Packing Away The Baby

After Christmas Thoughts on Christmas:

"Jesus is the reason for the season"

"We must fight this war on Christmas"

"Keep Christ in Christmas"

These are just a few of the things that I hear each year during the holiday season. They get tiresome and old to me, and the whole "war on Christmas" seems more than a bit over dramatic. Yet as we were packing away our nativity sets this week, I thought about how much I love the nativity image and the Advent season, and wondered why we couldn't just leave it up year round. I mean, Christ wasn't born on Dec. 25th... that's just the date the Church set to commemorate his birth. Ironically enough, I am worried less about people forgetting the Christ-child during Christmas than I am about them forgetting the child the remainder of the year. Shouldn't we be celebrating his birth ALL YEAR LONG?

Some would say, "but, now that Christmas is over we must look to Lent and Easter!" I would say that Christ's birth is always overshadowed by his death. Many Christians fight so hard for Baby Jesus from the day after Thanksgiving to Dec. 25th, and then by the new year are already ushering Christ to the cross. It made me think of many parent's saying, "they grow up so fast!"

But in this in-between time (between Christmas and Easter), let's think a second about "packing away the baby". I think that there is much that we need to leave unpacked for the entire year!
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The Christmas story sets the overture for the life and death of Jesus in both Matthew and Luke. You can read more about it in The First Christmas, and there's a good podcast with my man, Tripp, here (interviewing the author; Crossan). This overture sets the themes of what Jesus would teach, live, and give his life for in the gospel narratives. Those themes are set up so beautifully, and placed purposefully by the authors so that when you open the gospel narratives you are faced with these vital themes up front.

Think about the themes we celebrate during Advent and Christmas:

Peace on earth

goodwill to all men (humanity)

Freedom from bondage

equality

humility

servant-hood

and much more!

Take a verse to O Holy Night:

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is
peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name
all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise
we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

We see the themes of peace, love, equality, brotherhood, etc... in there. It was hard to sing this verse for me this Christmas season after the 2008 events of war, politics, racism, and bigotry that drove the years biggest headlines. I watched as people sang it at the top of their lungs and wondered who they place in bondage each day; who they stole joy and peace from all of the other 364 days of the year. I am not placing myself above them, I too am guilty, but this is what I'm taking from Christmas this year!

I then thought, what if Christ had waited to be born this year? Would it be so different? I know a lot has changed since the 1st century, but then again perhaps not...
Christ was born into:

An empire

Abuse of power

Wars

greed

Poverty

Hunger

Religious piety

Religious feuds

Those that have vs. those that have not

These are some of the themes of the Christmas overture. Now, here we are over 2000 years later, and, as big an impact as Christ has supposedly made in our lives, he still would be born into many of the same circumstances. When will we be able to say that, "Christ, if born today, would be born in a better world"?

How long?
How long will we sing this song?
When will we do more than simply sing?

Maybe this year, we shouldn't pack away the baby....

O Little Town of Bedlam

An Advent thought:
Advent: Attempting to relive the expectation of the future birth of the child that has already come each and every year. And who says that Christians aren't mystics?

art from ASBO Jesus.

Advent Conspiracy?!

A link worth checking out at the end of the video. To think that following Christ and ALL of his teachings along with his life's example could still change the world? A stretch? Perhaps.... or maybe not!

FBC--Holla Back Church (and more church signs)

Def. one of the most interesting Ch. signs/adds I've run accross. I find it interesting the "labels" listed...and just as interesting: the "labels" missing?!

Also some christmas ones from Holy Observer

And my personal favorite:

Christmas: what a great time to let the love flow!!!!!

Advent: The Consumerist Dollar

A post from my friend, Tripp's, Blog! Some thoughtful (and if we're honest with ourselves, painfully true) statements for thought. Thanks Tripp for sharing!!

