On the Fourth Day of Christmas . . .

Miss me?

A conspicuous absence, I grant you.

Nothing to say, have I? Hardly.

But, ironically, during this time of year pregnant with meaningful topics on which to reflect, I've not been terribly motivated to bring thoughts to the keyboard. At least not yet. Some of the issues around why that's been the case will have to be processed through some other medium than this one. To date, this blog has been the slipstream for my wonderings - those that are random, and those I more carefully construct.

There is some cathartic work to be done by me, however, and I feel that process will necessitate a fairly revolutionary tact to enact - a pen to paper, and the product of that work will likely see no one else's eyes but my own.

This will still be the primary conduit for my thoughts and theological reflections. There are several posts coming - randomized streams of consciousness that I've thought - "I need to remember this one and flesh it out."

Among them -

• The REAL war on Xmas (fodder for my sermon, "Refugee Messiah" to be preached on Christmas 1, December 30)
• Reflections on Steve Martin's extraordinary memoir "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life."
• Fascination with Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God."
• Joining the world of the Ipod, and loving it.

There's more cooking. Some of my favorite topics - politics in a presidential election year; the Tigers; movies of varying flavors - you know, the usual.

So, for the sake of having one more post in 2007 (and I need one more to equal last year's post total, not that I'm competing with myself, or anything), unless something hits me before then, this will do it for now.

In the words of Charles Dickens' Tiny Tim,

"God bless us, everyone."