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advent guide

Christmas Is Not...

Advent in the Apophatic Tradition

Advent 2010

Merry Christmas!

Mery Christmas! Thanks for taking time to reflect with us during this season of Advent. 2010 is our fourth year of publishing an Advent Guide and we re more excited about this year’s collection of reflections than any year past. But we have to warn you, this edition may be the most challenging thus far.

Here is the concept: The first three weeks are reflection inspired by the apophatic tradition of Christian theology. Apophatic theology is referred to as the via negativa (Way of Negation), that is, speaking of God in terms of what God is not. Apophatic theology recognizes the inadequacy of human language to describe God, who is ineffable. So, our attempt in this Advent Guide is to describe Christmas, the celebration of the incarnation of God, by reflecting on what Christmas is not.

Our attempt in describing Christmas through negation is to get to the root of what Christmas is – namely, the celebration of God becoming enfleshed in the infant Jesus.

We have a concern. Our concern is that this publication, especially the first three weeks, may appear cynical, or, well, negative towards very meaningful traditions and observances that are common during the seasons of Advent and Christmas. This is not our purpose. We do not want to be negative for the sake of being negative. Rather, we sense within ourselves, and to a certain extent within many Christians in the United Sates, that our celebration of Christmas is no longer sacred, that is, set apart. The miraculous story of God’s incarnation has become merely another ornament competing for space on our Christmas tree. In that light, we hope that this Advent Guide is a small step in returning our focus to the essence of the feast of Christmas – God with us.

Some of the topics

of our reflections are tied to deep

emotions and traditions surrounding Christmas for many of us. As the authors of these reflections we share many of these deeply seated emotions. We value those emotions and traditions as well as the people who have passed them down to us. Yet we are uneasy at the excessive commercialization and increasing secularization of our sacred holy day.

We have been challenged in

writing these reflections and we pray that as you are challenged you will wrestle with us in the struggle to see clearly the tradition of Christmas.

In Christian theology, the apophatic is balanced by the kataphatic, that is, positive theology based upon the incarnation, through which God has revealed God-self in the person of Jesus Christ. The fourth week of our reflections begin with the statement Christmas is.... We hope that the first three weeks of parring away the superficial ornamentation of our Christmas celebrations will allow us, in the final week, to re-member the birth of our king.

We also have a confession. This idea was not completely our own. We read a good book a few years back edited by Brent Laytham called God Is Not.... We have borrowed the format of that book for this year’s Advent Guide. We hope you will walk with us through the season of Advent as we prepare to welcome the Lord Jesus into our world.

Week One

Day

Day Day Day Day Day Day

1: Christmas is Not Advent 2: Christmas is Not Essential 3: Christmas is Not Easter 4: Christmas is Not a Day 5: Christmas is Not a Time 6: Christmas is Not Silent 7: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Christmas Is Not Essential I’m not a crier. There are only a few instances where tears come for me.

I have no idea if that is good or bad, or if it even matters. I do know, however, that I will not make it through the first Sunday of Advent without tears finally spilling out over my eyelids. What gets me are the hymns of Advent and Christmas. These hymns, to me, convey the deepest meanings of Christian faith. The new year has not begun until I have sung “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” I cannot conceive of the Christmas holiday without joining voices with other Christians to sing those songs of faith.

Christmas is charged with meaning in our culture. We all appreciate different parts of the celebrations – for some, family gatherings; for others, feasts and exchanging gifts; for me, the hymns. Here in the northern hemisphere, even the creation points to the meaning of Christmas. At the point of our deepest darkness, the light of Christ sneaks into the world, illuminating our earth with his radiance.

For Advent and Christmastide, we redecorate our houses and sanctuaries, change out our music collections, celebrate with all our might, and do our best to visit everyone we can. These things matter to us. They matter deeply, and they form and reinforce our ideas about ourselves and one another. The coming of Christmas shapes our years and our traditions for holding one another close.

That the holiday inspires this is a good thing. But I wonder, is our emphasis in the right place? Is Christmas bursting with too much meaning? Only two of the four Gospels find the stories of

Jesus’ birth interesting enough to include them, and those two recountings have almost nothing in common. All of the Gospels go to great lengths to narrate Jesus’ passion and resurrection. The early church did not celebrate Jesus’ birth. That celebration, which became Christmas, was adopted several centuries later as a way of Christianizing a pagan Roman festival called Saturnalia. No one knows whether Jesus birth occurred in December. Likely it did not, but it made for good symbolism in reclaiming a party to Saturn for Jesus. Should that be our most important feast of the year?

I wonder this because I think our practices of celebration may be tilted toward the wrong part of the church year. For all the wonder of the incarnation, Christmas will not make us Christian. Only Easter can do that.

Knowing the beginning of Jesus’ story is to be swept away in the miraculous.

To stand at the end of the story, beneath the cross of Jesus, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer has said, is to “be bidden come and die.”

I do not want to rain on the Macy’s Day parade. I’m not ready to give the pagans their holiday back. I love many of the traditions we have developed around Christmas, and intend to continue celebrating them. Christmas rightly brings us joy in a world with too little joy. Jesus’ coming is good news.

But we celebrate Christmas knowing how this story ends. We kneel at the manger to adore Christ the Lord, but we know a cross looms in the distance. The party we throw at the beginning of this story should be grand.

After all, the journey to Jerusalem will be long and arduous. But only when we arrive there will we be able to see why we celebrated this new life come into the world. Christmas is important, but Easter is essential.

Christmas Is Not Easter I grew up in a Baptist church. We were neither overly traditional nor rock the boat Baptists. We had strengths and weaknesses just as any body of Christ. One practice we did not observe diligently was that of the Christian calendar. I did not start recognizing the Christian calendar and realizing its significance until I was in college and I had a Catholic roommate. I watched her practice some significant religious holidays, like Ash Wednesday, that I had never heard about. My college and seminary education helped me to understand the purpose behing the Christian calendar. I started to embrace the idea that everything in our faith has a season.

I now love the colors which signify different seasons.

I love that there are hymns that are appropriate for certain seasons. I love that there is a cal-

endar that guides our faith and puts structure to the events of Christ’s life for us.

