During the time of year when much of the world celebrated the birth of Christ, millions of moviegoers worldwide flocked to see the movie "Avatar." The name "Avatar" itself means the advent of a deity. But the deity revealed to the world over Christmas was not Christ, and the message was far from Christian. 

Many conservatives complain that the movie is a left-wing lesson in radical environmentalism. The Vatican has objected that the movie encourages nature worship. Evangelicals are worried that the movie indoctrinates youth into neo-paganism. The average moviegoer, without a political or religious ax to grind, is left vaguely dissatisfied, without being able to say exactly why the movie is disappointing.

Like many other towns in Maine, Bangor has a road which leads past pristine historic buildings, past centuries of forgotten memories, out to the modern, gaudily-painted chain stores on the edge of town, buildings with no higher meaning or purpose than an appeal to self-indulgence and consumerism.  Such roads are like clear streams  with which each passing mile grow dark with pollution. With churches on every hill and rows of historic houses, Bangor seems all the more tragically stricken.

In today's troubled times, many people see the answer to America's problems in greater economic freedom and more personal liberty. But America has always been the freest nation that ever existed, and the results are far from satisfactory.

The following thought-provoking article entitled "We are Not Free" was published in The Record in 1908, and examines the concept of freedom from a Christian perspective. The author raises a very controversial, but instructive question - is America really free?

John 1:1-14

A father put his four-year-old son to bed. Having finished prayers, stories, and all the little bedtime things, he kissed his son and turned the light off.  His son started sobbing, "Don’t leave me. I’m scared and don’t want to stay here alone."  The father tried to encourage the little boy by reminding him of God’s presence and reminding him that they had had devotions. The little boy said, "I want somebody with skin on."  This is the great message of the Incarnation! Jesus came in flesh!

The world tempts the traveler with many strange and wonderful sights, the white temples of Shangrila, which seem to float in the clouds, the houses of Timbuktu, like a tangled maze of children's blocks, the monumental city of the Pharaohs, stretching out across the ancient sands.  Each may lay claim to being a land of mystery.  

But as Christmas approaches, a young person returning to Maine can see the most mysterious sight the world has to offer, a pine forest beneath a wintry night sky and the Northern Lights. As the miles recede behind him, a gently-waving curtain of multicolored lights casts its light over snowy fields, as each tree points up and outward like an arrow to the starry path beyond the sky.

Christmas marks the birth of Our Savior, the Prince of Peace, and it is heartening to know that non-believers, and even those of other faiths, think of Christmas as a time of peace. It is doubly unfortunate that at this time of year, one of the best-selling products is a video game which calls on young people to participate vicariously in the destruction of their fellow man. 

One after the other, the colorful figures are loaded onto the back of the truck. First the lamb, legs folded gently under, is placed aboard, and then come the shepherd and the reverent wise men from afar, and then the dutiful father dressed in the clothes of a humble workman. Last of all, the gentle and adoring young mother is tucked away, there in a corner with her joyful infant resting on a bed of straw.

Another Nativity scene has been removed from public life. As the worker slides the door shut, the figures are shrouded in deep darkness; and he ponders for a while if he has removed something more than a simple holiday decoration.

The berry of the bittersweet is a soft shade of yellow, turning orange then red in autumn.  The climbing nightshade is more colorful, with green berries which turn a deep amethyst in late summer, then bright red as the winter months come on.  Both these plants are poisonous.

With its dark green leaves and fiery-red berries, few trees are as lovely as the holly. Yet the berry of the holly is poison to man, as is the mistletoe berry and the Jerusalem cherry. All these colorful green things brighten homes at the time of the birth of Our Savior.

After the repeal of same sex marriage, public attention was diverted from the debate over "gay rights" to several blunders made by the same sex marriage movement. These blunders ranged from a heavy-handed threat against voters by Jesse Connolly, leader of the No on 1 campaign,  to a march down Congress Street by same sex marriage supporters who made the night air ring with obscenities. Their latest blunder may prove to be the worst of all, when Governor Baldacci receives an award in Boston for his service to the cause of homosexual marriage.