Preacher Rick Warren sent out a letter to his churchgoers Wednesday which starts out:

Dear Saddleback Family,

THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER unlike any I’ve written in 30 years. Please read all of it and get back to me in the next 48 hours.

I have thrilling news to share with you below but first some seriously bad news:

With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out.

On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive – leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.

Other than the budget shortfall, the church is doing fantastic — lots of baptisms, salvation decisions, free counseling sessions and charitable efforts underway. (To read the entire letter, click here.)

The United States Postal Service will release a stamp in 2010 honoring Mother Teresa. Which is wonderful except for the fact that it may violate postal service guidelines.

There are 12 criteria which are used to decide who qualifies to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. Number 9 is the key one:

9. Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.

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Research 2000 is predicting that Sarah Palin will be the Republican Party’s standard-bearer in 2012.

In fact, Palin’s support among cultural conservatives is “etched firmly in stone” two years before the first primary.

After you’ve finished laughing at that absurd claim, take a look at Research 2000’s analysis and see if you spot any flaws.
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There’s a poignant account of the terrorist attack on a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit provided by WTMJ in DetroitMilwaukee.

A Michigan Wisconsin family has just adopted two Ethiopian children and is flying home. It’s the kids’ first flight. And they’re on-board with a would-be bomber.

h/t: Michigan reader

The woman was apparently “unbalanced,” observers say.

This year’s Midnight Mass is being held at 10 p.m. Rome time so that the Pontiff won’t have to be up quite so late.

The pro-life Michigan Democrat says the pro-choice wing of his party doesn’t have enough votes to pass health care legislation unless it has stricter curbs on abortion funding.

An interview with Rep. Stupak is here.

Today’s whiniest headline from HuffingtonPost is probably this one:

BROKEN SYSTEM: GOP Forcing Sick 92-Year-Old Senator to Capitol Every Day.

If a Republican had written the headline, instead of Huffington, it would probably read more like this:

BROKEN SYSTEM: Democrats Say Sick 92-Year-Old Senator Shouldn’t Have to Work for His $174,000 Annual Salary

Pentecostal televangelist Marilyn Hickey preached the sermon at Oral Roberts’ memorial service today. And she shared an insightful story about her faith and ministry, laughing while she told it. And the audience laughed along.

I’ll share it with you.

She said the first time that she preached at an Assembly of God Church, she commanded a man in a wheelchair near the back of the sanctuary to stand up and walk. But the man didn’t budge. So she hollered at him again: Stand up and walk. But still he did not move. So a third time, she thundered: Stand up and walk. But still no movement.

About that time, the pastor of the church stepped to her side and whispered: “Mrs. Hickey, he’s not going to stand up and walk. He has no legs.”

Oh, the story brought laughter to Oral Roberts’ memorial service. And Hickey laughed along.

I didn’t laugh, however. I’ve seen too many self-proclaimed faith healers use desperately-ill people as props over the decades.

And if Hickey’s Almighty God is incapable of healing legless men, he isn’t much of an Almighty God.

Before beatifying Pope Pius XII, let the world see what’s inside the Vatican archives, officials say:
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Beliefnet’s Guide to Christmas has been posted. It explains how to have a good green Christmas and how to have a good Christmas when you’re short on greenbacks.

Spend Less.
Give More.
That’s the message of Advent Conspiracy, which is encouraging people to steer clear of the malls and help people for the holidays.

More details are here.
HT: Jose Lozano

First there was a manger scene. Then the Freethinkers insisted on putting up a winter solstice display. Now, a conservative blogger has been granted permission to display a Festivus pole on the capitol grounds. Tolbert Report has the details.

Here’s the original story in the Taunton Daily Gazette.

Here’s the Boston Globe’s response.

U.S. Muslim leaders are unhappy with the FBI, the New York Times reports.

Missing: one infant in swaddling clothes.