Have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed holiday season! Thank you JibJab, Office Max and the “elf yourself” videos that you can make for our family “Christmas card” video..
Tag Archives: Christmas
Santa Claus
And you can say there’s no such thing as…
but as for the Longstreths we “believe.” Believe in what? A plump old man with a white beard and a kind face? Are we talking about Santa here or God?
For so many what’s the difference.. I’m sure many think about God looking much like “Santa” minus the red coat and pipe.. But that’s cool – God is a giver of gifts.. Here are some more similarities between God and Santa..
He is all-knowing.. He can travel the world in a single night and He doesn’t even need timezones.. God even has a bunch of elves or maybe angels helping Him to do what He does for the world..
Let me go on.. God also thinks Christmas is important – after all that represents the day He gave the whole world a gift.. And with the many skeptics who start to figure out the “truth” behind the Santa conspiracy — God, too, finds Himself on the receiving end of a lot of doubt, disbelief and skepticism.
So can Santa be a practiced tradition for the purpose of both entertainment and metaphor in our households? Well it is in mine.. What about telling the lie to my kids? Hmmm. Well if I told you I never lied to my kids before I’d be lying..
I’ll be home at …
We’ll get a puppy next year …
There’s nothing to worry about, everything will always be okay…
Look up the meaning of lying.. Really.. It’s not gonna mention Santa Claus..
A Tangled Mess!
I feel like that string of lights you pull out of the Christmas decorations box at the beginning of the season that needs unwound and separated. Sound like you too?
I have my wires crossed today.. Lack of flow or clear direction.. Even my sentences aren’t making sense..
Too much Christmas on the brain? Closing out the year at work? At home? Thinking about that turkey or ham dinner already? Worried about whether I’m on the naughty or nice list? I’m not sure, probably all of the above..
This season is one of my favorites of the year.. It’s also one the busiest for me around the church here.. Join me today in taking a few minutes out of your busyness to untangle, separate and make all the right connections.
One more week! Enjoy the process not just the end result!
Generous Consumerism
Shopping for Christmas gifts sometimes gets a bad rap around churches. Now I’ll be the first to agree that we have put far too much emphasis on the giving and receiving of gifts that are attached with monetary value$ instead of eternal or sentimental values.
When I was a kid I heard the term “commercialism” thrown around about this time of the year and saw it portrayed through cartoons such as A Charlie Brown Christmas…
Then when I “grew up” and began serving in local church ministry, the term commercialism turned into the term “consumerism.” This term is used in our context for far more than the exchanging of too many Christmas presents. We also use the term to describe a culture that we live in, a consumeristic culture. This is a culture, like it or not, that shops for the best deals on just about everything – from gadgets, gizmos and gifts to churches, schools and even relationships.
I’m not on my pedestal here, for I too am a consumer. Being a consumer in and of itself isn’t wrong.
We consume. We eat, we drink, we burn fuel to stay warm, we cut down trees to build houses. Our survival is based on consumption. It’s a fact of life and God made it that way..
Its over-consumption that leads us to something very dangerous. When a spirit of “feeding our obesity,” metaphorically speaking (i.e., materialism, spiritual gluttony, corruption and injustice, etc), replaces a spirit of others-centeredness and generosity.
After all, isn’t this a season where the “spirit of generosity” is elevated to status quo?
I read a news story today that reminded me that not all consumerism is bad. Take some time and check it out. Anonymous Donors Pay Off Kmart Layaways
So here’s my big question for all of us…
Q) Is there a place where rather than attempting to rid ourselves of everything that even hints to consumerism we could redefine what these ideals look like in our lives?
A) Yes. You define it…
And let’s carry these new ideals over into the rest of the year rather than just remembering that this is “good stuff” just around Christmas..
[disclosure: any post in the category of "rumination" isn't going to be the normal 200-250 word post. By definition I am forced to write a lengthy blog post about the topic of discussion. I am now over 400 words. I did it...]
Worn-out Rustic Faith
This week at Riverside Community Church we are hosting our annual Christmas musical. This year it involved the assembly of a stable and manger for a “live” nativity. So after rummaging through our quite large and dangerous pile of wood from productions past, I was able to locate the materials we need to build our stable.
The wood was significantly dinged up.. It had mold on it.. The stable was fairly rickety after we put it together.. But then I thought, well it’s perfect.. It’s “rustic.” We aren’t going for a clean-cut and perfect facade – we really are trying to achieve the look of an old worn-out and broken stable.
I think about my own faith. I often find myself going through various processes to produce a clean-cut and perfect facade in the construction of my life – but why? There’s nothing wrong with cleaning up the brokenness in my life (or better yet allowing God to do the cleanup); but rather than putting on a facade, why can’t we – I mean – why can’t I show my brokenness as it really is and take a lesson from the humble servant?
Not rewriting theology here, just posing a question to you that I ask myself – is it possible to stop white-washing and waxing over our broken lives and let the imperfections show through? And as we allow the Craftsman to do His renovation in plain view of the public, is that an acceptable “witness” to those around us?
The Hot New Toy
This year’s hottest new toys can be found on this list myrcc.us/uRnA7Z.. Now say what you’ll say about “consumerism” and the true meaning of Christmas etc etc bla bla bla– but there’s something even bigger than these buzz words/phrases behind this one..
If your kid wants (or asked Santa Claus for) one of these toys- and like my kid’s toy request- it’s sold out EVERYWHERE online and in physical stores — how crazy are you gonna get to pull through for them (or for Santa to pull through)??
Now we’ve all heard stories right?! I’m reminded of Dwight Schrute’s entrepreneurship in one the office episodes where he buys up a bunch of the hot new toys of the year only to resell them at a much higher price..
So what would you do? How much would you pay? Ten percent more? Half and again? Double? More?? How many hours would you search the web for it? How many miles would you drive to get it?
Would you do the unthinkable and get it from those shady websites that don’t have credible customer reviews? (if so– your poor kid’s gotta good chance of gettin’ nuttin’ for Christmas)..
Imagine if we were so militant about chasing after hope, peace, joy, and love!
Luckily we found Braden’s hot new toy at Target right when a few came in on the truck.. Great timing.. This year as families and friends all over the world light our “advent candles” consider what it means to put a flame to the wick of those four advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love!
Wishing you a warm and hopeful Advent season..