Tag: Christmas (Page 4 of 4)

Canceling Church, part 2

December 26, 2011 /

Merry day after Christmas!  I hope you had a lovely day, fully present to Jesus and loved ones around you.  

Friday I posted on different attitudes towards canceling church on Christmas day, including my own whine well reasoned argument against John signing our family up to lead in worship.  Well the troops rallied and it was a delightful day.  Since I’m following the advice of my blog “mentor”, Jon Acuff and taking a little break this week, I thought I’d just post what I shared in church yesterday. 

Twenty-six years ago this past week John and I were waiting for a baby to arrive.  It was Advent so we were waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  But we were also expecting our first baby.

I was 8 months pregnant and like all expectant parents we were discussing names.   We couldn’t agree, but it wasn’t for lack of resources.

We had a baby book with the meanings of names.

And even a Christian version with Bible verses for each name’s meaning.

And then we had, you know… the whole BIBLE, with all those holy names to choose from.  But…we had…issues.

I had been an elementary school teacher which meant we had to nix any names that had belonged to problem kids I had had in class.  I used to love the name Jeremy until I had a third grade “Jeremy” who was worse than Dennis the Menace and Osama bin Laden.  So Jeremy was out.  And so was Alex.  And Michael.

Then we had trouble agreeing on the type of name.  I like unusual names, and would have no problem naming a child Zechariah (my cousin has kids named Cosmo and Zappa so he’d feel right at home).  But John likes the classics (and the name “John” in particular), so there was no way we could agree on a boy’s name that was acceptable.  It’s a good thing we had a girl.

When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph didn’t have to have the “What shall we name him” conversation fraught with the potential disagreements.  I know there are a lot of downsides, to being the parents of the Messiah, but this is a perk.  They had an ANGEL show up and say, “Here’s the deal.  You’re gonna have a baby and I want you to name Him Jesus.  Got that?  Jesus.   Not Joe.”  

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Canceling Church

December 21, 2011 /

Christmas lands on Sunday this year (in case you missed the memo).                              And my husband is a pastor.                                                                                                       And he scheduled Christmas morning worship.                                                          How do you feel about that?

You may think, “It’s Sunday!  Slam dunk!  That’s as it should be!  I personally can have a worshipful spirit while still in my pj’s at home on Christmas morning, but it’s good to know there will be church as usual for, you know… other people.”

Or you may think, “Absolutely!  We will have have opened gifts, enjoyed brunch, and we’re planning to get to church early just to make sure we can get a good seat.  Anyone not in church must not love Jesus.”

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Christmas Card Fail

December 14, 2011 /

One of the casualties of the Holiday Ham meltdown ’11 was our family Christmas card and letter.  We’re not going to do one this year to save some money.  As the Christmas Queen who wants to do everything Christmas, and who’s dream is to be a snowflake in the Holidazzle parade, you can bet this wasn’t my vote.  I’m really into tradition.  We even have a book where we keep all our family Christmas cards through the years.

But maybe it’s better this way.  I received a link to The Best of the Worst Holiday Cards yesterday and I’m thinking some of ours might make the cut.  We were really into holiday sweaters.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking…What if Mary and Joseph wrote a Christmas letter a couple of years after Jesus was born?  It might have begun like ours did in 1987, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”?

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Hormones and Ham, Messes and Mis-understanding

December 12, 2011 /

One of us in our family had a meltdown Friday night.  It might have included an ugly cry and talk about budgets, Christmas cards, ham, and insensitive comments.

My husband and I both worked really hard to understand each other, but OK, honestly John worked at it a lot harder than I did because, well, not to be sexist, but I’m a girl.  And he feels really bad when I cry.

On this night our discussion was kind of like a Christmas movie marathon that seems to go on forever and eventually the stories seem to start blurring together and you get really tired.  But John persisted and kept asking questions and listening until he finally said something and I grabbed him and yelled with great joy, “YOU SAID IT RIGHT THAT TIME!”

I felt like he finally got it.  He understood.  And he felt like he had vanquished the Abominable Snow Monster, guided Santa’s sleigh through the blizzard, and saved Christmas in that moment.  He was my hero again.

It made me think of what Joseph must have gone through with Mary.  I mean really.  Jesus was fully human AND fully God, but Mary was just human!  She was hormonal, and still in her teens, and unmarried and poor.  And an angel had beamed down to have a chat with and her fiance.

