Jesus Gifts At Christmas Time

I have this beautiful poem hanging on my office wall.  It was an anonymous gift that means a great deal to me.  It describes Jesus-like gifts that we can give this season.
I know things are going to be crazy for me for the next week, so I'll be reading this more often.  If I don't get another post up before the anniversary of our Savior's birth, then God's blessings to you.  May you give and receive some of what is offered here.

This Christmas . . .

  Mend a quarrel,

  Seek out a forgotten friend,

  Write a love letter,

  Share some treasure,

  Give a soft answer,

  Encourage youth,

  Keep a promise,

  Find the time,

  Forgive an enemy,

  Listen,

  Apologize if you’re wrong,

  Think first of someone else,

  Be kind and gentle,

  Laugh a little,

  Laugh a little more,

  Express your gratitude,

  Gladden the heart of a child,

  Take pleasure in beauty and wonder,

   Speak your love,

       Speak it again,

          Speak it still once again.

A War On Advent?!?

    I came across an online article that suggests that cable news stations which keep covering the on-going war on Christmas, inadvertently create an environment that is hostile to Advent (the Christian season of preparation for the birth of the Christ child).  In other words, all the focus on Christmas--that starts earlier and earlier--that would seem to support the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth, actually undercuts our tradition of reflection and patient waiting in the days leading up to December 25.
   Here is the bulk of Diana Butler Bass' essay.  Ms. Bass is an excellent communicator and her book, Christianity After Religion, is one of the first books in line for me to read in 2013. Here is her take:

"According to ancient Christian tradition, "Christmas" is not the December shopping season in advance of Christmas Day; rather, it is Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the Twelve Days following that run until early January. During most of December, Christians observe Advent, a four-week season of reflection, preparation and waiting that precedes the yearly celebration of Jesus' birth. In many mainstream and liturgical (and even liberal and progressive) churches, no Christmas hymn will pass the lips of a serious churchgoer for another two weeks. If you wander into a local Lutheran, Episcopal or Roman Catholic parish, the congregation will still be chanting the ethereal tones of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" or "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night." There are no poinsettias, no Christmas pageants, no trees or holly, and no red and green altar linens. A few days ago, they might have preached about St. Nicholas -- but not Santa Claus. There are no twinkling lights or over-the-top Christmas displays. Just four candles in a simple wreath, two partially burned, two yet to be lit. The mood is somber as December moves toward deeper darkness, and the night lengthens. The world waits, and it is time to prepare for the arrival of God's kingdom. It is not Christmas. It is Advent.

During these weeks, churches are not merry. There is a muted sense of hope and expectation. Christians recollect God's ancient promise to Israel for a kingdom where lion and lamb will lie down together. The ministers preach from stark biblical texts about the poor and oppressed being lifted up while the rich and powerful are cast down, about society being leveled and oppression ceasing. Christians remember the Hebrew prophets and long for a Jewish Messiah to be born. The Sunday readings extol social and economic justice, and sermons are preached about the cruelty of ancient Rome and political repression. Hymns anticipate world peace and universal harmony. Churchgoers listen to the testimony of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who speaks of God: 

He has shown strength with his arm; 
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 
and lifted up the lowly; 
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

Does [cable] News want us all to say "Merry Christmas" so we forget about Advent? These, after all, are the four weeks that the Christian tradition dedicates to God's vision of justice for the outcast and oppressed, not to celebrating the sound of ringing cash registers or Victorian America values.

Ancient Christian saints, theologians and evangelists would be horrified that those who claim to stand for tradition have forgotten the most important aspect of it. Jesus Christ was not born that human beings would spend December shopping or saying, "Merry Christmas." Jesus was born to confront the rulers of this world with the love and justice of the God of Abraham -- that Jesus, the same Jesus who preached the the poor and marginalized were blessed, is the King of kings and Lord of lords. All earthly powers pale before him, the humble born one who will die a political traitor to Rome.

