In his timely book, which probably should be required Christmas reading for all followers of Jesus, Christmas is Not Your Birthday, Mike Slaughter quotes Alan and Deb Hirsch who point out in their book Untamed: “Of all the ways culture influences the church, nothing has had more of an impact on us than that of a consumerist vision of society. We have all been impacted by the powerful experience of society that is preoccupied with the acquisition of consumer goods. From good old Santa Claus (a religious symbol co-opted to disciple children in thorough-going materialism from early childhood on) to the complete ubiquity of niche marketing, we are daily being nurtured in the worldview generated by late capitalism of the twenty-first century—consumerism.” (Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship. Baker Books, 2010, 137).
We could elaborate on how this cultural influence can be seen in the ways that we approach worship, build and equip our worship places, buy “Christian” brands, gauge our success as churches by how many people we get in the seats, etc. But since they mention Santa, let’s just focus on Christmas.
I often get the feeling these days that I am not a very good American, not a patriot, because I am not consuming as much as I should. After all, the daily drumbeat of the news, with its constant eye on the Dow Jones, is a reminder that it is Christmas that makes or breaks the retail market, and, by implication, the health of our economy and country.
I just refuse to play that game. If I read the Gospels correctly and listen to the witness of the church, Christmas is a reminder that in the midst of all the “stuff” the world promises us, gives us and surrounds us with, what we really need is God’s love. First John puts it this ways: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. Dear Friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11)
A while back I came across the story of a little girl who had to spend some time in a hospital. She came from a very well-to-do family, and her family show¬ered her with expensive gifts during her stay in the hospital. There were large overstuffed toys, including a 6 foot tall giraffe, dolls and a dollhouse, games of every description. The mother, who was well known in social circles brought something new every time she came to see the little girl. But she never stayed long because she always had to get to some luncheon or party. But she never failed to bring a gift. The nurses com¬plained about the enormous amount of toys that made it difficult for them to move about in the child's room. One day the little girl was particularly unhappy in the midst of all her many gifts, and held desperately to her mother as her mother tried to break free so that she wouldn't be late to a bazaar she was scheduled to attend. The mother tried to divert the child's attention to the new toy she had brought. "Mommy," cried the little girl, "I want you." Surrounded by gifts, surrounded by “stuff”, she wanted the most important thing of all, her moth¬er's presence and her mother’s love
I wonder how long it will take for us to realize that about Christmas, in fact, our total pursuit of the “good life”? What we really need is not just more stuff, but love. What we need most is not the promised security of things, whether it be a healthy bank account or a well-armed military to protect our “stuff”. What we need most is a meaningful personal relationship with the God who loves us and cares for us. And as a result of knowing that love, the ability to love others and to be loved by others.
Christmas IS first and foremost about love. Christmas tells us that God has come into our broken and lonely world to love us and show us what true love is. It is a love that is not based on how good we are or how smart we are, or how well connected we are, but simply because we ARE. Experiencing the love of God and allowing that love to wash over us and through us to others is one of the greatest experiences we can have this Christmas. Will it be yours and mine?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Bypassing Advent
A few years back, Stanley Grenz wrote an article that appeared in Christianity Today entitled “Drive Through Christmas.” Here is an adaption of what he wrote:
“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me." Tony Bennett's voice wove its subtle magic throughout the shopping mall. How appropriate, I thought, as I watched the shoppers scurry from store to store. The advertisements promised "just the right gifts at just the right price," allowing us to "give like Santa and save like Scrooge."
As I listened, I was struck with how we have turned Christmas around—not so much by commercializing the season, but through something deeper. Our McWorld of drive-through expectations has replaced patient waiting, followed by heartfelt joyous celebration, with the idolatry of instant gratification.
As members of the fast-food generation, we have become so eager to get to Christmas that we bypass Advent. Whereas an earlier generation encouraged fasting and reflection, we try to enjoy days filled with more Christmas festivities than we can endure. Christmas has displaced Advent on our calendars.