While Easter is the essential celebration of the Christian year, advent is the celebration of incarnation, the unique beginning of Immanuel, ‘God with us.’ Advent is a time of preparation for the infant king who is yet to come, but eagerly anticipated. We expectantly await the birth by decorating our sanctuaries and homes with greenery and colorful ornamentsl.

Normally, we have nine months to prepare for the arrival of a

baby, but in the Christian calendar we have just four weeks.

Christmas, then, is the celebration of Christ’s arrival. It is when all our friends, family and guests gather to celebrate the birth of our Savior-King. Christmas is the culmination of advent when we can finally sing, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come!”

As I have gained more respect for the Christian calendar, there is one practice that I have continued to question. As an intern, I served a church that hosted a midnight candlelight service that included the Lord’s supper. When I arrived at my current church they practiced a “drop-in” communion time on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. While there is beauty in participating in this sacred meal together in the simplicity of candlelight, there is also something haunting to me. I am not yet ready to partake in the “body and blood” of Jesus. On Christmas Eve, we replace our paraments with white and turn down the lights symbolizing our ultimate readiness for Christ’s birth. Yet I have a hard time jumping to the end of Christ’s life.

Christmas is our time to remember through song and story the “Holy Night” on which Christ arrived. It is hard for me to skip seasons and remember the meal just before Christ was crucified.

Depictions of the manger in the shadows of a cross do not comfort me. There is a simplicity and innocence to the incarnation that needs to be remembered. Because we know the whole story, it is hard for us to leave the cross behind. But we must remember that God entered the world through the frailty of human form, not only as a sacrifice, but also that he might be with us. We do well to bless, celebrate and glorify God’s achievement in incarnation, just as the Shepherds did long ago..

Jesus has a long way to go from birth to the cross. Do we dare crucify the Christ child before we have worshipped and adored him? Before we have even heard his teachings? We have a long journey to make with him. Let us take time to remember that Christ was a baby, God’s sacrificia gift to humanity on Christmas Day and the journey is long to the sacrifice of Easter.

Christmas is Not a Time

Christmas comes and goes in terms of the calendar. It has a date, a season and occurs in regular yearly intervals. There is a period of the year in which Christmas is present within our minds as a reality. Particular activities mark the onset and end of Christmas, such as the decorating and un-decorating of houses or church sanctuaries.

In my childhood, the end of Thanksgiving weekend brought about the raising and decorating of a Christmas tree. This was a family practice and lasted the better part of a Saturday afternoon and evening. We played seasonal songs on the radio, drank hot chocolate and often made cookies and treats to celebrate the season. This day marked the beginning of Christmas in our family.

Other families mark the onset of Christmastime through church services, shopping trips, parties, Christmas light tours, or vacations. And there are those who experience the marks of Christmas through the change of music on radio stations, television programming and advertisements, or simply a change of weather. Even if you do not carry a calendar or pay attention to the date or time on your watch, there are changes all around to mark the time of year as Christmas.

Our culture suggests that the importance of these markers is that they share a quality pertaining to a person’s disposition or state of being that is referred to by some as cheer and others as spirit. While there is no definition for “Christmas spirit,” there seems to be some agreement that it has to do with a higher degree of selflessness, peace, happiness or goodwill towards others. Now it is easy to see how songs, gatherings and sacred rites bring about such a disposition. However, I cannot help but wonder if rituals such as shopping trips filled with folks exchanging four-letter words with salespersons over sold-out video game systems really have anything to do with peace or goodwill.

I wonder if the idea of a special Christmas disposition is yet one more way that society commodifies a holy day of the church? Peace and goodwill towards others are good. But they are not goods of which we partake because the time of year is Christmas. Pease and goodwil are to be practiced regardless of the time of year. Viewing Christmas as the time of year for peace, happiness and goodwill is a way of objectifying a holy celebration. The incarnation of God is not an event to be used by humanity for the goal of happiness, peace, or goodwill. In fact, it is not something to be used for anything. Rather, God’s incarnation is a sacramental reality to be celebrated by humanity. It is a divine gift offered to humanity as an agent of hope. Incarnation is the instrument that God uses to decree His sovereign rule over creation. It is the power of love turned into flesh.

Christmas, Christmas time is near Time for toys and time for cheer We’ve been good but we can’t last Hurry Christmas, hurry fast

Want a plane that loops the loop Me, I want a hula hoop We can hardly stand the wait Please Christmas, don’t be late Time in this day and age is a commodity that we use to accomplish our own agendas. Though a childish expression, ‘The Chipmunk Song’ is a perfect example of how Christmas has become objectified into a time when we receive gifts that we want. And we certainly do not want Christmas to be late lest we miss our gifts. But...

Christmas is not a time.

Rather, Christmas is a celebration of God’s sovereignty and love.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To whatch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep

Poem by Robert Frost

Week Two Day

Day

Day

Day

Day

Day

Day

1: Christmas is Not a Memory 2: Christmas

is Not a Family Reunion 3: Christmas is Not a Cartoon Special 4: Christmas is Not December 25 5: Christmas is Not Santa Claus 6: Christmas is Not a National Holiday 7: Paper Trails & Providence

Christmas is Not a Memory We all carry Christmas memories with us. There are moments of special excitement – seeing a loved one after a lengthy period away, perhaps, or a memorable gift received. There are memorable meals. There are events that brought into focus the meaning of the season. There are difficult memories, of loved ones not with us or of times of hardship. There are memories of candlelight, hymns, snowfalls, and announcements of births or deaths that forever change our lives. Perhaps more than any other season, Christmas brings that rush of memories that bind us together as families and friends.

Memories are kept alive by telling stories. We recount stories of Christmases gone by to one another and to our children, and in so doing those stories live.

They constitute the bonds that draw us together as families during the Christmas season. Memories tell us who we are and why we are the way we are. In remembering, we are able to situate ourselves in the long narratives of our families, including the great family of God and God’s people. So it matters that of all the stories we tell, the one we tell most often and dwell in most deeply is the story of the first Christmas.

The Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke are not just memories, however.

To be sure, they are products of a collective memory, faithfully narrated from generation to generation by the communion of saints. But the original stories of Christmas are not normal stories. They narrate one of the decisive events of human history – the Incarnation. This is not your average family Christmas memory. That is the case not only because of its cosmic significance, but because the story is open-ended. The same God enfleshed and born of Mary as Jesus of Nazareth dwells among us and within us today in the person of the Holy Spirit. The story continues: we see the indwelling of the Spirit in one another; we note God at work in communities across the world; we see Jesus today “in his most distressing disguises,” as Mother Teresa said, in the faces of the poor in the world.

