An Inch At A Time: Reflections on the Journey: A Christian on Christmas

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

A Christian on Christmas

I am a Christian.
I celebrate Christmas
(after Advent, however.)
I just want to say
that not all Christians feel the need
to cram Christmas down the throats
of everyone else.
Some of us are quite happy
to observe the Christmas Season --
which is, believe it or not, only 12 days long,
beginning on Christmas Day --
in our churches and homes.
I don't need to see a Nativity scene
on the courthouse lawn,
or Christmas trees in every home,
or have someone in a store
say "Merry Christmas" to me
every day from Thanksgiving on
in order to celebrate Christmas.
And now:
On with Advent.
[by Katie Sherrod]

1 comment:

RonF said...: The War on Christmas is not being fought by store clerks who wish us "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". It's being fought - and, I suggest, lost - by the circumstance that in our culture this has become noticeable because people have more contact with store clerks than they do their friends and families during Advent.

There IS a reason for the season. And it's not to load up our stress levels and our credit cards buying, giving and receiving gifts.

At least, not gifts you can buy in a store. Not gifts of things. Jesus DID ask us to give gifts , but to honor God and each other, not in honor of his birth. Gifts of compassion, gifts of help, gifts of honor and respect and a recognition of each others' humanity. Gifts of love, gifts of that most precious commodity you have - your time. You can't keep it, it passes regardless of whether you watch TV or help a friend.

These days I think that if you want to give someone a gift, take a look at the gifts you have been given and use them. Late in my life as it is I've been given the gift of music (or perhaps more accurately, I've been able to revive the gift I was given a long time ago but laid aside). I find that whenever I use it to make music for others I get back more than I give.

You who are reading this? You have such a gift. I don't know what it is, but God has given each one of us one. Find it. Use it. Give it.

Merry Christmas!; 7:40 AM

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

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Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it.

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It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

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In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value.

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Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Smart things other people have said you should know about

“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale