The beginning of Christmas season this year...is repugnant to me....
I don't know exactly why...maybe it is my age, maybe all the advertisements about "Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays", stores open on Thanksgiving, or e-mails and on-line Christmas ads that seem to have begun months ago...you know like: "Why wait till "Black Friday"...your "Black Friday deals" are now!!...and this was in September (lol).
Or, maybe I just don't want to go through the "same o same o" stuff about Christmas...Christmas parties, Christmas gifts, Christmas this and Christmas that. I know it is for the kids and grand-kids, and it is pretty to see a candle lit service on December 24th when we all hold hands and sing Kum-Ba Ya...wait that's not right...Silent Night...right?
Yet...for me, Christmas is a "thing of the past...if there ever was one"...it just doesn't carry much of a "punch" anymore. (sounding a little "Grinchy" today huh?)
So, after evaluating my take on Christmas, I realize I may indeed have some issues. With this in mind....I begin a series of thoughts entitled: "In Search of Christmas".
Honestly, I think what bothers me the most about this season of the year...is how fragile and temporary it is. I can't help and see...and feel...and sense the darkness of people's hearts during this time of year. We all know of how depression increases, suicides escalate, and with all our families split up and dissected...there is real pain out there...and honestly, I don't see Christmas being a real answer to all this.., at least not in the way we approach Christmas (referring to my family...not pointing fingers).
Members of my own family have married and divorced so many times...and some have married different girls with the same first name, so we have to identify them as "Pam 1" or "Pam 2". Bitterness and resentments have built up over time which allows 2 people who have not spoken all year, to hug and say "Merry Christmas"...and then shut their "doors" from one another...until next year... and sadly...some have even taken the bitterness and resentment...to their graves.
I guess my first question about Christmas would be: "What is it I expect.... Christmas is kind of scary to me...it seems to be a season of false hope...right?"
Being a Christian, I do trust in the bible for answers that pertain to life...and I have a question..."Why Christmas?...and what exactly is Christmas suppose to do..for us?"
Moving away from all the melancholies and realities of what my eyes perceive as Christmas, I look to what the Sacred Scriptures say about this time of year.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, it describes a scene of what was going on around the time of the birth of the baby Jesus. Surprisingly, if you take a little time and study the background of His birth, you will find the world He came into at that time... is not a whole different than what we have today.
The Roman Empire was in charge...and the Jewish nation of Israel was forced to go along with the latest direction the Roman Emperor would dictate. Oh, the Jewish nation were allowed to worship the way they wanted, yet much of what what going on in their day( the synagogues and The Temple in Jerusalem itself)...is what we do today...going through the motions of our religion and not really having any passion or heart as to what it means. And, like many around the time of Jesus birth, the only hope is The Messiah would come and get us out of this mess.
In the 1st century, this would mean their Messiah...the Anointed One would come and bring an end to all this Roman hostility and free the nation of Israel...forever.
And you know what?...He did...The Messiah came...yet...not the way everyone thought He would...or should I say "thought He should".
And here is where the Christmas story begins to intensify: there were these shepherds outside of Jerusalem...according to most historians a few miles outside Jerusalem, and they were tending to their sheep. These shepherds had a meager yet stable income from raising sheep, especially in their location because they would sell these sheep to the Jewish leaders at the Temple, and these sheep would be a valuable money maker for The Temple...selling these sheep at exuberant prices during the Passover....telling their "members of the congregation" these were unblemished sheep...the only ones that were good enough for sacrifice.
As far as the relationship between shepherds and Temple priests...it really "wasn't all that". Shepherds, because of their line of work...couldn't really be at all the Temple rituals, and my impression is the priests kind of looked at shepherds the way we look at garbage collectors today. We watch them pick up our garbage each week and wave...but we are not going to run out and hug them or even shake their hand...we don't know what they have been handling or where their hands have been (lol...God bless those guys!).