In this sense, Christmas is not a memory. The Creator surprisingly slipped into his Creation to renew it some two thousand years ago. The Spirit, the same God present at the creation, still bursts into our midst today. Sometimes that happens where a few folks gather to pray. Other times, the Spirit stands in a breadline. The Spirit works miracles in a house where the money runs out before the month does, or moves to bring people together from across all kinds of boundaries to be brother and sister. Mostly, God’s Spirit disrupts us in places we never would have imagined. We do well to respond as the shepherds of the original story “glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen” (Lk 2:20).

Christmas is Not A Cartoon Special One of the Christmas gifts from my childhood that I remember with fondness was a VCR. This was dropped by St. Nick for the whole family, and along with it were our first two video cassettes. They had all of the holiday season’s television specials on it: “A Garfield Christmas,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” The “ALF” Christmas Special, “A Claymation Christmas” featuring the California Raisins, something called “A Mouse, a Mystery, and Me” that my brother and I loved, and my personal favorite, “A Muppet Family Christmas.”

Those tapes were watched over and over for years to come. If I found them at my parents’ house sometime soon, I’d watch them all again, provided I could locate a VCR. Watching those Christmas-themed shows was always a part of the holiday season. They made for good family time, with hot cocoa and popcorn and a fire on the gas logs. So I have a soft spot in my heart for the occasional gathering around the TV. I even have a new copy of the Muppet Family Christmas now, and I look forward to showing it to John Tyson and Zeb at some point. We will watch it together and laugh at the silly jokes and worry about Miss Piggy caught in a blizzard and sing along to all the carols at the very end. We will have fun together doing all that.

However, as the credits roll, my boys will not know anything more about Christmas than they did at the beginning of the show. We will have enjoyed those forty or so minutes together, but we will be no closer to the truth of the holiday.

Even though every one of those shows above turns from comedy to drama and seriousness at some point, they only manage to portray sentimentality, not Truth. Especially not Truth incarnated. The only kind of message we can really expect from a cartoon about a domesticated cat is one about a domesticated god. That kind of god may send snow on December 24th, or give us feelings of peace for a day or two.

That god may even teach us a good moral message about friendship or sharing. But the god of Garfield is not the God become man in Jesus Christ. The God of the universe is wild, and is wildly three-dimensional.

The demands that Jesus’ coming places on our lives are hard-too hard to be tackled by a half-hour cartoon, and definitely too hard to sell blocks of advertising on a television network, which is perhaps the greatest issue. The story of Jesus’ birth is filled with wonder, and it leaps off the page because we find ourselves in the story, too. We must ask ourselves, confronted with this story, whether there would be room in our homes for this young family, or whether we would harbor them as political refugees in Egypt, or whether we are ready to embark on the journey that begins at a manger but winds up at a cross. The real story of Christmas engages us in ways that the California Raisins simply cannot.

At some point, my kids will probably see Rudolph and Frosty on television, even if I try to prevent it. When they do, I hope they will enjoy them. I also hope they will know that those things have little, if anything, to do with Christmas.

Instead, I pray that they will celebrate with joy the adventure of discipleship that calls us to be animated by the very Spirit of God.

Christmas is Not December 25 Believe it or not, the early church did not celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Easter was the prime holy day. The earliest evidence of a celebration of Christ’s birth is recorded by Clement of Alexandria. He wrote of Egyptian theologians assigning May 20 as the day of Christ’s birth. In fact, most scholars suggest that the time of Christ’s birth would most likely have been in the spring or summer due to the mention of shepherds tending their sheep.

The date of December 25 appears to have been decided by church officials during the fourth century.

Many scholars speculate that the decision was based on the celebration of certain pagan holidays, most notably Saturnalia. This was a Roman festival viewed with disdain by Roman emperors and the church. It appears likely that the church placed the celebration of Christ’s birth to subvert or offset the festival of Saturnalia, which they viewed as a particularly hedonistic festival.

However, there is something striking in the placement of Christ’s birth near the feast of Saturnalia in spite of the churches negative view of the pagan holiday. Saturnus was the god of agriculture and harvest and the festival of Saturnalia was a time

of eating, drinking and merry-making.

The most interesting aspect of the feast is that it was in many ways a festival of liberation. The primary cultic ritual of the festival included loosening the bonds which restrained the feet of the statue of Saturn in his temple to symbolize the liberation of the god from an imprisonment that was part of his ancient mythology.

The Roman public celebrated the liberation of Saturn through a reversal of the social order. Slaves were released from punishment and treated as equals. Less formal dining clothes were permitted, including a felt hat symbolizing freedom, known as a pileus, normally worn by slaves released from their servitude. A special banquet was held where slaves were allowed to celebrate and dine with their masters (sometimes even being served by their masters).

Now, one can imagine that such a festival which in small, but meaningful ways, subverted the social order would be viewed with disdain by local and state authorities and by the church, particularly because of its hedonistic nature. Yet, one cannot help but wonder at the irony of the placement of Christ’s birth during such a time. For it was Jesus himself who proclaimed:

upon me, is d r o L e h t The Spirit of d me e t in o n a s a h because he he poor. t o t s w e n d to bring goo ease l e r im a l c o r e to p He has sent m es to the captiv blind, e h t o t t h ig of s and recovery go free, d e s s e r p p o e to let th the year to proclaim vour. a f s ’ d r o L e h of t Luke 4:18-19 The church, in an attempt to subvert a pagan holiday, placed the birth of the Savior of humankind who had come to set captives free during a time when pagans were celebrating liberation from slavery. Could it be that this was not merely a coincidence, but rather the writers of history could not fathom that Christ’s birth might actually bring about the kind of social order that the pagans celebrated during Saturnalia?

An answer could only be speculation.

So, Christmas is not December 25, but it finds its way into December and the pagan festival of Saturnalia for good, if not providential, reason.

Christmas Is Not Santa Claus Gift giving is one of the chief practices of Christmas in our culture and the principal gift giver is Santa Claus. A white-bearded, rotund “saint” clad in red and white with a large sack of toys whisks around the earth on Christmas Eve, shooting down chimneys to deliver toys to children of all ages to bring them “Christmas cheer.” As Christians we must think carefully about a practice such as this particularly when it occurs during a holy season such as advent.

