CHRISTMAS 2020: SOME RECURRING THOUGHTS AND A FEW OF MY GREATEST HITS

 

12/21/20

 

Long time readers of my various blogs have perhaps noticed that, over the last few years, my usual Christmas rant has been missing.    Such tirades were long a regular part of yours truly’s repertoire, eagerly anticipated by my readers.   Here is a more or less comprehensive list of these screeds:

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!   11/17/07

http://insightfulpontificator.blogspot.com/2007/11/happy-holidays.html

 

KEEP CHRIST OUT OF “CHRISTMAS”   12/3/08

http://insightfulpontificator.blogspot.com/2008/12/keep-christ-out-of-christmas.html

 

KEEP CHRIST OUT OF “CHRISTMAS,” 2009 EDITION     11/26/09

http://insightfulpontificator.blogspot.com/2009/11/keep-christ-out-of-christmas-2009.html

 

LOOK SLOVENLY, FEEL SLOVENLY, BE SLOVENLY    12/12/09

http://insightfulpontificator.blogspot.com/2009/12/look-slovenly-feel-slovenly-be-slovenly.html

 

The 12/12/09 piece is not directly related to Christmas, but it does mention Christmas, or at least our modern, enlightened approach to Christmas.    Since it is one of my favorite posts ever, I have seized this opportunity to redirect my readers to it.   Consider it one of yours truly’s Christmas presents to you.

 

KEEP CHRIST OUT OF “CHRISTMAS”—2014 EDITION   12/16/14

http://insightfulpontificator.blogspot.com/2014/12/keep-christ-out-of-christmas2014-edition.html

 

This 12/16/14 piece was a little hard-edged, even for me at the peak of my hard-edgedness.   Yet it was necessary, in a sense, because, at the time, the economic recovery seemed to be little more, to most people, than just another excuse to vilify and desecrate the celebration of Christ’s birth. 

 

However, it seems that, by Christmas, 2015, even yours truly had mellowed, at least a bit; see

 

CHRISTMAS WISH FOR 2015:   THANKS GOD IT’S STILL CHRISTMAS   12/24/15

http://mightyquinn211.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-wish-for-2015-thanks-god-its.html

 

which itself was something of a summary of my past more enthusiastic screeds.  It’s not as if my feelings had changed markedly, or that, God forbid, I was surrendering to the complete transformation of Christmas into the Saturnalia that our near idolatrous society was in the process of achieving.  It was just that I had perhaps mellowed a bit with age; see

 

THE OTHER STORY OF CHRISTMAS   12/25/18

https://faithblog2018.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-other-story-of-christmas.html

 

 

 

, and/or my writing skills had begun to atrophy; I’m hoping for the former.

 

Now that it’s Christmas in a very tough year for a lot of people, I was going to write a long and quasi-intellectual piece about the (at least) three-fold meaning of Christmas.   However, after re-reading my more sharply worded pieces linked above, perhaps a lighter, or at least a shorter, piece on the three-fold meaning of Christmas is merited.  

 

The traditional religious celebration of Christmas is the easy part of the story of Christ’s coming into the world.  Who doesn’t like the sweet story recounted in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel or the much darker story recounted in the second chapters of Matthew’s Gospel?  Lest anybody doubt that Jesus was born into a tough and dangerous world, re-read that second chapter of Matthew, but I digress.

 

The second part of the Christmas message is more difficult.   Not only do we recount Jesus’s historical arrival at Christmas time, but we also anticipate His ultimate arrival at the “end of the ages” as recounted in the 24th chapter of Matthew and the 13th chapter of Mark.   The end of the world is no fun to think about, least of all during such a celebratory time as Christmas.   This hearkens back to the old joke about the priest who asks his congregation “Who wants to go to heaven?” and seeing every hand raised.   When Father follows up with “Who wants to go today?”, no hands are raised.  Nobody wants to think of death and no one wants to think of the world’s death.   But without Christ’s second coming, and our death to this life’s becoming a mere transition to eternal life that His birth, death, and resurrection enabled, the wonderful story of baby Jesus’s being born in Bethlehem and spending His first night in human form in the manger is just that…a sweet story.   It would have no further significance if it did not give us reason to no longer fear death but, rather, to see it as a transition to the next, more wonderful, phase of our lives and to see even the end of our world as we know it as the ushering in of the eternal, more wonderful and enduring Kingdom recounted mysteriously in the Book of Revelation.   No, don’t dwell on death and the world’s end, especially at Christmas time; not even a curmudgeon like yours truly would offer such counsel.   Simply take the time to realize that the birth of Jesus eliminated the reason to fear death, even the death of the world.

 

The third part of Christmas, while not hard to profess, is the most difficult to accomplish.   We not only recount the historical arrival of Jesus and consider the ramifications of His second coming at Christmas, but we reflect on, and perhaps most enthusiastically indulge, the constant, ongoing aspect of Christmas, i.e., the constant desire of Jesus, or, for those not of a Christian faith or persuasion, of God or the Higher Power as we know Her, Him, or It, to come into our heart and to permeate our being…heart, body, and soul.   Yes, God arrived on earth some 2000 years ago in Bethlehem and He will come back at a day and time only “the Father knows.”   Both are important.  But as important, and more immediate, is that God wants to be with us, to live with us and in us, to direct us, and, yes, to use us NOW.   While it’s easy, and admirable, to say something like “Yeah, sure God, please come to me,” especially in times of trouble, and 2020 is surely one of those, think about the ramifications of asking God to permeate our spiritual, intellectual, and physical existence, to let Him take over.   As adults, probably none of us is ready to do that; we want to be in charge, to call our own shots.  But true Christianity, true worship of God in any religion, is the process of surrendering that will to the will of God, to putting ourselves not only in God’s presence but at God’s complete disposal.   That, my friends, is a tall order.   I’m not ready to commit myself entirely to it, but I’m working on it.   I have to do so if my faith is to mean anything.   Christmas is a good time to work on that and to remember that God does not demand perfection; He only demands progress and willingness.   Open your heart and see where He takes you.   I find Christmas time is a good time to work on this, especially since Christmas time, in this sense (Thank God not in the sense we celebrate it today!), should be all the time.

 

Blessed Christmas to you all and a happy, holy, and prosperous new year.  And a continuing blessed and joyous Hanukkah to those of you who celebrate this holy and festive time.

 

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