Saturday, December 20, 2008

Happy Holidays??? Leave it to us to bastardize another word.

THIS RANT IS RATED "E" FOR EVERYONE.

Holiday
 is a word derived from the combination of holy and day -- a day set aside for a religious observance.   We took it a step further with our national days of observance -- Lincoln's birthday (now Presidents' Day), Independence Day, Memorial Labor Day, blah, blah, blah.  

When I was a kid we had time off for school at the end of the year and it was the Christmas break.  We actually had Christmas programs -- not Holiday programs -- at school -- complete with manger scenes and the singing of O Come All Ye Faithful and other such tunes that dare mention the Christ Child -- or Jesus.  And now, self-appointed PC police in every state of the nation have stifled even so-called Christians from saying Merry Christmas.  To display a manger scene in certain areas is verboten.   Happy Holidays is the catch-phrase of the season, which each year looks less and less like the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the World (at least for those of us who believe), and more like the season to create nostalgic moments of family gatherings for the primary purpose of exchanging gifts -- or regifting gifts -- all for the sake of some commercial bottom line.   


It is not lost on me that Jesus was probably born in what we now call March or April (or sometime around those months) and that to relate His birth to sleighbells and snow is ludicrous whimsy.  I made peace with that a long time ago.   What I refuse to make peace with is the commercial madness of this time of year.  

Perhaps it would be better to move Christmas -- the real Christmas -- the celebration of Jesus's birth -- to another time of year.  But I suppose things would really be thrown off if we were celebrating his birth around the same time of year he was crucified and resurrected.  It would throw off everyone's social calendar.  Can you imagine purple-draped crosses and hay-filled mangers side-by-side?  Or for one's heathen neighbor, Easter bunnies and reindeer on your neighbor's front lawn?  Have you ever thought of the logistics of some commercial concerns that rely on the Christmas season to make or break their year's profits???

To my Christian friends:  Do you say happy holidays?  Or do you say Merry Christmas?  Or does it vary depending on to whom you are speaking and whether you are at work or home or out and about?   Just curious.

And to my Jewish friends:  Do you say happy holidays?  Or do you say happy Hanukkah?   And if you say the latter, do you say it to everyone or just your fellow congregants?   Just curious.

And to my unbelieving friends (yep, got those too):  What do you really make of this day -- other than determining how many presents you need to purchase and for whom, and how many presents you expect to receive and from whom?  Do you get those warm, fuzzy feelings from attending family gatherings?  Or do you get wasted at your firm's holiday party?  Or both?

It seems that of all the religions in the world, Christianity, which accounts for about 33%(half of which are unfortunately Roman Catholic, but that's for another day) (according to the CIA's world fact book), is the one religion that is stifled in its attempts to celebrate God, at least in the United States.   The Constitutional right of free speech is easily tossed aside if Jesus is the subject.  Oh, it seems to be okay if one is Buddhist or Hindu or whatever else.  And, by all means, the Satanists and Wiccans must be allowed to practice their craft or whatever they call it.  But let anyone talk about Jesus.  Heads turn, eyes are cast down, and under-the-breath mutterings commence.  

News flash to Christians:  if you are ashamed to own Him, He will be ashamed to own you (see Luke 9:26).

One last thing about the process of bastardizing:   I am aware that this time of year was chosen to celebrate the birth of the Messiah because it was a pagan holiday or coincided with the winter solstice, and perhaps it was an opportunity to align with the old habits of new believers by having them celebrate something Christian on a day that they formerly celebrated something else.    

For whatever the reason, if you're celebrating Christmas, celebrate Christmas.  If you're observing Hanukkah, observe Hanukkah.    If either of these days mean something to you, I implore you to treat them as if they do.   And if you just want to spend a ton of money, incur a lot of debt, eat too much food and drink too much liquor-laced egg nog, I suppose you have nothing better to say than HAPPY HOLIDAZE.



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

For Gwen and You: It's About Time

With great sadness, but more joy, I received news yesterday that someone I have known for ten years transcended this life.    She went to be with the Lord.  I have been witness to some of the triumphs and tragedies of her last ten years.   I witnessed her marriage to my former pastor; with others of our congregation I prayed for and awaited her return to the United States after being sentenced to bedrest in London during the last months of her pregnancy and premature birth of their son.   


She loved food.  I recall her intense facial expressions when something pleased her palate.  She made me smile with pleasure by devouring my chocolate chip cookies, and even made special requests for them.   A little size 2 of a woman, she wore an extra-extra-large garment made of a special cloth -- a blend of equal parts of love, joy, and peace; triple-stitched with patience, kindness, and goodness; and accessorized with the perfect balance of faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.   While very pleasing to most men's eyes, her real beauty lay deep within the core of her being.   


The joyful news is that her suffering is over.  The sad news is that those of us who are left will have to wait to see her again.  I wonder how much time that will be.
   

What about time?  That's sort of a touchy subject for some because we know we're not immortal.  We're all going to depart this earth, but we don't know how much time we have:  Days?  Weeks?  Months?  Years?  A decade or two?  We really don't know.  


So it puzzles me when people say that they're going to do X when Y gets right:    "I'm going to go to church when I stop drinking, or when I stop seeing that married man or woman, or when I get rid of my addiction I'll go to church."    The problem is that we cannot get ourselves right to go to God; we need to go to God to get ourselves right.  If we could do it by ourselves, we wouldn't need God.  The fact is we are not equipped to do it ourselves.  We need to learn about God, and especially learn to listen to Him to understand how He works in our lives and to deal with the baggage that we have.   My fear is that many of us are waiting until tomorrow.    Unfortunately, unlike Gwen's departure, it is not always inevitable.

 
We say that our church grounds, and especially our sanctuaries, are consecrated; they're holy.  And that is so true.  But I cannot think of a better place for an addict to lay his crack pipe than on the altar of any sanctuary if it is symbolic of him or her laying that burden down and saying "here, God, I can't handle this; help me with this; you can handle this for me.  I put my life in Your hands and want You to help me deal with this albatross -- not just around my neck, but my life."  Our sanctuaries are not so sacred that we cannot come in and lay our burdens at the altar.  No, we don't have to do this in a tangible way, but just symbolically.  When we go to God and confess to Him that we are sinners, ask Him for forgiveness, and confess that we know we cannot truly live without Him, in essence, we are laying our burdens on the altar – the altar of our hearts – to God.  


And so I encourage you today: Don't wait until you end that affair; you cannot truly end it without Him.  Don't wait until you've had the last rock of crack or that last snort of cocaine; you cannot truly end it without Him.  Don’t wait unto the next time you strike your mate, curse your parents or children, or make another deal that is great for you but lousy for the folks who have entrusted their resources to you.  There will always be another if you keep putting it off.  And if you think you're okay and there's nothing wrong with you -- especially if you think you're okay -- don't wait - run!  Run as fast as you can to God.  Turn yourself over Him and He'll help you get through it.  He'll help you conquer those demons and win those battles.  Will it be easy?  Absolutely not.  But when you get through it, life will be so much rewarding.