Santa Claus in his current form is traced back to Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra during the fourth century. What we know about Saint Nicholas is limited and mostly from legend. He appears to have been a man of great compassion and concern for the poor. Tradition tells us that he inherited a large sum of money from his parents when they died while he was still young. He used this money to practice charity and help those in need. For example, Beth Bevis relates the following legend: A family in his community was desperate; the father had lost all of his money and had been unable to find husbands for his three daughters. The daughters were in danger of being given over to prostitution or another form of degradation when, one night, Nicholas appeared at their home. He tossed three bags of gold into the open window (or down the chimney, in some versions) – thereby saving them from a terrible fate.

Though a connection to our current practice of gift-giving is found within such a tale, we must question how gifts such as iPods, candy canes and legos faithfully reflect the practice of charity seen within the stories of Saint Nicholas. Surely Nicholas was not canonized a saint because he gave dolls and toy trains to children who had their basic needs met!

Over the past 200 or more years, the faith and practice of Saint Nicholas has been co-opted. In the US, 17th century Dutch settlers first brought legends of Sinter Klaas (Klaas is the Dutch short-form of Nicholas), a red-vested bishop who brought them gifts on his feast day (the Feast of St. Nicholas). In 1809, Washington Irving detailed the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas in his History of New York (published pseudonymously). Then Clement Clarke Moore, a wealthy scholar, published a poetic elaboration of the Dutch tradition in his 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (known more commonly as “The Night Before Christmas”). Liturgical vestments became the fur garments of an elfish peddler. Secret charity for the poor became expected toys for those affluent enough to purchase ‘kerchiefs and dream of sugar plums. And the faithful practice of a sainted bishop became masked by rosy cheeks and tiny reindeer.

Beginning in 1863, Harper’s Magazine began to publish the first pictures of Santa Claus. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, illustrated these pictures based on Moore’s poem and he is generally credited with creating the popular image of Santa. As a political cartoonist, Nast’s illustrations were not merely pretty pictures. In the 1863 image (see below), for example, we see Santa clad in stars and stripes and offering a special gift: a dancing doll depicting Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy) hanging by a noose. Yes, Santa is pictured as lynching Jefferson Davis. And with this image, the man once associated with charity which sustained the lives of the poor had become political messenger and herald of victory for a nation at war.

Santa was no longer a saint of the church.

He had become an true American idol.

Then, in 1931, Coca-Cola used a humansized version of the former jolly old elf in a series of advertisements. Eight years later Montgomery Ward invented Rudolf, the ninth reindeer with a shiny red nose.

Santa Claus became associated with his famous Coco-Cola red suit and children’s songs about magical creatures and fanciful toys for children who were good.

I imagine daughters about to submit themselves to prostitution to feed and shelter their families would not fall on the “nice” list of the newly imaged Santa, bishop of Coca-Cola and saint of corporate America.

The Santa Claus of which we sing today is most certainly not the Saint Nicholas of the fourth century. Santa Claus is a cultural icon formed and shaped by salesmen, political cartoonists, and the poetry of the wealthy elite. As such, Santa Claus has more to do with consumerism, nationalism and sentimentalism than any kind of saintly life, most especially one centered on charity.

Can Christians reclaim our Saint Nick? Within our current practice of Santa Claus, I have little hope. But when our gift giving turns from toys and treats to charity and almsgiving for those whose basic need go unmet, then perhaps invoking the name Saint Nicholas will teach us all what it means to follow the Christ child born on Christmas day.

Christmas is Not a National Holiday

Surely you have seen the criticism over the past decade or more surrounding the pronounced use of “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas.” The general argument sees the phrase “Happy Holidays” as a secular greeting bent on de-emphasizing Christmas as a religious holiday. In particular, the American Family Association ran a campaign to encourage Christians to boycott retail stores who were making intentional efforts to be inclusive of the traditions of other faiths, including Chanukah and Kwanza. This led to outrages among many Christians, religious groups and even news commentators such as Bill O’Reilly.

At least two things interest me about this argument. First, it appears to not understand the meaning of the phrase “Happy Holidays”. In 2005, Bill O’Reilly’s “We Say Merry Christmas” campaign inspired singer/songwriter Mark Conklin to write what is heralded as a nonpolitically correct Christmas anthem of the same name as the O’Reilly campaign. The song was sold online nationwide with proceeds supporting US troops. It begins: Twas the night before front of Kmart’s door Santa was ringing his bell He wished me Happy Holidays!

And I laughed to myself Guess the po-lit-i-cal-ly correct stirred up such a fuss They even got to Old Saint Nick but they ain’t gonna get to us This song suggests that “Happy Holidays” is a politically correct greeting that the singer (presumably a Christian) will not buy into. I wonder if Conklin or O’Reilly realize that the word holiday literally means “holy day”. It is derived from the Old English word haligdæg, which is composed of halig (holy) and dæg (day). Thus, in saying “Happy Holidays” we are offering a greeting which is the same in character as the greeting Merry Christmas . (Now, don’t get me wrong. The more accepted modern meaning of the word has to do with vacation or exemption from work. Yet, even Miriam-Webster list the meaning as “holy day.”)

Second, and far more important, the argument masks a much larger problem: the co-opting of Christmas by the market and the nationsate. Most Christians today would agree that Christmas has become over-commercialized. Yet the use of Christmas by the market is only the beginning. The US, particularly the government and corporations, has learned to use Christmas traditions to instill secular values and ideology, such as consumerism, materialism and nationalism.

For example, the “We Say Merry Christmas” campaign uses Christianity to underwrite nationalism and a particular political ideology.

The campaign promotes not using the phrase “Happy Holidays,” yet it supports the designation of Christmas as a national holiday in ide-

ology and practice. In designating Christmas as a national holiday, we acknowledge that there is a holy day of the nation. Christmas becomes a day that is set apart to commemorate the United States, rather than Christ. This is evident in the above image which suggests that using the word Christmas means you are a good patriot because that is the word Uncle Sam uses. The use of proceeds from Mr. Conklin’s song also suggests the use of Christmas for the purposes of the state.

If the point of the song was to make Christmas Christian, then should the proceeds not go to support the church or a Christian charity of some kind?

