Category: Holidays

Fourth Sunday of Advent – Joy

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Joy to the world

The Lord has come.

Let Earth receive her King.

I think it is easy to receive Christ as a baby. Incarnation in such a small, helpless, and cute form, although odd, isn’t very threatening. Or life altering.

For many of us it is even easy to accept Christ as a sacrificial lamb who died to take away our sins. We understand that exchange and make that event the entire focus of our faith.

But it is a lot harder to receive Christ as our King. Accepting a king implies allegiance. Not just awe or gratefulness, but fealty. It requires being willing to obey the command of this King, follow where he leads, and make his priorities our priorities. In other words receiving Christ as our King means altering our lifestyles, giving up of ourselves, and embarking on an unpredictable adventure. It can be a little scary.

So for many it may seem odd to say “joy to the world…receive your King.” It is easy to feel joy at the birth of a baby, or even when someone has paid a debt for us. It is harder to feel joy in saying that we will commit our lives to serving our King.

But this is the life we are called to as believers. A life of service which is also a life of joy. It is a paradox and mystery that isn’t easily grasped by minds trained to look out for number 1. But it is the promise to those who have faith.

So on this last Sunday of Advent as we light the candle of joy, let us remember that joy isn’t just a happy feeling but is part of the mystery of our faith that comes from serving and following our King.

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Third Sunday of Advent – Love

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3, 14 

Understanding the light. This week of advent we turn to focus on love. I’m sure there are many things I could quote about love (love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love…), but instead I keep returning to this thought of light shining in the darkness.

There are many ways to be light in the darkness. One can saturate the darkness with intense floodlights, kinda like one would picture in a sudden police raid. It startles those in darkness and generally pisses people off. Then there’s the interrogation usage of light. The one intense spotlight shining on the accused, making him progressively more nervous and fearful until he finally caves into the demands. Or picture cockroaches running in fear as the light switch gets turned on. These are all ways for the light to shine in the darkness, but it is rare for the darkness to understand it.

But Jesus came as a light in the darkness full of grace and truth. Jesus came with love. He cared for the hurting, he cared for the oppressed and the outcast. He encouraged his followers to love as well. He wasn’t harsh and blinding, but gentle and guiding. But he still was light in the darkness.

Sure there were some who didn’t understand his light. Others today who have turned his light into the harsh and the offensive instead of the loving and leading. But as we are called to speak of the incarnation we are called to do so in love. As it is written, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Let us not be clashing cymbals or harsh lights. Let us speak of truth and shine the light in the darkness with grace and with love.

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What’s So Bad About Christmas?

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This month’s Synchroblog is of course apropos for the season and is themed “Redeeming the Season.” While this leaves the topics wide open to addressing everything from Christmas consumerism to debating how to appropriately remember the Solstice, it prompted me to ask “honestly, what’s so bad about Christmas?” (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or whatever).

Sure I can (and have here) listed my complaints against Christmas, but what I’m referring to today is why people are so adamant on only acknowledging the holiday they happen to celebrate to the exclusion of all others. I’m talking about those who freak out of people say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Or the people who bring lawsuits against schools or workplaces for putting up “Christmas” lights. The message they send is – “I don’t care that we live in a pluralistic world, I insist that the universe revolves around me and my preferences, I don’t even want to be reminded that people different than me even exist.”

Examples. When I was in high school my December final exam one year for my dance class was to choreograph a dance to music of my choosing. I choose a purely instrumental piece that had the term “Messiah” in it. A Jewish friend saw my tape with that title and complained to the teacher that her religion was violated if she had to listen to “Christian” music during my performance. Or a few years ago when I was a substitute teacher I was in charge of a 3rd grade class on the last day before Winter break. Of course the kids did nothing constructive all day, just games and craft projects. At one point I passed out pictures of a wintery scene with a horse drawn sleigh on them for the kids to color. A Muslim girl in the class refused to participate and complained that I was forcing her to celebrate Christmas by coloring that picture. This was after I had sat with her through lunch and recess while the other kids ate and played and talked with her about Ramadan (which she was observing).

This is a season of holidays. And if we truly want to redeem it so to speak, it seems like we need to get over ourselves. Our particular pet holiday, although deeply meaningful to us personally, is just one among many. To insist that others acknowledge our holiday or to barricade ourselves from exposure to other holidays is just plain selfish. Instead of trying to fight expression of any and all holidays because ours can’t be primary, lets work to allow equal promotion for all. I always liked Austin’s Trail of Lights each December in Zilker Park. It was a holiday celebration that allowed displays from whatever group wanted to set up a display. So there were of course Christmas displays (both secular and sacred), Hanukkah displays, Solstice displays, and even one set up to acknowledge the Greek Pantheon. It was fun and festive, and worked off of mutual respect instead of faked collective ignorance as to the existence of the entire season.