Sobrino on the West's only unquestioned dogma of the Christmas season

"The unquestioned dogma of profit...We are speaking of those fundamentalisms - individualism, comfort, or pleasure (so soft in appearance, but with grave consequences) - that are accepted without justification and unquestionably prized and promoted. We are speaking also of the simplistic and infantile attitudes that may express themselves in very pretentious language, sometimes in the political sphere and very frequently in the religious."

What will we do to uphold this orthodoxy?

"Accept as normal the arrogance and dominance of some human beings with respect to others. And it accepts obedience to the empire's directives as necessary, or at least comprehensible, if we want to be assured of a 'good living,' 'success,' and 'security,' or whatever passes for definitive salvific goods."

What is the practice of this gospel?

"We are dehumanized by our selfishness...Such dehumanization is assumed with an attitude of impotence and naturalness ("that's the way things are!), and it is hardly noticeable since, in contrast to the evils that produced physical death or move people toward it, the evils of the spirit are not so obviously calculable. But they are harmful."

- Jon Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays (40-41)

The Unlikelihood Of Christmas: Repainted

Ok, so most people that know me know I'm not big into "Christian Music". Now I love music with spiritual meaning, but am not fond of the bands who are under the "Christian" label. I have all kinds of theological issues with that terminology, but we'll save that...

Mostly I find that "Christian Music/Artists" are full of fluff...probably not their fault as it is all they have been exposed to in their religious upbringing... the music that they could best relate to was "rockish" yet sub-par and the language that they heard being used was fluffy "church language", not authentic dialog.

So yeah, that's in short my beef with Christian artists. As a musician, call me a snob, but I like solid music, and I really like meaty, thought-provoking lyrics! Now that's not to say there are not good artists under the "Christian Label", indeed there are. Mat Kearney started under a Christina label but went to the secular branch (reaching a bigger audience that would turn away from the religious tag...music companies are smart...they know their audience), yet did not change anything in his music. The big dogs just thought he was "bigger" than the "Christian" label.

Anyway, I say all that to say that when a "Christian Artist" does come out with something musically and lyrically solid, then my little ears perk up. There are some emerging artists that have been given the freedom, and found the necessity to shed the fluff for a more authentic (to themselves personally and spiritually) approach.

One band that I liked when they first came out, kinda lost interest in for several years, and then recaptured my attention was Jars of Clay. I loved their first album... still do in fact. I had the next 2 Cd's, and then just stopped. But then came Redemption Songs. What they did was remarkable; they took songs with authentic lyrics (Hymns of all places!!!), and made them more relevant musically (read not organ/classical approach) while producing quality music!

Now they are doing it again with their new CD, Christmas Songs. Especially with the hymn, Love Came Down At Christmas. Hey if the formula works, why mess with it?

But to add to it, not only are they reimagining and repainting a classic hymn, but when I saw the video I was at first like, "what the heck".... but then on my second watching I was blown away with what they had done...and so simply!

They took the unlikely story of Christmas, and made it relevant by making this gift of love that came at Christmas (represented by a heart) and repainted the story in an even more unlikely way!!!!! I don't mean unlikely in a negative term, but according to the story, EVERYTHING that happens, happens in the most unlikely and unexpected ways! That's part of the beauty of the narrative!

My fav. part..."Mary" rides into town, not on a donkey, but on a unicorn!!!! yeah! Also like that the guitar is singing the guitar part. 3 "wise men" coming in a rocket? Oooo Oooo and the Dinosaurs being a part of the nativity (showing what is parabolic about Christ being born among animals in a stable: that all of creation was rejoicing in the Emmanuel-birth of their creator)! All like it was imagined like a child... I think that baby Jesus later on said something about faith like a child...in fact didn't Jars of Clay write a song to that effect???

sorry...I'm back....Just so much there! Enjoy!