So, here are these shepherds...guarding their sheep at night from local predators and keeping them calm so they might get a good night's rest, when out of nowhere this flashing light is in the sky...and there is an angelic being standing...right before their very eyes.
How would you react to that? I don't know what I would do?... to be honest...run would probably be my first thought. How about the sheep?...Did they see this flashing light as well? I don't know.
What I do know according to the passage in Saint Luke...is the first thing the angel said to them: "Don't be afraid". So, the first words of our Christmas season has arrived..."Don't be afraid!" Afraid of what?...well, for the shepherds...I am pretty certain it was the arrival of this angel in the dark of the night. For us today...we may not see an angel in our midst...yet...Is Christmas a time to be afraid...afraid Christmas has no power to change anything going on around us, a time where loneliness and depression get the upper hand in our lives, a time when the severed friendships whether it be with family or friends...will not change?...other than a hug and "outta here"?
Christmas...what are you expecting it to do for you? Is it really have a meaning...other than exchanging a few gifts, saying "Merry Christmas" once in a while to someone...instead of "Happy Holidays", or just a season to practice a little more at being nice to others? Maybe Christmas is making an appearance at a candle light service...provided "the roof don't collapse" from you making this yearly pilgrimage...lol.
What if a "Christmas Angel" appeared to you and said: "Don't be afraid...go ahead and forgive that person you have held a grudge for all this time."...or "Don't be afraid...go ahead and put some passion into Christmas this year...go beyond the parties...go beyond the presents...go beyond the mundane things you normally do this time of year... "For unto you a child is born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and He is lying...in a manger."
So, the Messiah enters our world...not as a great King with an entire army of Angels...it is recorded in the Old Testament that one angel from Heaven killed 185,000 in one night alone...now that would be the beginning of a Christmas story...right?
Yet...He came...wrapped in swaddling clothes?...a baby?...and in a manger because that was the only place Mary and Joseph could find to bed down? What's up with that?
And seriously...this "intro" is going to change the course of history?
The angel that appeared to the shepherds that night...had a little more to say about this great King about to be announced....more to come.
I don't know exactly why...maybe it is my age, maybe all the advertisements about "Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays", stores open on Thanksgiving, or e-mails and on-line Christmas ads that seem to have begun months ago...you know like: "Why wait till "Black Friday"...your "Black Friday deals" are now!!...and this was in September (lol).
Or, maybe I just don't want to go through the "same o same o" stuff about Christmas...Christmas parties, Christmas gifts, Christmas this and Christmas that. I know it is for the kids and grand-kids, and it is pretty to see a candle lit service on December 24th when we all hold hands and sing Kum-Ba Ya...wait that's not right...Silent Night...right?Yet...for me, Christmas is a "thing of the past...if there ever was one"...it just doesn't carry much of a "punch" anymore. (sounding a little "Grinchy" today huh?)
So, after evaluating my take on Christmas, I realize I may indeed have some issues. With this in mind....I begin a series of thoughts entitled: "In Search of Christmas".
Honestly, I think what bothers me the most about this season of the year...is how fragile and temporary it is. I can't help and see...and feel...and sense the darkness of people's hearts during this time of year. We all know of how depression increases, suicides escalate, and with all our families split up and dissected...there is real pain out there...and honestly, I don't see Christmas being a real answer to all this.., at least not in the way we approach Christmas (referring to my family...not pointing fingers).
Members of my own family have married and divorced so many times...and some have married different girls with the same first name, so we have to identify them as "Pam 1" or "Pam 2". Bitterness and resentments have built up over time which allows 2 people who have not spoken all year, to hug and say "Merry Christmas"...and then shut their "doors" from one another...until next year... and sadly...some have even taken the bitterness and resentment...to their graves.
I guess my first question about Christmas would be: "What is it I expect.... Christmas is kind of scary to me...it seems to be a season of false hope...right?"
Being a Christian, I do trust in the bible for answers that pertain to life...and I have a question..."Why Christmas?...and what exactly is Christmas suppose to do..for us?"
