Grinch-like thoughts

[Guest]

So, I've felt like a Grinch since Thanksgiving.

From the crass commercialism to Focus on the Family's boycott list (of corporations that don't include the word "Christmas" anywhere), I felt a general unease and angst about what I saw and felt. My wife's been telling me to lighten up about the American Christmas season, but something is still gnawing at me.

Then I found something that summed up and described why I felt the way I did - The Lord of the Dance

What do you think?


Dave

[Guest]

That was great Dave. I especially liked this bit:

In the beginning, the church was a fellowship of men and women who centered their lives on the living Christ. They had a personal relationship with the Lord. It transformed them and the world around them.
Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy.
Later it moved to Rome, where it became an institution.
Next it moved to Europe, where it became a culture.
Finally it moved to the United States, where it became an enterprise.
We’ve got far too many churches and so few fellowships.

And this one:

But I think there is an important point to be made here. It is the difference between transient happiness and joy. It’s wonderful that Jesus was born. It’s a matter of cosmic importance that He died and rose again in three days. The notion of a Caucasian wizard who dumps mountains of plastic gifts on the children of wealthy families, while their counterparts in Sub-saharan Africa are wasting away from AIDS is NOT a fitting symbol for the Lord of the Universe!

I also appreciated the point of how ancient Christians, who were much more more tied to the earth and seasons than we are, would see a link between the Winter Solstice and coming of Jesus--the light--to the earth.

[Guest]

My husband and I stopped celebrating Christmas 25 years ago!
It seems it bothers some christians more as people have said
we are not celebrating the birth of Christ. Hello?

[Guest]

Here's another quote from the satirical piece that I found poignant:

Christmas was lost long ago, co-opted by consumers and capitalists and secularists. The greatest insult of all is that it wasn’t stolen by these people, it was given away by the Christians themselves. They lost it without a shot being fired in anger.

And another one...

For instance, why don’t we Christians celebrate Easter as the primary holiday of our faith? I mean, the Nativity stories are in only two of the Four Gospels. Paul never mentions them at all. Besides, it is not the birth of Christ that saves the world, it is the death and resurrection! That’s when we should be exchanging gifts and decorating.

Another article at the same site summed up my thoughts on many American Christian's crusade to have the word "Christmas" attached to everything surrounding the holidays. Here is an excerpt:

But most people who wanna fight about The Meaning of Christmas are Christians. And mostly they think we're going in the wrong direction, that the true meaning is fading away, that even the name of Christmas is fading away, that it's becoming a commercial holiday, a secular holiday, a corrupted tradition, that nobody cares about the church part of it, that all they care about is the gift-giving and the sentimental stories and the days off work, and the churches themselves are the worst, they don't even have that many services because it conflicts with the football games, and another thing, and another thing, and another thing . . .
And then there are those of us who believe that, every time Christmas becomes less Christian, there's a victory for Christ.

Dave