But our bypassing of Advent runs deeper—altering our attitude to the story of Christ's birth. We know how the story ends. Knowing the end of the story so well, we want to rush through the long and tortuous details of how God prepared a people—of how "God sent his Son…when the time had fully come" (Galatians 4:4). Rather than entering into the sense of expectation lying at the foundation of the story of Christ's entrance into human history, we read only the story's glorious climax. Rather than savoring the plaintive mood of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," we immediately want to hear a robust version of "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come." In short, we have our Christmas early and create a drive-through Christmas."
What Grenz is lamenting is the reality that for many people there is no time or room for Advent, those four weeks preceding Christmas. It gets in the way. Like kids who just want to get to the dessert, we want Christmas.
But Advent is important. That is why the church for centuries has been observing it. With its emphasis on expectation and hope, peace and joy and the need for and discovery of real love, Advent helps prepare us for Christmas. It helps get us ready to fully appreciate and celebrate the real significance of Christmas and to see it in the grand scope of God’s plan for the universe.
In our home, for decades we have lit an Advent wreath. Each day of the four weeks, beginning with the fourth Sunday before Christmas, we pause in the evening to light the appropriate candle for the week (Hope/Expectation, Peace, Joy, and Love), read a passage of Scripture and a brief meditation on the passage in the light of that week’s theme, and pray. For me, this practice sanctifies time and reminds us that Christmas is more than decorations, parties, hectic shopping and gift giving. It is a time to rest and allow the profound truth that God, the Sovereign God of the universe, because of love, enters into the drama of our human lives and history in the person of Jesus. God comes as a vulnerable baby, dependent on others.
Advent helps me to see that in a world so often devoid of hope, peace, joy and love, that God comes to give us these gifts. Yes, Christmas carols and songs and some of the trimmings of Christmas can remind us of this truth. But spending four weeks reflecting and preparing for the celebration of Christmas can allow us to enter more deeply into the profound joy of the season.
As I write this we are already into the third week of Advent. In those three weeks, Connie and I have enjoyed the opportunity to pause, ponder and prepare. Advent reminds us, through its readings and emphasis on hope, peace, joy and love that no matter how much the culture around us wants to redefine these words through its hype and suggestions that these things come in neatly wrapped boxes from department stores, real love, joy, peace and hope are only found in opening ourselves up to the gift of relationship that God gives us in Christ.
So, let me encourage you to not “bypass Advent.” Savor it. Enjoy the four weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ coming. Let this time bathe your soul and help you to really enter into the joy of the celebration of God’s greatest gift. Happy Advent!!
“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me." Tony Bennett's voice wove its subtle magic throughout the shopping mall. How appropriate, I thought, as I watched the shoppers scurry from store to store. The advertisements promised "just the right gifts at just the right price," allowing us to "give like Santa and save like Scrooge."
As I listened, I was struck with how we have turned Christmas around—not so much by commercializing the season, but through something deeper. Our McWorld of drive-through expectations has replaced patient waiting, followed by heartfelt joyous celebration, with the idolatry of instant gratification.
As members of the fast-food generation, we have become so eager to get to Christmas that we bypass Advent. Whereas an earlier generation encouraged fasting and reflection, we try to enjoy days filled with more Christmas festivities than we can endure. Christmas has displaced Advent on our calendars.
But our bypassing of Advent runs deeper—altering our attitude to the story of Christ's birth. We know how the story ends. Knowing the end of the story so well, we want to rush through the long and tortuous details of how God prepared a people—of how "God sent his Son…when the time had fully come" (Galatians 4:4). Rather than entering into the sense of expectation lying at the foundation of the story of Christ's entrance into human history, we read only the story's glorious climax. Rather than savoring the plaintive mood of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," we immediately want to hear a robust version of "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come." In short, we have our Christmas early and create a drive-through Christmas."
What Grenz is lamenting is the reality that for many people there is no time or room for Advent, those four weeks preceding Christmas. It gets in the way. Like kids who just want to get to the dessert, we want Christmas.
But Advent is important. That is why the church for centuries has been observing it. With its emphasis on expectation and hope, peace and joy and the need for and discovery of real love, Advent helps prepare us for Christmas. It helps get us ready to fully appreciate and celebrate the real significance of Christmas and to see it in the grand scope of God’s plan for the universe.