Suggesting that Christmas in the US is too often more of a national holy-day than a Christian holy-day, this is an actual image from an online t-shirt store.

Our Christmas practices reflect the national holiday designation.

They are often more about the market, whether you are Christian or non-Christian, than about celebrating the birth of Christ. The average US family spends more time and money shopping for gifts during Christmas than anything else they do to celebrate Christ’s birth. In fact, as a nation, the US spent $435.6 billion on gifts just during the Christmas season of 2005. Yet charitable donations for the entire year of 2005 totaled only $260 billion. Bear in mind that shopping – buying goods and services – is the lifeblood of the US, not the kingdom of God. Charity is the lifeblood of God’s kingdom.

The market seeps into every aspect of Christmas, even Christian worship as churches purchase decorations to adorn sanctuaries and all sorts of goods from music to costumes for special Christmas productions. Remember Thomas Nasts’s depiction of Santa during the Civil War (see p. 22-23)? Santa was robed not in the liturgical vestments of St. Nick, but in the stars and stripes. Christmas has truly become a national holy-day.

Perhaps we Christians should learn to take seriously the impact of the forces of our nation upon our sacred holy-days. In doing so, Christ might truly find his way back into Christmas not just in our words, but also in our faith and practice.

e

nc e id v o r P d n a Paper Trails Poem by Jacob Neff

True art is not aggrandized and it scares monsters away monsters make mad metaphors in mystery I pray as grass grows years are cut from the dirt and grow again or a bird makes a home from the scraps rise calm and Agape rose from Greece to Rome curved and columned marble and stone became Europe with velvet and gold

paper trails and providence bring perfumes to the taste peace is power of chaste over haste with yellow roses a wall can be a path and monsters are turned to grains and salt and carried away with the wind So true, paper trails and providence bring things to life again blue and white breakers will bring you safely in stuck sails and lighthouses paper trails and providence

Week Three Day 1: Christmas is Not What My Childhood Taught Me

Day 2: Christmas is Not Cold Day 3: Christmas is Not a Carol Day 4: Christmas is Not a Sale

Day 5: Christmas is Not Silver Bells and Mistletoe

Day 6: Christmas is Not Visions

of Sugar Plum Fairies Day 7: A Poem and a Reflection

Christmas is Not What My Childhood Taught Me

When I picture the night of Jesus’ birth I am more inclined to envision a sweet serene little moment with baby Jesus being cradled in Mary’s arms with Joseph cooing over Mary’s shoulder. As a child, the birth of Jesus became even less real with stories of candy-canes, sugar plums, and sleigh rides being fed to me through story time at school.

The spirit and merriment of Christmas, little by little, mask the intensity and raw reality of the nativity. I think that is why it is necessary to imagine that moment with fresh eyes using what knowledge is available of the Christmas story from scripture.

For children, the birth of a new sibling is often an exciting and joyous time. Yet in the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, teenage girls – children – become pregnant quite often. The discovery of the impending birth is not always a merry moment or joyous occasion. In fact, it is often a time filled with fear of the unknown, anger of family members or significant others and hateful looks from outsiders. In many ways it is a time filled with tears, just as it probably was for Mary. Though she knew her pregnancy would bear the savior of the world, persons of her culture and time were not so accepting of pregnant women who were unmarried. Mary no doubt received many hateful stares and pointed fingers. In fact, death by stoning was the custom for such an occasion. Perhaps tears were Mary’s most welcome friend during this time.

Just as Jesus would leave the world in a bloody mess, he also arrived in a bloody mess. Perhaps Mary would labor and give birth alone. Would Joseph’s aid be permissible based on cultural and religious practices?

And if Joseph were present, would he have even been much help? Certainly Mary suffered the pain of labor and birth without the aid of medications. And to top it off, she would give birth on the floor of a dirty barn , perhaps at the side of smelly animals. This is certainly not my childhood memory of Jesus swaddled in a white blanket illuminated by the ambience of a bright star. No, it was a night of blood that brought to us Emmanuel.

And what of all the smells that must have been present at the birth of Jesus? With all the songs and stories about candy canes, sugar plums, cinnamon and spice, and pine trees, would a child even consider the smells of a manger? If I take just a few moments to slow down and really think about it, I imagine that neither Joseph nor Mary had taken showers during the weeks and months of their journey to Bethlehem. They were both probably drenched in sweat and the smell of the donkey they had been using for transportation. The stable where Jesus was born likely held all the mingled smells of manure, feed, and animal fur. Thus, even if there were the possibility of the sweet smell of apple cinnamon pie on Christmas Eve, it was most certainly obscured by body odor and animal smells.

Christmas is not what my childhood taught me. Rather, the birth of Jesus was filled with blood, sweat and tears. Such thoughts offer me perspective. They remind me that Jesus’ birth did not happen to fill me with sentimental feelings as I sit around a fire opening presents in greedy fury. Rather, the nativity occurred to remind me of my humanity and my great need for the grace of Christ’s blood, sweat and tears.

Christmas is Not Cold Christmas is not cold…at least not in Miami (or around the Equator or for the majority of the southern hemisphere). My brother and his family lived in Ft. Lauderdale, FL for 4 years while he attended medical school and my sister-in-law attended graduate school. After making the trek from south Florida to South Carolina for the holidays and after having children, they decided to stay in Florida for Christmas one year. I remember speaking with my brother on Christmas day. “What special do y’all have planned today,” I remember asking him. “Eat a little, play with the kids, go to the beach,” he said. His ultimate response was one that, for obvious reasons, made me laugh. “The beach in December?”

I asked myself. While I do enjoy a good nip in the air, there was something about going to the beach that made me think that it really couldn’t be Christmas without hot chocolate and a good fire to boot.

I realize that the weather will be cold again this year for Christmas (global warming arguments aside). We certainly need to be thinking of our brothers and sisters who will be cold again this year and what actions we will take, as people of considerable financial wealth (as compared to the majority of the world and to many people in our own towns), to make sure they have clothes on their back and food in their mouths, for example read Luke 3.11.

