Not Saving Christmas

I've noticed a pattern in holiday movies, especially those marketed to the children. It's all about saving Christmas. The formula consists of a bunch of people not believing in Christmas or Santa Claus, a child who believes, and a Santa who's gone missing or lost the gift bag or his sled breaks down.  And that faithful child or group of children, or pets as the case may be, has to act heroically, in order to ensure that Christmas does in fact happen, that is, that everyone gets a gift to open on Christmas morning. It's bugged me for a while as I watched these programs with my own children and felt the hopelessness of a world that depends on the sincere belief of children against the big-bad world of hard-hearted adults. It's as if with maturity, one loses the ability to believe, and this belief--in whatever deity or saint or legend of your choosing--is what makes Christmas come.

Now I keep hearing the same phrase "saving Christmas" coming from the Christian sector. The very phrase "saving Christmas" grates on the nerves. Christmas, by its very nature, saves us. We cannot save Christmas. For all our good intentions, wishful thinking, or sincere believing, we are incapable of saving anything. Christmas is about God saving us. 

I think of a song on my Christmas playlist, sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter. It begins "no presents, no candy, no tree, no stockings hung by the fire. No parties, no family to greet, no angels' heavenly choirs. 

Bells are ringing all over the world, bells are ringing calling the light (emphasis mine)." Whatever we invent as the Christmas or Holiday season--gifts, family gatherings, trees or treats--these are just trimmings, all good things but if we let them eclipse the Light, they are empty, powerless distractions. If you are alone, barely keeping afloat in this difficult world, without gifts or family to present with gifts, I've got Good News for you--It's Still Christmas! If you live in a hostile country where your obvious celebration of such a religious holiday could mean death for you--It's still Christmas! 

In the barren, in the untouched womb, God conceived Christmas. Jesus, salvation. Immanuel, God with us. And He is with us still. Someone somewhere may succeed in preserving their perfect traditional holiday, but it isn't Christmas. Jesus is. Jesus the Light of the World born to seek and to save the lost. Born to set us free. Who "to our weakness is no stranger." Who is born Christ the Lord. Jesus saves us. He redeems us and He sets us free. Believe it or not, we easily become enamored of our captivity. Pretty paper on walls, pretty curtains at the bars. No amount of beautifying myself or my cell hides the lock on the door, the iron cuff on my ankle, and yet, I stayed. I saw Jesus, the light shining through the holes in His outstretched hands, welcoming me, promising peace and rest for my weary soul, freedom from this cage, hope against reason. I hesitated. Why? I don't know, perhaps the familiarity of our surroundings secures us against the unknown of that wide, open future. But eventually, one winter night, I reached out to touch that scarred hand, and He grasped hold of mine and has never let me go. This year, this Christmas, reach out to grasp the welcoming hand of the Christ-child, God-Man Jesus, and watch the prison disappear. Walk into that wide open, holding tightly to the Light of the World who promises to never leave you or forsake you. He is the faithful God who keeps His promises, crossed His heart and chose to die.

Don't exhaust yourself trying to "save Christmas" this year. "Behold your King! Before Him lowly bow" and you will be saved. 

Playlist

O Holy Night (Aliqua performs my favorite rendition) http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PcMCgUovd08

Go Tell It on the Mountain

It's True by Sara Groves http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h0LbaZ4PRZU

Reading list

Matthew 1:18-24

Romans 5:1-11

John 3:16-21

Hebrews 13:5,6

Acts 16:30,31

If you would like to venture into these Scriptures with someone, please let me know. I'd be honored to walk with you. 

Now Is The Time To Give Thanks

As a little girl, as a teenager, even as a young adult, I proclaimed Thanksgiving to be my favorite holiday. In the world of children, Christmas reigned as favorite since most could reasonably expect presents. In the world of religious adults, Christmas and Easter held equal sway as the appropriate favorite. But for me it has always been Thanksgiving. I'll just be honest--I think initially food, namely mashed potatoes and pie, relegated that Thursday in November to cherished day of the year in my calendar. I expect too that the relatively relaxed nature of the holiday in comparison to the chaotic Christmas celebrations appealed to my little introvert soul. We wore jeans (unheard of in that holiday dress pageantry world). We watched football. Sometimes we ate in the living room or wherever we could find an empty seat or patch of floor. As I aged, it remained my favorite for those same reasons. But these past few years, as I have grown, I find my reasons changed. As much as I dread the all-ready here and seemingly endless winter, I realized today that these months of November through March also contain my three favorite holiday "seasons:" Thanksgiving, Advent, and Lent.

Thanksgiving a dream combination word for the English-language lover. A word so simple in its make-up that we immediately memorize it and forget what it means. Thanks Giving. Giving Thanks. It's not a noun; it's a verb! An action verb at that! Give thanks! Just do it!
I look forward to this holiday every year, arranging my autumnal decorations in October, eeking my way through Halloween, all in anticipation of this one day where we gather, friends and family, to give thanks. I often feel alone in this anticipation. The day after October 31st, the Christmas candy replaced the Halloween candy on the grocery store shelves. Christmas lights appeared overnight. I passed decorated trees framed in house windows and found the "soft rock" radio station playing non-stop Christmas music, a full 55 days prior to that holiday! With all that has to be done for Christmas, teacher gifts and family gifts and and cleaning and planning (and pondering those dreaded new year's resolutions too), Thanksgiving becomes a deadline we must meet to ensure we're on track for the 25th of December. We rush through it, focusing on those traditional details of turkey and pie.
Or we're encouraged to view it as a conservative "take-it-back" holiday.  Remember the pilgrims and Indians. How they got a long and shared and how all people came to America for religious freedom? (nevermind the sarcasm, I'll get off my soapbox before I even start the lecture.).

The truth is that Thanksgiving is not a holiday of the past. It's a holiday of the present. Right now! This moment! This whole month and especially the 27th of November. Now is the time to Give Thanks! Reflect on these past months, days, hours, minutes. And rejoice. Gather together and give thanks. Share your joy, your gratitude with one another. Care for one another. Lift each other up with hope-filled words.

My challenge to you this November 27 is to Give Thanks. Get together with friends or family or both. Eat whatever you all like most to prepare and devour! Wear your comfortable clothes. And while you talk and laugh, give thanks.

This is the best way to prepare your heart and spirit for the coming seasons of Advent and Christmas. Taking time to remember all your blessings. I know there is pain and hurt and hunger in the world. And we can--we must--get and give help. But first, we have to stop and give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!