Gotta tell somebody!

This as been a bit of a difficult year for us, but at year's end, I still have the feeling of "we're gonna get through this". Although Georgia hasn't been able to be involved much this year for our Christmas celebration, we have discussed things and are forging ahead to our annual family gathering which is to take place this afternoon at our house. At this age, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that our sense of worth pretty much comes from whether or not we are meeting our goals in life. As a Christian, it pretty much goes back to whether or not we are living up to what we believe God would want us to do. My favorite scripture is Micah 6:8 (This one thing do I require of you, oh man. That you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.) A "down home" version would be "do your best, pray that it's blessed, and God will take care of the rest".
Our family is used to "enjoying" fairly generous gifting from us at Christmas time, a trait that I married into. The purpose is to bring gifts as the "wise men" brought gifts to Jesus.  During the past few years as we have been blessed with some extra work, we are reminded of the verse, "I prosper you so that you can be generous".. (paraphrased). In that, we have come to start our Christmas season with giving to the Salvation Army, Eastern Illinois Food Bank, Salt and Light, Empty Tomb Ministry, the DSC "tree of hope", and WBGL, one of our local Christian radio stations, among others. Essentially we give approximately 10 times to charities that we deem worthy before we start "giving" to our family. So with most of this under our belt for this year, I was feeling pretty good about myself, when I read a post on Facebook by our son Greg 10 things you can't do bearing a "drawing" depicting Jesus, I think, in a Santa hat. I was in a hurry, but ran through it quickly, checking things off, then I started feeling condemned and didn't know why. So I let it soak a while.
This morning, I got potatoes peeled and started getting things around for the arrival of the troops while listening to Ann Rhoton on WDWS and heard lots of varied Christmas music including Johnny Cash doing "The Christmas Guest". (Look it up). The "10 things" post kept gnawing at me, so I decided it was time for a break and came up to read through it completely. I'm not sure why I feel the need to do this, maybe I just want someone to know that "I'm workin on it". I understand that I shouldn't need to have the approval of earthlings and maybe won't even get that, but as the title says, "I gotta tell somebody". I wrestled with how to go about this, and have now decided to copy each of the 10 points and address them one at a time. Understand that this is all from the top of my head, out of my heart, and maybe pulled out my butt.. Hopefully it will make sense to someone.  I start with the fact that I believe the writer reversed the order of his points, but I will not belabor that. (His words in RED)
10) Celebrate Consumeristmas.
For many folks, Christmas starts standing in line on Thanksgiving Day. 'Tis the season for mass consumerism. Regardless of where you think it began, Christmas has slowly drifted into the bog of consumer madness. Like frogs in a pot of slowly boiling water, we never saw it coming. For Christians, this is particularly problematic because the guy we are celebrating this time of year told us that collecting stuff here on Earth is not the way to follow him.
I am totally on board with this one. We have let the merchants turn us into beasts. We as a society. I don't think I fit here (???) But I do like to be a good steward of the funds given me to care for and not waste them.

9) Forget Those Without Food. Jesus once said that when we feed the hungry we are feeding him. Anyone want to guess what it means when we ignore the hungry? How about ignoring the hungry as we scrape the leftover Christmas ham from our plates into the trash? Maybe we need to change the name of the season to Gluttonousmas? Too many presents, too much food – too little consideration for those in need.
As a society, I must agree. Hopefully our personal giving habits help here, but lay off the guilt trip, We can't feed them all. I'm not sure any of us can give enough. Where does it stop. I must also insert here that I do have a problem "caring for" those who could care for themselves, but have come to depend on us to care for them. I believe each person should handle the burden that has been brought to their door. To ignore the hungry is wrong, but are we not to also have some enjoyment ourselves? I can find scriptures that say, "No".. I once had a pastor who said, "suffering is where it's at"... Boy we could go round and round on this one. I think we should be willing to suffer for a rightful cause, but I'm not sure we quite understand what Paul meant when he said "I count it all joy". I fully agree with the writer that we shouldn't be throwing good food away while others go hungry, but I was raised to be a "clean plater" and in the era of "think of all the starving kids in China". Don't take more than you will eat, right? And now that my waist is bigger than my chest, I don't look at stuffing myself as a good thing. So I agree with the writer's basic premise here, don't know why it feels bad when I do agree. Hmmm. (Have to step away and go shove an onion and celery up the turkey's butt and put him in the oven.