In our home, for decades we have lit an Advent wreath. Each day of the four weeks, beginning with the fourth Sunday before Christmas, we pause in the evening to light the appropriate candle for the week (Hope/Expectation, Peace, Joy, and Love), read a passage of Scripture and a brief meditation on the passage in the light of that week’s theme, and pray. For me, this practice sanctifies time and reminds us that Christmas is more than decorations, parties, hectic shopping and gift giving. It is a time to rest and allow the profound truth that God, the Sovereign God of the universe, because of love, enters into the drama of our human lives and history in the person of Jesus. God comes as a vulnerable baby, dependent on others.
Advent helps me to see that in a world so often devoid of hope, peace, joy and love, that God comes to give us these gifts. Yes, Christmas carols and songs and some of the trimmings of Christmas can remind us of this truth. But spending four weeks reflecting and preparing for the celebration of Christmas can allow us to enter more deeply into the profound joy of the season.
As I write this we are already into the third week of Advent. In those three weeks, Connie and I have enjoyed the opportunity to pause, ponder and prepare. Advent reminds us, through its readings and emphasis on hope, peace, joy and love that no matter how much the culture around us wants to redefine these words through its hype and suggestions that these things come in neatly wrapped boxes from department stores, real love, joy, peace and hope are only found in opening ourselves up to the gift of relationship that God gives us in Christ.
So, let me encourage you to not “bypass Advent.” Savor it. Enjoy the four weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ coming. Let this time bathe your soul and help you to really enter into the joy of the celebration of God’s greatest gift. Happy Advent!!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Incarnation and Wonder
Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, once said: “One who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead.” Perhaps we could say, “If we can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, our spirituality is as good as dead.” There is a definite link between having a sense of wonder and living the Christian faith—so much so that it’s fairly safe to say that a sense of wonder is an essential trait of a healthy, maturing spirituality. Wonder is often the prelude to as well as result of meeting God.
The Bible reminds us how wonder can lead us to a meeting with God. For example, there is the story of Moses and his encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-17). Moses is overwhelmed by the sight of a bush that is burning, but not consumed. As he comes closer, God speaks to him and reminds him of the sacredness of life and the holiness of God. Out of that encounter Moses is transformed and called into service. Something happens in Moses’ life. He is sent into the world to bring God’s redeeming, liberating, life-changing word to his people and through them, the world.
We might ask ourselves: what would have happened if Moses had not noticed the bush in the first place? What if he had been so preoccupied with his work of tending the sheep that he never even saw the bush? Or what if he saw it but felt he couldn’t afford to take the time to go and have a closer look? Way too busy watching those sheep! The answer is both clear and sobering: Moses would have missed an opportunity to meet God. I think there is a reminder here for all of us. An attitude that often stifles wonder is one that is too preoccupied or too busy to pay attention to things. Our sense of wonder is nourished by our periodically laying aside our preoccupations and our work in order to pay closer attention to our world and the people around us. It is when we learn to sloooow down, to open our eyes and really look and be attentive to the world around us and especially to the indications of God’s presence in the drama of life that we cultivate and experience wonder.
For me, this is one of the things that happens in the four weeks of Advent and at Christmas when I think about the mystery of the incarnation – God coming to us—God becoming “enfleshed” in the person of Jesus-- “God with us.” This is grace. This is wonder. This is the mystery of Christmas.
That is why at this time of the year, and maybe especially this time of the year, we should slow down, spend time refocusing and giving attention to the spiritual meaning of this Good News about God showing up in our world in the person of Jesus. What does it mean and what can mean for my life and my world? It is easy to relegate this sort of reflection to our Sunday morning worship experiences or to the Christmas Eve or Christmas day service. But as Herbert O’Driscoll reminds us: This paying attention should take “place in the ongoing events of my life. This task I may be doing now, this person I am with now, this joy or pain I am feeling now, this work of art I am experiencing now—each of these can become the context of the spiritual, each can become the meeting place with the extremely contemporary Christ. This is what the mystery we call the Incarnation means, that the Christ comes...in the seemingly ordinary fabric of today’s events and tasks.” (Prayers for the Breaking of Bread, p. 3)
If we can learn to pay attention to the God who not only came, but continues to come, we can cultivate a sense of awe and gratitude and are given a new vision, a new hope and strength to go back out into the world to live and witness to the ever new, ever liberating good news of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom into the world. And when that happens, the wonder of God with us is not just a Christmas experience, it can become an everyday experience of wonder.