Perhaps [War on Christmas folks] think it might be best if Christians did not spend too much time contemplating a Savior who promised to overthrow the powers-that-be in favor of a kingdom where the poor are blessed and the last shall be first. That's probably bad for business and does not exactly fit with their favored political philosophy.

And maybe, just maybe, the real war of this season is the War on Advent."

It's an interesting and thought provoking essay, if you agree or disagree.  At St. Andrew we  try and put the brakes on Christmas hymns, carols, and celebrations before Christmas Eve, but on the other hand, it feels as if we've lost that battle with the culture around us.  We don't observe Advent the way it was designed to be observed, in part, because the society around us is so far out ahead of us with decorations, music, and holiday specials and events.  I do hope, though, that we don't back away from the reality that the message of Christ's coming is a radical one.  It's what they call in politics today 'A Game Changer'.  As I said last Sunday, in many ways the War on Christmas is a war on Christ.  It's just that we have misunderstood that nature of the battle, who the enemy really is, and which side we need to be on.  Hope this essay keeps the conversation going.

Another Front On the War (Against Christmas)

     I talked yesterday in worship about the war on Christmas being essentially a war on the mission and purpose of God's Christ.  Choosing Mary, in Nazareth, in Galilee, in Judea at the farthest corner of the Roman Empire...poor, temporarily homeless, hunted by the authorities, sneaking across the border to a foreign land, etc.--it's radical stuff.  Go back and reread the first chapter of Luke.  No wonder the powers and principalities of this world are willing to go to war in order to stop the momentum of the Kingdom Movement Jesus came to start.
     But there is another way to think of the War on Christmas.  And that is the war that is being waged by consumerism, corporate marketers, big box and online stores, a huge economic engine that looks more and more to the Christmas season to make ends meet.  It's subtle and insidious.  It takes advantage of our desire to give gifts of love and gratitude and turns it into something much more self-centered and contrived.  
        I came across a blog last week while working on the sermon and though I intended to quote it during the message, it got cut due to time.  The author is Mark Sandlin and I'd like to quote one paragraph from his blog:

[Is there a] War on Christmas? [Or is there...]A war on what Christmas has become? A war on worshiping consumerism in the sacred halls of Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy while the world is swallowed up in the darkness of not having enough food to eat, a place to live, clean water to drink, access to reasonable health care? Sign me up, because I refuse to let the story of my faith be co-opted by corporations who only wish to convince us that we are privileged and we do deserve what we have more than othesr and we should revel in our abundance even as we celebrate the birth of the child who laid in a feeding trough, who lived his life with no place to lay his head, who told us that “just as you do it unto the least of these so to you do it unto me," a child who gave up his very life that we might understand what true love looks like. 

I'm not entirely sure how we fight against this attack on our hearts and on the heart of our Christmas worship, but fight against we must.  I would begin with prayer, in fact, I will begin with prayer.  And after that it wouldn't hurt to try and gain a little perspective on our compulsion to spend and give to a certain level rather than to share the greatest gift--the gift of ourselves, offered in love.  It's not easy, especially if you have young children.  But it is especially important, if you have young children, to make sure that they know the deepest meaning of Christ's birth.  It's a whole lot easier to set up traditions when your kids are young then when they've grown accustomed to big expensive gifts, or toy after toy after  toy.  I think this might be one front on this war that we can actually win if we are clear what is at stake and take it seriously enough to do something about it.

If you'd like to read the entire blog check out:

http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/11/30/war-christmas-sign-minister

Christmas Not Just for Christians Anymore

       Christmas isn’t just for Christians anymore.  Actually, it never was.  The baby was born to all this [Christmas] day in the city of David, just happens to be Christ the Lord.  Sure, I know the Jewish context.  Yes, I’m aware of the fact that Christians are the ones who have kept his birth front and center for a couple of thousand years.  Yet God came into the world, the light entered into the darkness, to save the world, and to illumine the darkness—all of it.  Just because we Christians “get it” doesn’t mean the nativity was just for us. 

