Carrying Christmas Over

I traditionally leave our Christmas tree up until at least the first weekend of the new year while gradually taking the decorations off on the days leading up to packing it away. No hurry here. I like to think of Christmas decorations as also winter/holiday decorations. Why not let the season linger?

Last December I mentioned in my blog an idea of celebrating the spirit of Christmas year-round as a way to carry over not only the trappings but the goodwill and generosity of the season. Why not continue the idea of sharing and caring for one another throughout the year with special emphasis on the 25th of each month as a reminder? "The least of these," as Jesus called those who are down, disadvantaged or discouraged, need support every day not just during the holidays. Even though 2014 turned out to be a year I devoted to a different "cause," I'm re-proposing a year of giving and hope to help keep the idea alive in 2015.

Generosity should be a way of life. Giving should be as natural as breathing. Not just money, but other resources like time, effort, a joyful attitude and especially a heart willing to love others, not condemn and judge them. Many people do live day-to-day with an attitude of generosity and they act on their better impulses. Many others would like to be able to give more, but time and money can be in short supply when our lives are often busy with our own families and obligations. Let's find ways to work around our limitations and spread generosity out over the course of the year.

Many of the elderly with no family near would enjoy a visit at least once a month. People who are lonely need to feel connected to someone. Local food pantries too often have shelves which are nearly bare. Many young families are struggling to get by and would be grateful for diapers or help with the electric bill or gas money for getting back and forth to work or school. Some people live in houses which are in need of repair and they lack the funds or know-how to fix what’s wrong. You get the idea.

So, why not start a new tradition of marking the 25th day of each month as a day to do something extra-nice for someone, to volunteer somewhere or otherwise make a real effort to have a positive impact on the community? Doesn’t it seem like the kind of idea which is in line with the message Jesus came to proclaim? Let's carry the spirit of new birth with us all year long, wherever we go, whatever we do.

Contentment and Change

How do we reconcile personal contentment with the desire to see change in society on a greater scale? It's a question many of us struggle with every day.

As her Christmas gift for the family last year my daughter Tracy created an elaborate game which combined strategy, skill, a scavenger hunt, puzzles and action. We all had fun, so she made up another version for this year which we played yesterday.

When she and her husband and two sons arrived at our house, her two-year-old, Vale, was wearing a zip-up sweater and declared himself to be Mr. Rogers, which is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. He loves Mr. Rogers and can sing along with most of the opening theme song. Tracy had received a letter informing her that she's on the dean's list. She put it on our refrigerator reminiscent of the days of good report cards from elementary school. My 12-year-old grandson, Farrand, displayed his knowledge and talents in amazing ways throughout the game. Allen and the boys built a Lincoln log village afterward.

I'm not writing of these things to boast, especially knowing that Christmastime is less than ideal for many. I write of them to say how much simpler life would be for most of us to shut out what's happening in the world and live in isolation, keeping to ourselves, seeking personal contentment and happiness. My family had a wonderful time yesterday, and it was easy to forget what's going on around the country and in our own community. And there are days that I think oblivious living is a good path. Some days it is the path I do, indeed, choose.

But as many people are set to celebrate the birth of Jesus this week, I recall the scripture which is often cited as the beginning of his public ministry, as recorded in Luke 4. Jesus went into the synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah declaring that, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

For those of us who are disciples of Jesus, students of his teaching, he is to be our example for how to live in the world. More than 2,000 years after he spoke of proclaiming the Lord's favor, his words are more poignant than ever. If ever there was a time when people are poor, imprisoned, oppressed and blinded to so many things, needing to hear good news, that time is now. To celebrate the birth of Christ, it is time for this generation to celebrate his life and teachings and put words into action.

Finding contentment with friends and family is a wonderful feeling. Not being satisfied until those around us have equal ability to be free, content and filled with joy is our calling as believers. Personal contentment must spur us on to do what we can to make circumstances better for our neighbors and to leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. A two year old who admires Mr. Rogers gives me hope, but most of all he provides the encouragement I need to keep moving forward to help change what needs to be changed.

Jesus and War

Part of the message which accompanied the birth of Jesus as recorded in scripture is, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Jesus was called the Prince of Peace. "Blessed are the peacemakers" is one of the beatitudes. James 3:17 says, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

In that context and in the spirit of the season, I'm going to offer another look at two of the comments I made on my blog on November 30. I posited that "responding to violence with violence creates war," and "responding to evil with evil creates all manner of evil." Instead, I suggested we "respond to violence with peace," and "respond to evil with good." I believe those statements to be in line with New Testament teachings.

My original intent in the post -- there were other items about fear, anger, unforgiveness and hate -- was to a greater extent how we deal with people around us on a one-to-one basis, personal interactions (humans solving problems directly with other humans around us) and to a lesser extent solving international problems (which could be called humans allegedly trying to solve problems with the human race), even the part about responding to violence with violence causing war. There are such 'wars' going on in families and communities every day. 

I can understand why the comments quickly went to things such as, "Would love have stopped WWII? Thank goodness not everyone waited for Jesus to stop Hitler. Somebody had to step up to the plate and fight the war" and "Turning the other cheek will only empower ISIS. They must be systematically destroyed."