Think of the conversations Mary and Joseph must have had as they navigated this crazy journey of morning sickness, and gossipy friends, and a long “road” trip without McDonald’s bathrooms!  There must have been tears and confusion.  Trying to understand what each other was feeling.  Trying to support each other.

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Christmas Covet

December 7, 2011 /

Recently I heard someone say that they like Thanksgiving much better than Christmas because at Thanksgiving the focus is on being grateful for what we have, and at Christmas the focus is on getting what we want (or maybe more accurately, on what is lacking in our lives).  I hope it’s more than that, but I get what they mean.  There’s a lot at Christmas that threatens our contentment by tempting us to compare and covet, not just the things others have, but their life.

It used to be at this time of year our mailbox was filled with the “Christmas Letter” from friends around the country.                                                                                               The Christmas letter with glowing accounts of our friends’ “best life”…the highlight reel, the “brand”…the image we want to project…

But now with Facebook and Twitter it’s possible to read a perpetual “Christmas Letter” from friends all year long.  Facebook and Twitter can be  awesome tools to connect us in community.  But they can also be places where I covet a life that’s not mine.

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Labor of Love?

December 5, 2011 /

I’ve never heard either of my parents swear, but I have many memories of my mom, frustrated with a task, saying “I’m gonna swear.  I’m gonna swear! Close your ears kids!”                                                                                                                                                She never did, but she threatened to.  A lot.

There are some things that tempt a person to swear more than others. For me, the job of untangling Christmas lights brings out the worst in me.  I spent hours doing it this weekend, growling under my breath:

1.  “I’m sure this must be a job people have to do in Hell.”

2.  “If God really loved me I’d be rich enough to buy new lights every year.”

I was muttering, and resenting my husband who was off doing “spiritual” things, having “spiritual” conversations with colleagues, while I was relegated to “unspiritual” homey decorating chores.

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The Question to ask this Christmas Season

November 28, 2011 /

Most of us, full of Thanksgiving turkey, football, family fun (if you have a healthy family) or family angst (if yours is more dysfunctional) are ready to glide into the Christmas season like Santa on a sleigh filled with toys.

We’re also ready to ask the crucial questions of the season:

  • Is it really “Christian” to say “Happy Holidays”?  Is “Merry Christmas” in the Bible?
  • Is Santa a bad idea and what about that pesky new interloper, “Elf on the Shelf”? What’s a parent to do?
  • What’s the best way to manage the animals in a live nativity? (wrangling a camel is no small feat)
  • And along those same lines, is it appropriate to approach a pregnant woman in October or November and call dibs on her baby for the creche?
  • What’s the proper etiquette for Christmas Eve candle lighting?  Who tips and who holds their candle upright so there is no wax leakage or hair flameouts?
  • Is it legal to roll out ready-made Pilsbury sugar cookie dough for cutouts and pass them off as homemade?

I was thinking about this this morning as I was making my 18-foot long “to do” list.  I love to do lists!  I love EVERYTHING about Christmas!  But, like I wrote last week, I think that the activity of Christmas can hinder the activity of God in my life.  So while the questions above may be critical for some, the one question I want to ask myself daily this Advent season is,

“Will Christmas still come if I don’t do this one thing?”

If I say “no” to this invitation?

If I don’t make this gift?

If I don’t have this new decoration?

If I’m not the one to host?

What’s the one thing it would be a good idea to put on your “don’t do” list this season?  Really.  I’d love to hear.

I woke up this morning thinking of something John Ortberg once said, “Sometimes sleep is the most spiritual thing you can do.”

Christmas Elves, the Dark Side

November 25, 2011 /

I love Christmas.  Maybe too much.

I might have been a Christmas Elf in another life.  I’m one of those obnoxious people who starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween (admit it, there are others reading this that are with me).

When we first moved to Minnesota two women invited me to join them in a Bible study.  Right before Christmas we met at the home of one of them.  Both said they weren’t going to decorate for Christmas because it was too much hassle.  We did not become friends and the Bible study lasted about as long as Christmas cookies that are anywhere near my husband.

But as much as I dive in with jolly holiday gusto, I fear that the activity of Christmas can hinder the activity of God in me.

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