So let’s redeem the season by letting it be what it is – a season of holidays. Let’s acknowledge that other people deserve respect and don’t have to be exactly like us. And maybe we could all end up having a bit more fun with more reasons to celebrate and less excuses to fight. Maybe.

For other contributions to this Synchroblog check out –
Recapturing the Spirit of Christmas at Adam Gonnerman’s Igneous Quill
Swords into Plowshares at Sonja Andrew’s Calacirian
Fanning the Flickering Flame of Advent at Paul Walker’s Out of the Cocoon
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Brian Riley at at Charis Shalom
Secularizing Christmas at JohnSmulo.com
There’s Something About Mary at Hello Said Jenelle
Geocentric Versus Anthropocentric Holydays at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Celebrating Christmas in a Pluralistic Society at Erin Word’s Decompressing Faith
Redeeming the season — season of redemption by Steve Hayes
Remembering the Incarnation at Alan Knox’ The Assembling of the Church
The Obligation of Christmas at JonathanBrink.com
A Biblical Response to a Secular Christmas by Glenn Ansley’s Bad Theology
Happy Life Day at The Agent B Files

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Advent – Song of Hope

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As the theme of Advent this week is hope, I wanted to share the lyrics to one of my favorite songs that celebrates that hope. I have always found David Wilcox’s songs to hold truth in their very self-awarely simple and folksy way. The album this song is from, Into the Mystery, didn’t leave my cd player for about a year after it was released as I let the songs seep in. I keep coming back to this song though because of how beautifully it captures the hope of the incarnation. Enjoy.

If it Wasn’t for the Night

If it wasn’t for the night
So cold this time of year
The stars would never shine so bright
So beautiful and clear

I have walked this road alone
My thin coat against the chill
When the light in me was gone
And my winter house was stilled

When I grieved for all I’d made
Out of all I had to give
On the eve of Christmas day
With no reason left to live

Even then somehow in the bitter wind and cold
Impossibly strong I know
Even then a bloom as tender as a rose
Was breaking through the snow
In the dark night of the soul
In the dark night of the soul

If it wasn’t for the babe
Lying helpless on the straw
There would be no Christmas day
And the night would just go on

When it seem that death has won
Buried deep beneath the snow
Where the summer leaves have gone
The seed of hope will grow

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First Sunday of Advent – Hope

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Some hoped for a warrior. One who would come to overthrow the Romans. A great and might King who would stand above the masses and once again bring glory to the nation.

Some hoped for a purifier to come and cleanse the nation of it’s sin. One who would enforce the laws and punish those who transgress. One who could motivate a nation to toe the line of legalism and save themselves through piety.

What they got instead was a baby. God incarnate indeed, but God incarnate lowly, poor, and vulnerable. And a kind of hope that those obsessed with delusions of grandeur or religious fervor could barely comprehend, but which echoed in the hearts of the oppressed desperate for any hope at all. The type of hope that the one who bore this child understood when she proclaimed –

“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.” Luke 1:46-55

Jesus came as the incarnation of this hope for the brokenhearted. He urged us to love others and bring freedom to the oppressed. He healed the sick and ate meals with outcasts. He offended those calling for violent revolution and scandalized those upholding the letter of the law. But he proclaimed hope.

On this first Sunday of Advent we are called to remember that hope. To celebrate the incarnation that brought hope to those who had never dared hope before. But celebrating doesn’t mean just saying a few nice words or a prayer of thanksgiving. It means being that hope. It means as followers of Christ expressing his incarnation by being his hands and feet. By healing the sick, by setting the oppressed free, and bringing good news to the poor. Hope must be tangible and make a concrete difference in the lives of those who need it for it to be real hope. Let us not just proclaim hope, but be true harbingers of hope as we seek to live in light of the incarnation.

The words to one of my favorite carols of the season, O Holy Night, capture a bit of what this incarnate hope can look like in our lives –

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

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Friday Five – Christmas Crap

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So after that last post in which I affirm participating in the trappings of the Christmas season, I have to acknowledge that a lot of those trappings are well, just plain stupid and pointless. Take for instance the Cavalcade of Bad Nativities. One really has to wonder why anyone would spend money on such abundance of kitsch and crap, but it piles up every year. And I fully admit to owning my fair share of Christmas crap, I swear it just appears out of nowhere.

So in the spirit of acknowledging the pointless and tacky elements of the season (and because I haven’t done one of these in a long time), I’m posting my answers to the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five – grumbly Christmas edition.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal….