So I present to you (via YouTube):
Love Came Down At Christmas--Jars of Clay

Advent: A Fisher Price Nativity

Several years ago I somehow decided that each year I would do something different in studying the story of the nativity during that advent season. I've been doing this practice for 6 years now, and each year I find something new and amazing about the story/stories that I didn't notice in years prior. It is always an amazing study of discipline to try and find 4 weeks of new things to learn and teach in a story that everyone is so familiar with. What I've found is that there is a lot to these stories that they never taught me growing up. Things that I never hear churches say about the nativity, and interesting tidbits that get lost in our modern day representations of the Christmas pageant. So I will try to do at least 4 advent entries between now and Christmas to allow everyone to see what I am being taught anew this year as I'm preparing for the Christ-child to be born again (metaphorically) in my life as he should be each day!

One thing that was pointed out recently startled me, and after talking with others, I'm not the only one who has skimmed over this interesting detail in the birth narrative.

From Luke's gospel:

Luke 2
The Birth of Jesus

"1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Luke 2 (cont...)

"39When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him."

COMPARED TO MATT.'S VERSION:

Matt. 2

v. 13-18- after being born in Bethlehem (no journey TO Bethlehem in the Matt. Version), they are told to flee to Egypt because of Herod's wrath and infanticide.

The Return to Nazareth

"19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

(both NIV)

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Did you catch it? I hadn't. The story we're all familiar with has Mary traveling to Bethlehem because of the royal census. In Luke Joseph and Mary LIVED in Nazareth and had to make this very inconvenient journey to "O' Little Town of Bethlehem."

Now look at Matt.'s version again. No traveling to Bethlehem, it's like they already were there! Interestingly enough, also no mention of a manger, stable, inn, anything. They are there and Jesus is born. (I had seen that before). But even more interesting to me this year is that last part after returning from Egypt. They were returning home(?) to Bethlehem when they get this strange message that its still not safe to go there, so they must now go some place new! Go to Galilee, to Nazareth so that Christ can be called a "Nazarene" in fulfillment of a prophecy.

So where were Mary and Joseph from? I don't point these things out in order to show inconsistencies in the 2 narratives for the purpose of discrediting the Christmas story (although they are inconsistent with each other), but rather to make a point about how we APPROACH the pageant of Christ! We approach it much like we do the rest of Christmas. We want it nice, pretty, and wrapped up neatly! Just think of how 99% of children's (and most adult books) illustrate the birth narrative!!! No animal poo on the ground, baby is sleeping nicely, Mary still has on all of her make-up to accent her Swedish complexion, and so on...

WE APPROACH THE NARRATIVE LIKE IT'S A FISHER PRICE NATIVITY!

But the stories aren't tidy. Most of the time the way the Church has approached the Christmas story is 1) to pick one of the accounts over the other, or 2) (and more often) to cram both stories together and "make them harmonize". This is why the birth narrative we know is based less on scripture and more on tradition. 3 wise men? No mention of only 3! Chalk that one up to tradition...they've even been named outside of the Bible!" Wise men (they're magi...big difference in the 1st century BTW) in the stable??? Yep, tradition...they came and saw Jesus in a house. Lyrics to many traditional Christmas songs about the shepherds following a star... nope, Shepherds were told by the angels, Magi followed the star. And we could go on and on.

When we "harmonize" the 2 stories we are doing ourselves a disservice; we are robbing ourselves of what these two very distinct narratives have to offer. Maybe it's time to reread and re-experience these two beautiful and distinct stories through fresh lenses. Maybe we need to reread what we've become all too familiar with. Perhaps it is time to separate these stories, and stop forcing the two to become one!

I pray that this Christmas you will experience the birth of the Christ-child anew as I do every year, and am doing now! Here's to thinking outside of the box, and seeing a whole new nativity!

Feel free to leave your thoughts and/or Christmas ideas...things that you have sen or are meaningful to you in this beautiful narrative!

MY APOLOGIES TO ANY WHO READ THIS BEFORE I PROOFED!!! THE SPELLING ERRORS WERE HORRIBLE!