We need to expand our focus during this season of Jesus’ birth. Christmas is not cold for everyone in this world. Neither is Christmas the season of only what we think it to be. Not everybody is sitting around a roaring fire, watching The Christmas Story for the 3rd straight time, sipping hot chocolate too hot to currently drink and wrestling with kids. We need to remember our neighbors who are cold, not just remember them in our thoughts, but do something. We need to broaden our thoughts and feelings beyond our Christmas lists and beyond our calendars filled up with family gatherings and Christmas Eve services and office parties.

Who in our communities needs our presence? A widow who lost their beloved whom they had been with for 63 years? A family who moves from church to church each week in order to have a roof over their heads and doesn’t have a permanent place to call home? A homeless neighbor for whom Christmas is just another day on the street, struggling for survival?

“The time is always right to do what is right” Martin Luther King, Jr.

as Christm Is Not A Carol For many of us, music plays a big role in our spiritual journey. If we cannot express what we are feeling in our own words, then we turn to our old favorite, familiar hymns to do it for us. In many ways, this is a good thing. However, if we rely solely on music and the words that go along with it to convey our understanding of God, then maybe we have missed the mark.

Take this hymn for instance - “Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, All is bright.� What was really all that silent, holy, calm, and bright that night in Bethlehem where this new and precious baby was born into the world? From my experience with birth, that has not been the case at all. Too many times we paint a beautiful, peaceful, calm picture of who God is, trivializing exactly how hard it is to follow Jesus and his teachings.

If we turn a carol, such as Silent Night, into one of the only ways to express the true meaning of Christmas, then we are far from truth. Christmas is more than just the carols we sing.

It is the songs that fill our hearts Silent Night, each and every Holy Night. day that inspire us to take All is calm, action in the all is bright. world, just as gin vir Jesus would do.

Round yon Mother and child,

Holy infant So tender and mild.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Christmas is Not a Sale “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Toys in every story.”

Is this what Christmas really looks like? For many, it is. Christmas is about getting up bright and early on “Black Friday” to see how many bargains one can get. It is about getting all of one’s shopping done before the beginning of October so he or she has bragging rights with all of his or her friends. It is trying to see just how many presents, big and small, can fit under the tree on Christmas Eve. For many, Christmas is just not Christmas without finding that one special something, that treasure, that bargain that they just cannot live without.

Starting even before Halloween has darkened our doors, department stores and boutiques have decked the halls with trees, bows, bells, and many more decorations that indicate that Christmas has arrived. The door buster sales have been around since the beginning of September so that each of us has the opportunity to put our presents on layaway “just in time for Christmas.”

But what does this mindset say about the way our world views the true meaning of Christmas? It says that as a society, we have whittled down this mysterious and miraculous time of year into nothing but sales, gifts, malls, and money; commercialism at its best. We have put Christmas in a nice little box with a bow on the top for someone to open on one particular day.

Now I am not here to criticize those of us (me included) that find pure joy in shopping for presents for the loved ones in our lives. What I am here to say is that as we search the stores, malls, and boutiques for those wonderful sales that will hopefully produce that most perfect gift for the special people in our lives, let us stop and think about the other gifts we can give to them that cannot be found on a shelf --the true gift of Christmas.

Christmas is Not

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Oh, how we love decorating for Christmas! And there is no shortage of beautiful objects for adorning all the spaces of our lives: evergreens, tinsel, lights, ornaments, candles, angels, bows, wrapping paper, cranberries, Yule logs, and, yes, silver bells and mistletoe. The list could go on and on – and does for many of us. Perhaps we all do not go so far as Clark Griswold with 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights, but the aisles of Christmas decorations at retail stores at least suggest we, as a society, have a bit of a fetish.

I wonder what the infant king born in an animal trough to a poor carpenter’s family would say about all the money and time we spend on decorating for his birth? The manger was not so elegantly adorned. It was a stone trough, perhaps some straw, bare floors and animal leftovers. There were maybe even a few animals still grazing.

Which of these did God see fit for the birth of the Lord and Savior of the world?

Sure, some of our decorations have meaning. They may be symbolic and meant to remind us of the Christmas story. But the first Christmas did not contain such ornamentation, symbolic or otherwise. Rather, it was simple. It had only the trappings of poverty. Yet it was enough – enough for God, enough for Mary and Joseph, enough for our King.

If we want symbolism and meaning, perhaps we should turn to the places around us that might resemble the place Christ was born: the poor ghettos of our cities, impoverished rural farming communities and the streets and alleys occupied by those who cannot afford anything else. Spend Christmas with people in these places and you will begin to see Christ within them just as shepherds saw him in the manger. You might just find that Christmas is not at all about the trappings we wrap it up in. Instead, it is about God’s coming into the world in the most unlikely of places.

Charity Begins Where Interest Ends Charity begins where interest ends, Having little interest but in giving, Removing self from self, that there be space In which a much-loved guest might feel at home.

So might one find delight, though ravens rend The unembroidered fabric of one’s being: Miracle of unrequited grace, Awave of wonder welling up from stone, Singing as it breaks of selfless grieving.

Nicholas Gordon

Love is Not Just a Feeling; Its a Practice People who love each other need to have something they can do for each other, and it will need to be something necessary, not something frivolous. You can’t carry out a relationship on the basis of Christmas and anniversary and birthday presents. It won’t work.

You have to be doing something that you need help with, and your wife needs to be doing something that she needs help with. You do needful, useful things for each other, and that seems to me to be the way that a union is made...You’re being made a partner by your partner’s needs and the things that you’re required to do to help...Love is not just a feeling; it’s a practice, something you practice whether you feel like it or not. If you have a relationship with anybody - a friend, a family member, a spouse - you have to understand the terms of that relationship to do things for those people, and you do them whether you feel like it or not. If you don’t it’s useless...

This is what you learn as soon as you become a farmer, for instance. Once you get into a relationship with even so much as a vegetable garden, you realize that you have to do the work whether you want to or not. You may have got into it because of love, but there are going to be days when you are sick and you’re going to have to do your work anyway. With animals, the work is even more inescapable. There’s no way out if you have a milk cow, no reprieve...She makes the milk and you’ve got to go get it.

