Rant in the time of shutterfly

I might just write this to get it out of my system and never post it. We’ll see.

I received what I consider the worst Christmas card of this year. Let me tell you why. First of all, it was addressed to A. Bell. Like junk mail, like from someone who doesn’t know me. Exactly.

On the back of the envelope is a handwritten line – from (insert name of church here).

So I’m thinking, it must be from my church. Sent out by someone I don’t know, but it must be a card from the church in general.

I open it to find a shutterfly, picture-perfect card of a family I’ve never met. I flip it over. More pictures, including the dog. No handwritten message. No signature. No Biblical message or scripture verse. Just a printed script about a trip they took and how 2020 was a different year with unexpected changes.

Yes, it was.

I search around and find this was from an elder in the church.

I leave you with your own thoughts.

O Come O Come Emmanuel

i.pinimg.com/originals

“When Christ was born as a human baby, he ensured that He would die, because death is something that comes to every human being. But because Jesus Christ was wholly God as well as wholly human, He rose from the grave, to the astonishment not only of the Roman overlords and the powerful Jews in the Sanhedrin, but to the astonishment of all those who had been with Him during His earthly life. The Resurrection, too, is beyond the realm of fact and bursts into the realm of love, of truth, for in Jesus, truth and love are one and the same.” – from The Rock That is Higher by Madeleine L’Engle.

I enjoy the lights and presents and coziness of family as much as the next person. But, I also have a sadness in my heart when I see so many who don’t know this Christ that Christmas is supposed to be about. “Away in a Manger” for most is a cute song kids sing in little choirs, along with “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.

Listen to a song that tells more of the story of Christmas

O Come O Come Emmanuel

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight

Christ’s Coming in Glory

Lake Guntersville

“What can we prove about Christ’s coming in glory? Nothing. It is far beyond the language of limited proof. Indeed, our entire faith rests on a joyous acceptance of the factually impossible. When we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating that amazing time when the Word that shouted all galaxies into being, limited all power, and for love of us came to us in the powerless body of a human baby. My faith is based on this incredible act of love, and if my faith is real it will be expressed in how I live my life, but it is outside the realm of laboratory or scientific proof.” – from The Rock That is Higher by Madeleine L’Engle

Sometimes we, I, get caught up in trying to figure everything out. Trying to prove things. I forget what my faith is all about when I get caught up in the way the world thinks.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29

There are some things I may never understand. But, there are many that I do and many that I should. There are enough things made clear in scripture that I can wait to understand the other things.

Magic or Meaning?

 

Last year was hard. This year seems harder. “Celebrating” without extended family isn’t  easy. Some are gone, some just don’t come around. I read articles that say this:

“Maybe in that year, or in a string of years, it feels like Christmas just doesn’t work for you. Maybe while everyone else is enjoying the season and dancing to jingle bells it all rings hollow to you. ”  -from When Christmas Loses Its Cheer 

or this:

“What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.” from Christmas Is For Those Who Hate It Most  

I read these articles and find a glimpse of hope. My mind and heart begin to connect a bit more. All I know but have set aside in sorrow comes back to me.

“I’m not going to put it up anymore,” Mom told me as she sent me home with her two-foot tree after Christmas in 2017. We hadn’t put up a tree since we moved to Birmingham, so I thought it would be perfect. I didn’t realize how her words rang so true; less than two months later she was gone. She wouldn’t ever put up a Christmas tree again.

Today I thought, ‘What would mom do?’ So, I climbed up to the attic and got the little tree. And the wreath. And my decorating is done. I’ve made cookies and wrapped presents for a little girl I may never meet and mailed  a few gifts to my kids. Now I have my tree and wreath. But I have so much more. I just need to be reminded of it every now and then.

 

 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. – Luke 2:10-11

Throwback Thursday – Past Costumes and thoughts stirred up

Since costumes are on many minds today, thought I’d go back to my kids’ costumes – one from 1987, the other from around 1997 or so. In the first photo, they are posing with some of the neighbor kids (the clowns), Daniel and Twila. Ben and Kat had the privilege (lol) of homemade costumes. I think Kat was some sort of princess. A sort of lame princess, but maybe she didn’t think so. Ben was an Indian – complete with red tennis shoes. Drew had the good fortune of having cool Superman PJs. In the second photo, Leah is wearing a borrowed costume.

What does all this mean? Well, for starters you can tell I never spent much on costumes. When I was a kid (groan, here we go again), I never remember a store bought costume. Maybe a mask or two. Usually I was a gypsy – decked out in Mom’s hand-me-downs and costume jewelry, or a hobo. Neither one politically correct now, I know.

I love the idea of dressing up and having fun. I hate the idea of Halloween. And now there is the newish idea of Trunk-or-Treat. For those of you who don’t know, Trunk or Treat is when trick-or-treating is done from parked car to parked car in a local parking lot, often at a church, so parents are able to keep a more watchful eye on their children. (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Trunk_or_Treat)

 I don’t like this idea so much because of the thinly veiled attempt at recruiting new visitors to the church. It just seems wrong. Plus, it confuses me. How is the option between a trunk or a treat? The expression just does not work out.

 I truly wish this fun time was not associated with pagan rituals. Yes, I know most kids have no clue about that. Anymore than many kids who don’t associate Christmas with Christ. It also has pagan roots.

 Bottom line – do I celebrate Halloween? Not really. Do I give out candy? Yes, I do. Do I celebrate Christmas? Yes, I do. Do I hate its pagan roots, combining a sacred night with Santa Claus? Yes, I do. I will continue to enjoy Christmas with my family and friends. My prayer is that at Christmas, someone might hear the Gospel of Christ and learn of His love.

 But, I don’t delude myself that people will hear much Gospel out of the back of a trunk in a church parking lot.