8) Forget Those Without Shelter. No room at the inn. One of the key moments in the story Christians celebrate is the moment when Jesus was almost born in the streets of Bethlehem. Our need to clean up the Christmas story assumes that the innkeeper told them to use the manger but the Bible says no such thing. There was no room at the inn, leaving Mary to place her newborn child in a smelly feeding trough. For that night they were without shelter. Throughout his life Jesus would spend his ministry with no place to lay his head. This time of year we celebrate a homeless man. Do our actions, do the places we place our money, honor that?
Whoa!!! They had a home and they left it to go to be counted in the census (as was the law of the land).. Sorry, Bud, that is a bit of a stretch. Yes, just like the sparrow, somewhere after Jesus left "the nest" he apparently did not "have" a home. As far as truly homeless goes, I think most of today's "homeless" are that way because they can't afford a home. So not sure we must separate them from "the poor" which we will always have among us. However, I think we should help as we can. I personally am more concerned with why they are homeless. I'm not sure that just giving them shelter for a night is doing anything. I have the basic concept that nearly anyone can support themselves. I would rather support a ministry that can find out why a person is poor and homeless and help them fix that rather than just supporting with food and shelter. I don't think Jesus was asking for handouts. Again, where do we draw the line. If I thought it would help, I would gladly take all the food we are fixing for our family gathering and all the gifts under the tree and give it to someone without..... But tomorrow, I fear most of those folks will be right back there with their hand out. Surely you've heard, "give a hand UP not a hand OUT".. Sound crass and cruel? Sorry, that's the way I see it. Please understand that my heart breaks for folks who can't..... Hopefully where I am giving  will help them.
 7) Forget About Immigrants.We three kings from orient are. Beside sounding like Yoda wrote a Christmas carol, there are a number of things messed up about that line. We don't actually know how many there were. They were magi, not kings. We also do not know where they were really from other than “from the East.” What we do know is they were foreigners and their revelation of the real king's plans to kill all newborn boys to put an end to Jesus turned Jesus' family into immigrants in Egypt. Our Christmas story is replete with images of people journeying to new lands. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to embracing immigrants.
Sorry pastor, I fear you are stretching again. Maybe I read it incorrectly, but I come away with a message that these guys got word that a king was to be born and they were coming to pay homage. They weren't immigrating. I fully honor and give credit to people who leave their homeland for a better life in another country LEGALLY.... I'll just leave it there, lest I really tic myself off. Obviously only Native Americans can complain about "foreigners". And I'll leave that one sit also. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to embracing Christ, whatever that requires them to do.

6) Miss The Message About Resisting Abusive Power.Mary and Joseph and their family had to flee their homeland because King Herod strong-handedly used his power to squash out what he saw as a threat to his power. I can guarantee you two things; One, in the house where Jesus grew up, the narrative of why they had to flee to Egypt and of the senseless deaths imposed on other families by the powerful was a story that was told time and time again. Two, the focus on abuse of power in Jesus' teaching and his constant willingness to confront it was no accident. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to confronting those who abuse power.
My my. I had never thought of it this way, but you know I think he's onto something. Wow, where do we start? I mean, we have our leaders all telling us the "other side" is lying and abusing and I pretty much believe they all are. I refuse to let this get political. We just dealt with the passing of Nelson Mandela who apparently was successful in this regard. I pray a lot, but feel at a loss regarding having any meaningful value in confronting. I think I'll have to let that one soak a bit also.
5) Forget Those Without Presents.If you have two coats give one away. In announcing the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist told us what God was asking of us. Coats were just an example – a place holder if you will. If you have two Christmas presents give one away. 
OK, I think I'm good here. Not being smug, just OK.