I'm not trying to create another discussion along those lines. I want to be clear that while I do believe our country has become too eager to use military force, I cannot rightly call myself a pacifist. I do envision scenarios where I would take up arms to save my family or defend myself or my country. However, I also think the principles Jesus spoke of would 'work' on a grander scale of nations solving their problems with other nations. What we're doing now isn't working. I would like to give the 'Jesus solution' a try, even though there are powerful people who have greed as their only god who will do their best to make sure peace will never be given a chance.

But here is my point for now: Because of our willingness to intervene militarily it is one more reason why the U.S. government cannot lay claim to the title of 'Christian nation.' (Judaic law might come close to what we follow because we definitely practice an eye for eye, or rather more like one thousand eyes for each eye.) If, as U.S citizens, we believe war is the answer that's a separate issue from trying to make Jesus be the declarer of war. 

Christians can and do serve in the military. It is reassuring that in a complicated world there are men and women who serve their country with character, dignity and honor. Sometimes decisions are made by individuals that none of us would ever wish to make. By heavily intertwining a religious view (the spirit) with a worldview (the flesh) when it comes to war, I think we must have surely made it more difficult, not less, for many members of the military. I can't speak for them, only to say my father served in WWII and I know he carried many burdens his whole life because of it. It is individuals who suffer when governments make decisions which require military intervention.

I'm not trying to over-simplify any difficult matter, but I do believe that trying to justify war by saying that Jesus would gladly declare it, seems to me to create a perverted view of the Gospel which  has extended to many other areas in society. If we can convince ourselves that Jesus is a fan of war as the 'go-to' action, without keeping his greater message in context and uppermost in our minds, we can convince ourselves that Jesus approves of almost anything that we think is the right course of action, no matter how many people are hurt in the process. 

That kind of thinking doesn't lead to peace in our lives, peace in our communities or peace on Earth.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Two years ago I wrote a blog post similar to the following. But as it seems little has changed, it think it's worth another go at applying the message of Jesus to this "most wonderful time of the year." There's a familiar scripture which asks, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" While specks and planks abound throughout the year for most of us, somehow it seems a forest (of pine?) falls into the eyes of many Christians during the Christmas season. For example -- I know many of my friends are passionate about this, I don't wish to offend -- it seems 'speckish' to be concerned about the phrase 'happy holidays.'

If an employee of a store says 'happy holidays,' remember it is NOT his or her job to share the church’s story of the birth of Jesus. That is the job of Christians to do. It is the job of cashiers at big box stores, for example, to keep their sanity while running barcodes across a scanner for an eight-hour shift and taking payments from customers who sometimes hurriedly push, complain and scowl their way through a check-out line, minus the merry or happy.

If we can't smile and say 'merry Christmas' back to someone (who is either simply doing a job or genuinely being nice) and move on, what does that say about our attitudes? If we think 'happy holidays' is a battle cry in the alleged 'war on Christmas,' I believe we are seriously missing the point. I suggest that when Americans spend upwards of half a trillion dollars on Christmas when it would take only $20 billion to ensure that all people in the world could have access to clean water for a year, that's more akin to a war on real Christian values. I fear we're losing the battle when it comes to simplicity, compassion, kindness, treating others as we wish to be treated and the love of money and materialism.

When we support overspending and mass consumption, we should perhaps look at the message we're sending, especially to children. We may talk about 'the reason for the season,' but what are we teaching by our actions? Do we equate love with how much we've spent on gifts for someone? The bigger the price tag the greater the love? Or is quantity the problem? Do we need a mountain of gifts under the tree to such an extent that we buy cheap products without a thought about where they've come from or who has made them? Do we try to make Christmas be about a feeling or moment? I'm guilty of these things too, but change comes one good decision at a time.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine made an excellent point. He said, "In my neighborhood, a few signs are up with 'Jesus IS the reason.' I've been trying to think if there ever was a time when 'Jesus WAS the reason.' I've been thinking about my early Christmases -- e.g., 1950s. Sure, there were some nativity scenes, but it was a holiday that did nothing for my spiritual well-being. The first school day after Christmas, it was the same old story -- the more affluent kids seemed to have 'most favored kid' status with Santa."

It's only in recent times, as we've been TOLD there's a war on a holiday which now takes up more than two months of the year, that we've been worried about things like 'happy holidays,' which was a perfectly fine greeting when I was a kid. Santa Claus was readily accepted as the driving force of the season, just as he is now, but no one complained. Our church Christmas programs had the obligatory (and always touching) reading of the nativity story and everyone went home with a warm and joyful attitude. No one felt compelled to look for the devil in every corner of the tinsel-draped stores or to start a ruckus about 'holiday trees,' which I think is a stupid idea, but harmless in the grand scheme of things. (No one shopped on Thanksgiving, either, but that's another story.)

A huge part of the 'speck and plank problem' is that many people are getting their religious guidance from news outlets and social media rather than straight from the source. If you want to believe what any talking head on television -- on almost ANY media outlet -- says is true about what's happening in the world, that's your business. But let's not take the information as the Gospel. It's not. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give us the real scoop on the message of Jesus.