Prayer: Lord, we admit that so often, as we make our way toward Christmas, we are distracted by the busyness that is taking place around us and the stress and chaos that is happening within us. The period of waiting that is Advent and the celebration that is Christmas often leave us without a real sense of wonder. Instead of looking for your wondrous coming to us in the events of our daily lives, we are more focused on presents and deadlines, busy schedules and all the trappings of the shopping season. We find ourselves resentful of all the pushing and shoving, and before we know it, Christmas has come and gone. We missed it. We missed the wonder of “God with us,” of the reminder that you so value us and our world that you entered it in Jesus. We are sorry and ask that you might help us to pause, focus, and pay attention to the wonder that is all around us – in the world, in the people that we meet, in the silence through which you speak peace into our hearts. Amen
The Bible reminds us how wonder can lead us to a meeting with God. For example, there is the story of Moses and his encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-17). Moses is overwhelmed by the sight of a bush that is burning, but not consumed. As he comes closer, God speaks to him and reminds him of the sacredness of life and the holiness of God. Out of that encounter Moses is transformed and called into service. Something happens in Moses’ life. He is sent into the world to bring God’s redeeming, liberating, life-changing word to his people and through them, the world.
We might ask ourselves: what would have happened if Moses had not noticed the bush in the first place? What if he had been so preoccupied with his work of tending the sheep that he never even saw the bush? Or what if he saw it but felt he couldn’t afford to take the time to go and have a closer look? Way too busy watching those sheep! The answer is both clear and sobering: Moses would have missed an opportunity to meet God. I think there is a reminder here for all of us. An attitude that often stifles wonder is one that is too preoccupied or too busy to pay attention to things. Our sense of wonder is nourished by our periodically laying aside our preoccupations and our work in order to pay closer attention to our world and the people around us. It is when we learn to sloooow down, to open our eyes and really look and be attentive to the world around us and especially to the indications of God’s presence in the drama of life that we cultivate and experience wonder.
For me, this is one of the things that happens in the four weeks of Advent and at Christmas when I think about the mystery of the incarnation – God coming to us—God becoming “enfleshed” in the person of Jesus-- “God with us.” This is grace. This is wonder. This is the mystery of Christmas.
That is why at this time of the year, and maybe especially this time of the year, we should slow down, spend time refocusing and giving attention to the spiritual meaning of this Good News about God showing up in our world in the person of Jesus. What does it mean and what can mean for my life and my world? It is easy to relegate this sort of reflection to our Sunday morning worship experiences or to the Christmas Eve or Christmas day service. But as Herbert O’Driscoll reminds us: This paying attention should take “place in the ongoing events of my life. This task I may be doing now, this person I am with now, this joy or pain I am feeling now, this work of art I am experiencing now—each of these can become the context of the spiritual, each can become the meeting place with the extremely contemporary Christ. This is what the mystery we call the Incarnation means, that the Christ comes...in the seemingly ordinary fabric of today’s events and tasks.” (Prayers for the Breaking of Bread, p. 3)
If we can learn to pay attention to the God who not only came, but continues to come, we can cultivate a sense of awe and gratitude and are given a new vision, a new hope and strength to go back out into the world to live and witness to the ever new, ever liberating good news of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom into the world. And when that happens, the wonder of God with us is not just a Christmas experience, it can become an everyday experience of wonder.
Prayer: Lord, we admit that so often, as we make our way toward Christmas, we are distracted by the busyness that is taking place around us and the stress and chaos that is happening within us. The period of waiting that is Advent and the celebration that is Christmas often leave us without a real sense of wonder. Instead of looking for your wondrous coming to us in the events of our daily lives, we are more focused on presents and deadlines, busy schedules and all the trappings of the shopping season. We find ourselves resentful of all the pushing and shoving, and before we know it, Christmas has come and gone. We missed it. We missed the wonder of “God with us,” of the reminder that you so value us and our world that you entered it in Jesus. We are sorry and ask that you might help us to pause, focus, and pay attention to the wonder that is all around us – in the world, in the people that we meet, in the silence through which you speak peace into our hearts. Amen
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