1) dessert/cookie/family food – Snickerdoodles. I usually get at least a plate or two of these each year in one cookie exchange or another and I honestly can’t stand the things. For one I hate hard cookies of all types. And secondly the false advertising in the name just annoys me. I mean SNICKERdoodle – I’m expecting a gooey confection of chocolate and caramel, but instead I get a generally overcooked and crispy sugar cookie dusted with cinnamon. Very disappointing. Oh and I can’t stand ham either.

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc…) – Champagne. Okay so I’ve only ever had cheap Champagne (technically sparking wine and not really Champagne), but I’m not a fan. Give me a cocktail or even better a nice steaming cup of spiced wine, but I’ll pass on the bubbly.

3) tradition (church, family, other) – White Elephant Gift Exchanges. The idea of going out to spend money on crappy kitsch that no one needs just to be cheezy represents all the things wrong with consumerism in America. Even when the point is to pass on cheezy crap that you already own, it seems that we are just showing the world that we have so much money that we own completely worthless crap that we can joke about. If we have to do a gift exchange I would much rather bring “nice” or usable gifts. A bottle of wine, a plate of fudge – stuff that will be used and not just end up in a landfill somewhere. (and yes I am ranting because I was voted down last night as our church planned our Christmas party…)

4) decoration – Hands down those giant inflatable lawn things. Tacky. Creepy. Just plain annoying.

5) gift (received or given) – Every year for Christmas growing up my grandfather gave me a porcelain statuette. Nice ones from designer names. Besides now having a collection of porcelain animals that I have no clue what to do with, what kind of gift is this for a 6 year old to open at Christmas?

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it. – I’ve always hated Away in a Manger. The stupid lines that proclaim that the little baby Jesus was too holy of a baby to cry and the sing-songy tune that gets stuck in your head. And speaking of cheezy nativity sets. Emma has the Little People Nativity which, of course, plays Away in a Manger. She loves the thing and plays it incessantly. The joy.

So with this outpouring of Christmas Spirit are we ready to get this season underway? :)

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Why I Christmas Shop

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In light of recent blog posts and Buy Nothing/Make Something days I feel like I need to state this as a confession – I Christmas shop. Of course there are a few of you who read this blog who might not understand the dilemma. For you, buying gifts for friends and family at Christmas is just a natural part of Christmas. But in this missional/justice oriented subculture (of which I am obviously deeply committed to) I feel like Christmas shopping is a sin I need to confess to committing. Kinda like how I still use disposable diapers for Emma.

Let me clarify. I am very much against rampant consumerism and greed. The American mindset that more is better and “I want, I want” is disgusting and displays more allegiance to an economic system than it does to way of Christ. A recent Walmart commercial displays this dichotomy as it has a mother of twins saying, “Sure, peace on earth sounds great, but unless I buy two of everything there is no peace in my house.” The greed and need to buy just for the sake of getting something doesn’t sit well with me. I didn’t go shopping this past weekend, so I guess I participated in Buy Nothing day, but I didn’t end up making anything either. Basically I lounged around and watched many episodes of Gilmore Girls and The Office on DVD with my in-laws.

So while I can eschew forms of extreme consumerism, I’m a bit more uncomfortable with some of the messages I’m hearing in the emerging/missional camps this year. The recent round of ridicule of Brian McLaren for his request that people buy his book reveal attitudes of judgementalism towards anyone who spends money on anything. Personally I’m not a huge fan of utterly rejecting the economic system. I’m more for engaging with it thoughtfully and ethically. Which is what led to this confession. This Christmas I am buying gifts. I am not just giving charity. I am not buying only Fair Trade. I am not making my gifts. And I am not going Dark for Darfur.

I like giving gifts. I especially like giving practical gifts that people will use and enjoy. Sure I will give charity, sure I’ll limit how much I give, and sure I’ll buy Fair Trade when possible. But I am also going to do my best to give gifts people want and need. I talk enough about Fair Trade that I assume people know that I am very very supportive of the concept. But I don’t see the need to buy fairly traded home decor gifts that people don’t really want or need just so that I can buy something fairly traded. Similarly I sew a lot and run a small quilting business. But raggy quilts aren’t everyone’s style, so I’m not going to clutter someone’s home with a gift they don’t like but feel obligated to use and display. To me to buy fair trade or spend time making something (that isn’t needed or wanted) just to be able to give something is more consumeristic and wasteful than ordering them a book they really want from their Amazon Wishlist.

