SONG OF THE NEW YEAR I heard the bells at midnight Ring in the dawning year; And above the clanging chorus Of the song, I seemed to hear A choir of mystic voices Flinging echoes, ringing clear, From a band of angels winging Through the haunted atmosphere; “Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, That the dawning of the morrow May in peace be ushered in.” – James  Whitcomb Riley (The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley, Indiana University Press,  1993) AMEN HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

“Three or four years ago tryouts were being conducted for parts in the Nativity Play to be staged by the children of the Second Presbyterian Church.  There was brisk competition for all the roles except that of the innkeeper who told Mary and Joseph that he didn’t have room for them. For some reason the kids seemed to think the innkeeper was a sort of bad guy and no one wanted to be saddled with the part. ‘But he wasn’t really mean,’ one of the teachers explained to the four-year-old boy chosen for the role.  ‘All the rooms in the…