Moving away from all the melancholies and realities of what my eyes perceive as Christmas, I look to what the Sacred Scriptures say about this time of year.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, it describes a scene of what was going on around the time of the birth of the baby Jesus. Surprisingly, if you take a little time and study the background of His birth, you will find the world He came into at that time... is not a whole different than what we have today.
The Roman Empire was in charge...and the Jewish nation of Israel was forced to go along with the latest direction the Roman Emperor would dictate. Oh, the Jewish nation were allowed to worship the way they wanted, yet much of what what going on in their day( the synagogues and The Temple in Jerusalem itself)...is what we do today...going through the motions of our religion and not really having any passion or heart as to what it means. And, like many around the time of Jesus birth, the only hope is The Messiah would come and get us out of this mess.
In the 1st century, this would mean their Messiah...the Anointed One would come and bring an end to all this Roman hostility and free the nation of Israel...forever.
And you know what?...He did...The Messiah came...yet...not the way everyone thought He would...or should I say "thought He should".
And here is where the Christmas story begins to intensify: there were these shepherds outside of Jerusalem...according to most historians a few miles outside Jerusalem, and they were tending to their sheep. These shepherds had a meager yet stable income from raising sheep, especially in their location because they would sell these sheep to the Jewish leaders at the Temple, and these sheep would be a valuable money maker for The Temple...selling these sheep at exuberant prices during the Passover....telling their "members of the congregation" these were unblemished sheep...the only ones that were good enough for sacrifice.
As far as the relationship between shepherds and Temple priests...it really "wasn't all that". Shepherds, because of their line of work...couldn't really be at all the Temple rituals, and my impression is the priests kind of looked at shepherds the way we look at garbage collectors today. We watch them pick up our garbage each week and wave...but we are not going to run out and hug them or even shake their hand...we don't know what they have been handling or where their hands have been (lol...God bless those guys!).
So, here are these shepherds...guarding their sheep at night from local predators and keeping them calm so they might get a good night's rest, when out of nowhere this flashing light is in the sky...and there is an angelic being standing...right before their very eyes.
How would you react to that? I don't know what I would do?... to be honest...run would probably be my first thought. How about the sheep?...Did they see this flashing light as well? I don't know.
What I do know according to the passage in Saint Luke...is the first thing the angel said to them: "Don't be afraid". So, the first words of our Christmas season has arrived..."Don't be afraid!" Afraid of what?...well, for the shepherds...I am pretty certain it was the arrival of this angel in the dark of the night. For us today...we may not see an angel in our midst...yet...Is Christmas a time to be afraid...afraid Christmas has no power to change anything going on around us, a time where loneliness and depression get the upper hand in our lives, a time when the severed friendships whether it be with family or friends...will not change?...other than a hug and "outta here"?
Christmas...what are you expecting it to do for you? Is it really have a meaning...other than exchanging a few gifts, saying "Merry Christmas" once in a while to someone...instead of "Happy Holidays", or just a season to practice a little more at being nice to others? Maybe Christmas is making an appearance at a candle light service...provided "the roof don't collapse" from you making this yearly pilgrimage...lol.
What if a "Christmas Angel" appeared to you and said: "Don't be afraid...go ahead and forgive that person you have held a grudge for all this time."...or "Don't be afraid...go ahead and put some passion into Christmas this year...go beyond the parties...go beyond the presents...go beyond the mundane things you normally do this time of year... "For unto you a child is born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and He is lying...in a manger."
So, the Messiah enters our world...not as a great King with an entire army of Angels...it is recorded in the Old Testament that one angel from Heaven killed 185,000 in one night alone...now that would be the beginning of a Christmas story...right?
Yet...He came...wrapped in swaddling clothes?...a baby?...and in a manger because that was the only place Mary and Joseph could find to bed down? What's up with that?
And seriously...this "intro" is going to change the course of history?
The angel that appeared to the shepherds that night...had a little more to say about this great King about to be announced....more to come.
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