4) Insist Your Religious Celebration Rule Them All.This time of year far too many Christians remind me of Gollum and his Precious. (A LoTR shout out in a Christian Christmas post! C'mon Peter Jackson, give me some promo love!) One holiday to rule them all: “We nee-eeds it. They stole it from us!” Never mind that Jesus was Jewish or that there is a list of other celebrations that occur this time of year, there's a certain cultural privilege in the air that seems so very un-Christian to me. You can just about bet that the folks calling out for the dominance of Christmas would be singing a new song if Judaism were the dominant religious culture and this time of year radio stations across the land played Chanukah songs. Well, metaphorically they would be singing a new song – maybe a few even literally.  
Sorry, lost me here. As I said in a Facebook post. Y'all can celebrate whatever you want, but "as for me and my house"; we're celebrating Jesus. I know, I might be a redneck. However, I simply cannot abide with the idea that it is a cultural thing. If I deny the fact that Jesus is the only hope of the world rather than just one of the things we celebrate, then I think I am disregarding a whole lot of scripture this guy seems to be ignoring himself.
3) Get Mad About “Happy Holidays.”On a related note, you know what “holiday” is short for, right? Holy day. Do you really have a problem with people calling Christmas a holy day?
Boy this one has gotten a lot of play this year. Yesterday I heard several people do it "right".... "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays". Which says to me, "I wish you the love of Christ as well as whatever other holiday you may be celebrating.".. To me Merry Christmas says, "For God so loved the world that He brought his only begotten Son to earth so that he could be sacrificed in your and my place that we might have fellowship with the Holy and Marvelous God of the Universe.   And I'm happy about that and hope you are too." I don't get "Mad" about "Happy Holidays", but please don't leave out the joy of Christmas.
2) Think That It Is Actually Jesus' Birthday .Um. So... dang, this is hard and I'm really sorry to be the one telling you. Um, let's see. Remember how when you were growing up the Sunday school teacher told you it was Jesus' birthday? Yeah. Well, um... they lied. Yeah. Sorry about that. We don't actually know when Jesus was born. It was probably in the spring or summer because “the shepherds watched their flocks by night” – something which definitely didn't happen in the winter.  
I know that! So what? Why make it number 2 on your list? It really makes you come off as a smart ass. But then your stepped in it with your last statement. Here on December 24, the temperature in Tel Aviv is 63 degrees F. with a range of 48 to 70 this week. So why would they not be watching their flocks by night?
1) Confuse The Religious Observance With the Secular Holiday.
It may be that December the 25th was picked as the date to celebrate Jesus' birth to compete with or even to adopt the followers of the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, which included decorating with evergreens, gift giving and parties. (Hmmm, why does that seems so familiar?) I bring this up to make a simple point; A lot of our “War on Christmas” problems would rightfully go away if we simply acknowledged that there are two celebrations of Christmas each year. One is religious and one is not. Most of this article actually points to the issues that happen when we conflate them. So, let's stop doing it.
Totally agree that the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ has been bastardized into a gluttonous, consumerist, and maybe selfish excuse for drunkenness and debauchery. Many of our traditions have truly drifted from the celebration we Christians hold dear. I even made extra reindeer including Rudolph to go with the sleigh in our yard for this year. Should I feel guilty? We do have angels in another part of our yard. I would challenge the author to turn his negative energy to positive. Come up with ideas to help us to move away from the secular. Maybe I'm being the dolt here because it seems so simple, I guess. Francis Schaeffer  wrote "How Shall we then Live?" Maybe this is what Pastor Sandlin is driving at. I agree most of us probably mix too much world into our Christianity. It is painful to keep one foot on each of diverging forces. This is completely off the subject, but I did receive this from a couple of folks this week. I think it illustrates this point, though most likely "digital magic". chuck-norris-splits-spoof/Maybe I've come full circle in this argument. I feel better now. I hope I haven't confused you. Merry Christmas! (And Happy New Year). Oh, the last of the Christmas gifts we ordered for our grandkids just arrived at the door. Gotta go!!