So yes I participate in the cultural norms of the season. I don’t reject the trappings of the holiday or fear them unnecessarily. I guess you can say I try to participate in them in moderation. I give gifts, but attempt to do so thoughtfully. I’m not obsessing over decorations, or parties, or cookies (although I have in years past). I have no problem enjoying the cultural traditions alongside the religious roots. And I am trying to not let everyone else make me feel guilty because of it.

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Sacred Space and Revolving Christmas Trees

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Recently Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed posted some thoughts that touched on the physical aspects of churches and how that affects our worship. While that conversation focused on whether the church’s sacred space hinders the diversity of the church, I had to reflect on just how important space really is for worship.

I understand that the space one enters into in a church can set the tone for worship. Very different messages are sent with a room full of stained glass and pews all oriented to a pulpit as compared to a room full of couches arranged in a circle. The latter focuses one on receiving blessing, instruction, and edification from those privileged to occupy the pulpit. There are benefits to such an arrangement as it can serve to draw one’s attention to grander things outside of oneself. The former arrangement of couches invites community and promotes equity in the worship experience which is welcomed by some but avoided as uncomfortable by others. But regardless of how the worship is approached, it remains worship in both settings.

So while worship might be different depending on the setting of where you worship, I am uncomfortable with the idea that any particular setting could create better or worse worship. Is God more present or more glorified in a cathedral in Rome of hand-hewn stone and stained glass to lift one’s eyes to the heavens or in a tin roofed cement block structure in Haiti where all the hymns are sung in French (not Creole) because all they could get are cast off hymnals from France? How about in a mega-church stadium that seats 10,000 with the only symbol present being an American flag or in a rented bar with neon signs and pin-up girl calenders on the wall? Sure the theologies may differ and each church might be far from the path of actually serving God, but if individuals in each church are seeking to worship God in their particular setting, I can’t see how a value judgement could be made as to whose worship is better.

These sort of discussions remind me a bit too much of the questions the woman at the well asked Jesus regarding whether one should worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem. Jesus of course replied, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23) So while aesthetics and setting and the message our worship space sends are all valid considerations, if discussions of such get in the way of our worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth, then we’ve run amok somewhere. And for that I am grateful because our worship space today was filled with tacky 1980’s Christmas decorations and revolving Christmas trees.

As a small church plant we rent space that is during the week a community center for mentally handicapped adults. It is a very functional space that retains a living room feel (couches and all that), but it is, um, a bit tacky. It has bright orange carpet and the decor generally consists of artwork done by the clients (generally of the crayon and gluestick variety). But then there are the holiday decorations. In mid-September we walked in one Sunday to discover Halloween gone wild. An entire pumpkin patch had planted itself in the foyer, plastic ghosts, skeletons, witches, and black cats graced the walls, and fake spider webs hung from every available space possible (complete with glow-in-the-dark spiders). We laughed about how we must be the first (pseudo)evangelical church ever to have a sanctuary decorated with witches and ghosts and just dealt with it. Well today the Christmas decor appeared – animatronic caroling dolls, fake snow, glitz and glitter, and revolving Christmas trees. The place looked like a department store circa 1985. But it’s still our worship space. And no matter how tacky the orange carpet, or plastic skeletons, or revolving trees may be, I can’t see how any of those things would make our worship any less pleasing to God. Sure there may be issues of whether such things prevent others from wanting to worship with us (which is an interesting discussion), but if our worship is done in spirit and truth no amount of plastic kitsch can diminish it’s validity or power.

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Blessings, Thanksgiving, and Hunger

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As we Americans prepare for a day of utter gluttony tomorrow, I found Anna Quindlen’s back page editorial in this week’s Newsweek to be rather apropos. She writes on the devastating shortage of food recently in food pantries. –

The worst emergency food shortage in years is plaguing charities from Maine to California, even while the number of those who need help grows. The director of City Harvest in New York, Jilly Stephens, has told her staff they have to find another million pounds of food over the next few months to make up the shortfall. “Half as many pantry bags” is the mantra heard now that the city receives half the amount of emergency food than it once did from the Feds. In Los Angeles 24 million pounds of food in 2002 became 15 million in 2006; in Oregon 13 million pounds dwindled to six. It’s a cockamamie new math that denies the reality of hunger amid affluence.

There are many reasons why. An agriculture bill that would have increased aid and the food-stamp allotment has been knocking around Congress, where no one ever goes hungry. Donations from a federal program that buys excess crops from farmers and gives them to food banks has shrunk alarmingly. Even the environment and corporate efficiency have contributed to empty pantries: more farmers are producing corn for ethanol, and more companies have conquered quality control, cutting down on those irregular cans and battered boxes that once went to the needy.

