was just telling us he is the reason for the season.” (source)

I for one believe it.  After all, if he can show up in an eggplant, why not an egg?

Found via Dave Barry.

So here is a question – why is Mary always showing up in food?

Court officials in Alabama said a female potential juror’s name — Jesus Christ — raised eyebrows when she showed up for duty.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Scott Vowell said the 59-year-old Birmingham woman, who previously went by the name Dorothy Lola Killingworth, presented officials with a name change form with “Jesus Christ” on it when she arrived for jury duty this week, the Birmingham (Ala.) News reported Wednesday.

So what happened?

Christ was excused from the criminal case in Judge Clyde Jones’s courtroom for being disruptive, officials said. They said she kept asking questions rather than answer those posed to her by officials. (Source)

Asking questions rather then answering…..hmmmm…..sounds familiar, does it not?

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Whatever this is, it’s hilarious. A google translation of “Aerosol de Poder Atraccion” yields “Attraction Power Spray.” So there’s a chance that Jesus is changing the body-spray game. Hey Axe! Jesus is here, and the ladies can’t resist a man walking on water and smelling good. Check and mate.  (Source and some other fun comments.)

Hey, it looks like you get 20% extra for free, too.  What a deal!