The birth of Jesus contradicts the idea of a God who "lay above the earth like a layer of icy cirrus." The birth means that we encounter God, not only in elegant theology but in work and in our enjoyment of beauty, friendship and love—in love particularly.
We
typically think of name-calling as trash talk, violent speech, all harm and no
good. Often it is. In the aftermath of the midterm elections, I'm well past my
quota of derogation and defamation. But not all name-calling is violence.