Think of it this way:

         You develop a vaccine for AIDS.  Do you sell it to the highest bidder knowing that it will be safeguarded for those who have the wealth to afford it?  Or do you do everything in your power to make sure that those who are at risk can receive it, no matter what the cost?

         You hear a song so beautiful that it inspires the heart of all who hear it.  Do you sing it for yourself and your family and friends? Or do you bombard the airwaves for those whose lives are devoid of inspiration?

         You happen upon a protein rich, delectable vegetable that can grow in nearly all conditions and is about as hard to get rid of as a thistle.  Do you leave it to the small remote tribe that thrives on it or do you take the seeds and send them to Sub-Saharan Africa, ship them to the protein poor Altiplano in Bolivia, or offer them to Palestinian women in the Gaza strip to supplement their meager gardens?

         You have a dear friend who can literally fix anything.  If it’s broken, unassembled, if you cannot figure out how to make some project around the house work—you know you can call him and he’ll drop what he’s doing and come over and within the hour he’ll have the problem solved.  He’s retired and he loves to be needed (and he’s truly a great example of servanthood).  Do you keep him your little secret, knowing that you’ve got more than your fair share of things that need fixing?  Or do you introduce him to friends and acquaintances that could use his help?

         I know that Jesus shows up as a new born baby.  He’s extraordinary, I know that, but I also know that as far as babies go he’s pretty much limited to crying, eating, sleeping, and dirtying his swaddling cloths.  He’s born to poor parents on the run from the authorities, refugees in another nation, and then goes on to become either an apprentice carpenter or a rabbi-in-training with the local teacher of the law.  It’s going to be a while until he sets out to publically reveal that he is the long-awaited Anointed One of God.  But we know who he is because we’re experiencing this celebration in rewind/reverse.  We see the manger in light of the cross.  We see the angels coming down from the heavens from the perspective of Jesus ascending upward into heaven.  As Christians, we experience Christmas the birth of our Savior from the perspective of sinners who have already been saved—as the blind who can finally see—as lost souls who have been found and restored to our place as sons and daughters of royalty.

         If we just go about our advent season, if we just chug along toward our family Christmas celebration, without inviting the folks who populate our daily lives to come and join us, it would be the equivalent to keeping the vaccine, the beautiful song, the life sustaining vegetable, and our miraculously gifted friend all to ourselves.  And in each of those contexts we would consider such behavior unconscionable.  We would consider it heartless.  Keeping Jesus to ourselves—hoarding his grace and forgiveness for ‘me and mine’—especially during this holiday season, is equally unconscionable for followers of the living Christ.

         Christmas is not just for Christians, in fact, if you go back and reread the Christmas story you discover that Christmas was specifically directed to those who could be found outside the synagogue and Temple of the day:  scruffy shepherds, foreign magicians, provincial out-of-towners holed up in the caves on the outskirts of the city, and so on and so on.  I don’t so much think God cares how you do it, but I do honestly believe that God expects you and I to share the incredible news that “God is With Us”.  And, though we are often reticent to mention it in today’s church, I think God will hold us accountable for what we do with the Good News He has entrusted to us.  I suspect it will be part of that difficult conversation some of us will have with our Creator when He brings us Home once and for all.

         I’m going to invite a few folks I know who don’t attend worship to join me during this advent season at St. Andrew.  I’m going to be a little more eager to offer to pray for those who share a concern or worry with me in the course of my day.  I’m going to put a yard sign in my front lawn, a window sticker in my car, and I’m going to carry a few cards in my pocket that include an uplifting Christmas promise and the times for our Christmas Eve worship.  I may or may not knock on doors up and down my block, but when I stop and consider—even for a moment—how richly the Christ of Bethlehem has blessed me, I know that I should not and cannot keep it to myself.

         It helps to remind myself:  Christmas is not just for Christians anymore.