Wendell Berry, from Conversations with Wendell Berry

Week 4 Day 1: Christmas is A Revolution

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Since the beginning, humanity has been faced with the challenge of living together on God’s creation. Politics are simply part of human life. Through creation, God established a politic based upon the sovereignty and providence of the creator: God created humankind in his image…God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. (Gen 1:27-30, selections) All too quickly, humanity revolted and sought to establish a different sort of politic. The first attempt was in seeking to establish human autonomy over against God through the eating of a forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. God stepped in to re-establish his sovereignty throughout the early biblical narrative – from the expulsion of humanity from Eden, to the flood, to Hebrew enslavement and the exodus, but the lure of autonomy proved too great. Eventually, we find God’s holy people begging to be like other nations and asking for a human monarch. God, disappointed, allowed Israel its desire, though not without warning. And the political struggles of God’s people continued in consistent rebellion from the order God first established.

Hundreds of years later, God set in motion a revolution only the divine creator of the universe could pull off. God sought to regain the allegiance of His people through divine incarnation.

God would send himself to the world through a son. This would restore the kingship of God by providing the very thing Israel had long ago requested: a human king. The human king would be not merely human, but also divine. This was the only way to honor the request granted to Israel but still maintain the politics of God. In this way, God would both honor the request He had granted Israel and re-establish his politics among the people.

Careful plans were made with a young woman named Mary and her soon-to-be husband Joseph.

And one night in the small town of Bethlehem the revolution began through the birth of God’s son, Jesus the Messiah. Through the birth and life of this infant, God’s sovereignty would be restored. By following Jesus the Christ, people would once again worship God, rely on God for their daily bread and walk in communion with their creator. Jesus was the revolutionary act that would overthrow the violently autonomous politics of nations and states and reestablish the good and righteous reign of God over creation.

Christmas is Blue Obviously, the hero of the Christmas story is Jesus. That is part of what makes the story so interesting – a baby is the hero. Because we know the end of the story, many centuries later, we know that this baby’s arrival initiates a radical change in the world. We know that this baby will be a very different kind of hero – not one who will use the way of the sword to ascend to power, nor one who will grow up in the seat of wealth and honor. This baby already has power and is already honored. He himself created power and honor, and thus is able to show us their true meaning. This baby comes as one of low estate, but at the same time is the God of the universe.

So I guess it makes sense that everyone else in the story gets overshadowed in most retellings. But the stories that lead up to the birth of Jesus are full of characters who are teachers, saints, and advocates, and are heroes themselves for their faithfulness to God. Of all those characters, none stands above Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Certainly there is a long tradition within the Church of reverence for Mary. However, there exists little place for Mary in the theology and practice of Protestant churches. In the Baptist world where I come from, there is scarcely any space to refer to “saints” at all. Showing honor or devotion to Mary would be thought of as idolatrous.

I am undeterred. And further, I think we have missed out on an important piece of the story of Christmas, and of Christian theology. When we neglect Mary, we neglect an essential part of our story as Christians. Consider these things: 1. Mary stands as an exemplar of faithful response to God. When the angel Gabriel confronts her with a situation that sounds nearly absurd, and if it is true, carries terrible social implications for a young woman yet to be married, she responds by saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

As best we can tell from the scripture, Mary is unflinching. She is simply a willing vessel for God’s great gift. This kind of faithfulness to God is a model for all of us who would follow the way of Jesus.

2. One of the traditional ways of referring to Mary is “theotokos,” Greek meaning “God-bearer.” Another translation might be “the one who gives birth to God,” or more simply, “the mother of God.” While this makes Mary

unique among all humans, the stronger implication of the name is what it says about God, namely that God came to dwell among us as a human in the form of Jesus. In calling Mary the God-bearer, we affirm both the human and the divine natures of Jesus. Our Lord is light from light, true God from true God, and at the same time the fleshy, sinewy existence of an infant, born of this remarkable woman. To affirm Jesus as fully human and fully divine requires that we affirm Mary as the God-bearer. Mary is mother, and Jesus is God. Her faithfulness to that calling deserves our respect and awe.

3. Mary is perhaps the best example of the scandal of particularity. Christians claim that about 2000 years ago, the God of the universe took up residence in the womb of a teenaged Palestinian Jew and lived there for nine months, only to be born in the meager accommodations of a blue-collar family. That the God who created everything chooses to work through the particular and the peculiar is one of the central claims of Christian faith. Charles Wesley points to this in a poem:

Who gave all things to be, What a wonder to see Him born of His creature, and nursed on her knee !

This is indeed the wondrous work of God, but the claim that it is true is scandalous. Author Jason Byassee points out that our claims about Mary are one way to prevent smoothing over that scandal, and thus compromising the truth we proclaim.

The traditional way the Church has of signifying Mary is the color blue. During the Advent and Christmas seasons this year, I’ll be paying a little more attention to the blue shades amongst all the red and green. Those flashes of color here and there will point me to one of our most beloved Advent songs: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, For he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

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.

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, According to the promise he made to our ancestors, To Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

(Luke 1:46-55)

Christmas is Invitation Who: You! What: Great Banquet!

When: Today!

Everyone loves to receive an invitation to something. For me, it means that somebody thought about me and thinks enough of me to invite me to something.

What kinds of invitations do we accept?

Parties?

Tutoring?

Community meals at Hyaets?

Leaving life’s comforts to follow Jesus?

What kinds of invitations do we offer?

Parties to those most like us?

Hospitality to the stranger?

Dinner to those who are lonely during the holidays?

Take a look at some of the invitations that were offered in Scripture: • • • • •

Jesus invited himself to Zaccheus’ home, a tax collector (Luke 19) The angel Gabriel invited Mary to carry a baby to term and give birth (Luke 1) The prophets were “invited” to bring the word of the LORD to God’s people (Jonah, Jeremiah, Moses, John the Baptist) Jesus invited his disciples to come, follow and be fishers of all people (Matt. 4) The poor, crippled, blind, and lame were invited to the Great Banquet (Luke 14)

Growing up, our table at Christmas was always full. My siblings and I always got a little irritated with my mom. She couldn’t let anyone spend Christmas alone, so she invited the crotchety old man of the neighborhood. She invited the woman who cleaned her teeth at the table with her knife. And she invited my cousin’s family whose two children usually broke some special ornament on our Christmas tree.

What I didn’t tell you…

•

The crotchety old man was salt of the earth. He and his wife always wanted us over at their house. We really thought of them as our second parents, and they both were mentors to my parents in their first years of marriage and parenting. In the past 10 years, his wife died, and he had had a stroke. His personality was much different, and no one else wanted to spend any time with him.