This is a sobering reminder on the eve of a holiday generally used to preach the Christian values and origins of “our great nation.” Yet even in this remembrance we have somehow made it all about us. Now I’ve got no issue with family getting together for turkey and dressing or with the call to be thankful. But perhaps we could broaden our perspective. Instead of making construction paper pilgrim hats and handprint turkey placemats with our children in school and church, perhaps we should be out there collecting food and writing letters to the government imploring them to care for those in need. In our pious thanksgiving for all that we have been blessed with, it is good to be reminded that we need to in turn bless others. So instead of just remembering the origins and “Christian” roots of our country, perhaps we could put an effort into doing Christian things as a country. Like feeding the hungry.

But what am I doing to change that this year? Not a whole lot. I’m figuring it out too.

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Trappings of a World in Which We Do Not Believe

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So this month’s Synchroblog is on Halloween, or more precisely about people sharing their thoughts, their experiences, and their expertise on the subject of “A Christian Response to Halloween” (or at least something remotely connected to that idea.) When I first heard about it I was excited to take the time to do research and pull together my ideas on reclaiming the roots of Halloween for Christians as a continuation of my post last month. But honestly I hit a wall. Nothing inspired me. Nothing grabbed my attention. The only thing I kept coming back to was a scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In this scene Voldemort has arrived in Godric’s Hollow with the intention of murdering Harry. It is Halloween and he passes houses decorated for the evening and children masquerading as pumpkins. Voldemort refers to such things as “all the tawdry Muggle trappings of a world in which they did not believe.”

At Halloween our modern cultural rituals are a dim reflection of the historical practice of connecting with and honoring those who have come before. We lost the true meaning, but keep the trappings in hopes that we can connect in some way to something bigger than ourselves. We bring out the ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, and black cats not understanding what they mean, but longing nonetheless to grasp hold of a fleeting glimpse of the mysterious. We watch horror movies in hopes that fear, as raw and intense of an emotion as it is, will at least make us feel something beyond ourselves. But these things still remain trappings of a world in which we don’t fully believe.

Trappings of a world in which we do not believe. To what extent does that statement reflect the entire edifice of this thing we call Christianity? How much of our faith experience involves decorating our lives with symbols of that which we think might be fun if it were real but which is obviously not real enough to make a difference in our lives? Are all the trappings of church just forgotten symbols of a deeper reality? Do we desperately seek the next worship high in order to convince ourselves that we actually do feel something?

I don’t have the answers, but there are times when I take a look at what we do at church and wonder why the hell are we doing these things. I’m sure those rituals held some real meaning for some people once upon a time, but I just don’t get it now. It seems like the rituals, the trappings of faith, have become the only cultural artifact of faith. Much like plastic pumpkins and ghoulish blow-up lawn ornaments have replaced the historical roots of Halloween which are now only an echo, has this production we call church replaced the life Jesus called us to live? Is what we are doing at church just a hollow cultural echo of what we were meant to be?

Halloween and Christianity are safe because they are no longer connected to their roots. We can play around with them and only occasionally be reminded of the bigger mystery they represent. I do not fear Halloween because I only see a hollow artifice without roots (not that I fear those roots, but that’s another story). But I do fear Christianity when it is a hollow artifice. Trapping of a world in which we do not believe can be dangerous. Ignoring the wild and deep power of God as we engage in rituals of worship doesn’t sit well with me. I think we need to start lifting the veil and start believing again.

If you want to read other more coherent contributions to this Synchroblog (that maybe actually address the topic…) check out –
The Christians and the Pagans Meet for Samhain at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Our Own Private Zombie: Death and the Spirit of Fear by Lainie Petersen
Julie Clawson at One Hand Clapping
John Morehead at John Morehead’s Musings
Vampire Protection by Sonja Andrews
What’s So Bad About Halloween? at Igneous Quill
H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-N Erin Word
Halloween….why all the madness? by Reba Baskett
Steve Hayes at Notes from the Underground
KW Leslie at The Evening of Kent
Hallmark Halloween by John Smulo
Mike Bursell at Mike’s Musings
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Removing Christendom from Halloween at On Earth as in Heaven
Vampires or Leeches: A conversation about making the Day of the Dead
meaningful by David Fisher
Encountering hallow-tide creatively by Sally Coleman
Kay at Chaotic Spirit
Apples and Razorblades at Johnny Beloved
Steve Hayes at Notes from the Underground
Fall Festivals and Scary Masks at The Assembling of the Church
Why Christians don’t like Zombies at Hollow Again
Peering through the negatives of mission Paul Walker
Sea Raven at Gaia Rising
Halloween: My experiences by Lew A
Timothy Victor at Tim Victor’s Musings
Making Space for Halloween by Nic Paton

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