•

The woman who cleaned her teeth with her knife was a family friend that had no family to speak of, except the Kellett family.

•

My cousin’s family came because my cousin had to work fue to squandering his money on alcohol and drugs. His mom (my mom’s sister) had died 20 years previous, and his wife’s family lives in Holland.

When I think of invitation, I immediately think of breaking bread around a table.

The image that comes to mind is the great banquet hall at Hogwarts in the movie Harry Potter (which is the same image that I picture in the parable of the Great Banquet).

The seats are filled with people, eating and laughing, and no outside observer can tell who is guest and who is host. As you imagine this great feast, who is seated at the table? At Christmas, who is seated at your table?

I pray that I will be more aware of the invitations that are offered to me (Jesus’ invitation to come and follow to fish for people and to take up my cross is a daily invitation) as well as the invitations that I offer – invitations that help make the kingdom of God on earth a reality.

is s a m t Chris ip h s n o i Relat

Christmas is Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Let earth receive her King.

Joy: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. (Miriam-Webster Dictionary) What a terrible definition—joy is not an emotion, it is something much deeper. Joy doesn’t come from earthly well-being, fortune, or success; it comes from relationships. Joy comes from beyond. Unfortunately, most common definitions I could find label joy as an emotion or feeling. Joy, as you remember, is a fruit of the spirit. The other fruits are love, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, righteousness, faithfulness and self-control. These are not feelings either, but characteristics of our spirit which we should develop and nurture.

Joy is more of a state of being. . .a part of who we are.

“Joy is not in things; it is in us”

- Richard Wagner

There is a little Children’s Christmas chant that goes something like this:

J is for Jesus. O is for others. Y is for You. JOY! I never have really gotten to the ‘you’ at the end before I find JOY. Especially recently, my Joy has come only from the first two. . .my relationship with Jesus and my relationship with others.

I’ve got the Joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”

Luke 2:10

Christmas is a Gift

One of the most popular ways of practicing the virtue of charity during the Advent season is through the Angel Tree. At a former job, coordinating just such a project was one of my big responsibilities. We worked for months to solicit, collect, and distribute hundreds of gifts to folks who would have been faced with difficult choices otherwise – Christmas gifts for my kids in December, or heat in January? As stressful as that project was, it was also a joy to carry out. My endless hours of letters, calls, pick-ups, and wrapping finally ended with a party to celebrate the season and the lives of the really remarkable people that I got to work with on a regular basis.

It happened once or twice that we wound up a few gifts short at the last minute, or that the person responsible for finding sponsors for the party did not come through. After appending weeks immersed in the Angel Tree, I would be caught up in the spirit myself. So, I would quietly purchase what was needed at the end. This was usually well beyond my budget (especially given the small nature of budgets around Hyaets!), but I could not help myself. Being surrounded by the gifts others provided made me want to get in on the action as well.

Christmas has a way of calling us to generosity beyond our normal limits, to sacrifices that can be a little painful, but are all the more joyful because of that.

I was not without reservation about the whole project, though. My concern was that the same people who went out of their way in December to give of what they had seemed not to notice all that much in March or September that the lives of the folks they gave to at Christmas were still affected by poverty. Christmas calls us to generosity beyond ourselves to be sure, but it also calls us deeper than generosity – it calls us to justice. Christmas calls us to take more ornaments than we can really afford off the angel tree, and at the same time to ask why there is such a thing as an Angel Tree at all.

We have developed a tradition at Christmas of giving gifts. Angel Trees exist to make sure that everyone has a gift at Christmas. We spend and save and make from scratch to have gifts for others. Then we go further and adorn those gifts with beautiful papers and bows, heightening that anticipation by making the contents of our gifts secret. We put a lot of effort into giving those gifts – they cost us something. Sometimes it costs just a swipe at a register and a few minutes in a store, sometimes hours of handcrafting. Sometimes they cost us little, other times a great deal.

Just as we give gifts at Christmastime, we also recognize that Christmas is one of God’s gifts to us. But God’s gift of Christmas is markedly different than our gifts. The fanny pack we gave Aunt Lucy last year was nice, but it made no demands on Aunt Lucy. When we receive God’s gift of Christmas, it makes serious claims on our lives. To take the gift of God made flesh seriously, we must start over and be born again into new ways of living, new ways of seeing, and new ways of giving. The gift we receive at Christmas will ultimately demand our whole lives, if we dare unwrap it. It will call us not only to take too many ornaments off the Angel Tree, but to give more and more of ourselves in the cause of God’s justice and mission in the world.

Christmas is a gift. It is a gift that calls us to generosity beyond ourselves. It calls us to pour ourselves out on behalf of others, to celebrate the good news in March and May and September, to proclaim good news wherever babies are born in mangers, captives need to be set free, and the sick are in need of healing. All we must do is unwrap it, and begin walking towards Jerusalem with Jesus.

Authors Week 1 Christmas is Not Advent................................................... Joanie Williams Christmas is Not Essential................................................ Greg Jarrell Christmas is Not Easter......................................................Joanie Williams Christmas is Not a Day.......................................................Helms Jarrell Christmas is Not a Time.....................................................Jason Williams Christmas is Not Silent.......................................................Helms Jarrell Week 2 Christmas is Not a Memory..............................................Greg Jarrell Christmas is Not a Family Reunion............................... Helms Jarrell Christmas is Not a Cartoon Special...............................Greg Jarrell Christmas is Not December 25.......................................Jason Williams Christmas is Not Santa Claus...........................................Jason Williams Christmas is Not a National Holiday............................. Jason Williams Week 3 Christmas is Not What My Childhood Taught Me....Faith Neff Christmas is Not Cold........................................................ Michael Kellett Christmas is Not a Carol.................................................... Christine Kellett Christmas is Not a Sale...................................................... Christine Kellett Christmas is Not Silver Bells and Mistletoe................ Jason Williams Christmas is Not Vision of Sugar Plum Fairies........... Helms Jarrell Week 4 Christmas is A Revolution................................................ Jason Williams Christmas is Blue................................................................. Greg Jarrell Christmas is Painful............................................................ Helms Jarrell Christmas is Invitation.......................................................Michael Kellett Christmas is Relationhip................................................... Joanie Williams Christmas is Joy....................................................................Joanie Williams Christmas is a Gift................................................................Greg Jarrell

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