88. The Nativity Story

I love the Christmas Story....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA

I love the Christmas Story, the Nativity of Christ. The television version of Shepherds watching their flocks as they sat in snow up to their bums and the angels singing and the mountains vibrating with the sound.  I also get that this is sound bite material.  And if you are a huge fan of the nativity story, perhaps this better be a posting that you miss.

          The entire story of the Census, and Joseph and Mary going to Bethlehem the City of David does not match the historical data of the time. And thus, the city may not have been full, and there was probably room at the inn.  There are a number of attempts to reconcile the discrepancies.   The one that strikes me as being the most truthful is that it creates a better narrative.  After all, much of the bible attempts to point to a truth greater than the circumstances it records.

I have included the link to the Wikipedia article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Quirinius

I think what actually happened was much more poignant.

A teenage girl who was knocked up by someone other than her fiancé was taken to a distant city to have her illegitimate baby.  Remember, though they may have stopped killing non virgin wives on the doorsteps of her parents, being pregnant outside of marriage was intensely shameful.  So Mary, being impregnated by God, was actually an embarrassment to the family.  The belief that she had conceived via the Holy Spirit must have been a huge test of faith.  But there they were, secreted away, in Bethlehem, the City of David.  

          For me, this resonates so much better.  All through Jesus ministry on earth people were expecting that the Kingdom of God be established in power and glory and violence.  Yet, time and time again the Kingdom of God was revealed quietly, even with humility, in personal encounters with Jesus. 

          I am a Christian because the entire story, as I understand it, makes sense.  Christianity is the only religion I know of in which we do not behave our way to God’s grace, it is bestowed upon us.  And the nativity story, as warped as I see it, answers the question.  How would God come to earth?

          We have this expectation that God would come to earth with a great show of his power.  That we would be left with little doubt that we had seen unshielded divinity.  It would be reminiscent of God and the Burning Bushes, but on a grander scale.

But it seems to me, that God had a different plan.

I think in our efforts to glamorize the gospel, we wind up diminishing the power of its message.  In the telling of the gospel we see a god who comes to earth in the humblest of human form. A god who is willing to meet human kind where they are at, but with a twist. 

          If I was God, and I came to earth, I would come in all my power and glory, and you would bow before me or I would smite thee.  God came to earth and was totally dependent. the triumphal entry of God was heralded not so much by angels singing as the plaintive cry of a baby.

1 Corinthians 1:27 – 29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

As a starting point the Nativity Story creates a foundation of understanding of God.  In the story of the Christ-child one comes to understand that God reveals himself by the ordinary, if not ignorable, people and events.  The story reveals that God came to meet us in the midst of our humanity, and he still does.  Repeatedly through his ministry he reveals himself to people in peculiar and unexpected ways. 

          The celebration of Christ coming to earth should not be focused on questionable events that happened millennia ago.  The celebration is that he still reveals himself to people.  Often those who we think he shouldn’t reveal himself to, and in ways we think he shouldn’t use.  And he still reveals himself to you, and to me.  The challenge of the season, I think, is to give up my ideas of what God should be like.  For it seems to me God has a different plan.

87. I don't need you to celebrate Christmas

I don’t know if you have heard about the war. It has now landed on our shores, it is the War on Christmas.  No, there are not bodies of shopping mall Santas laying about, nor have people been showing up throwing things at homes with Christmas lights on.  There haven’t even been people showing up protesting outside of Christmas Tree lots.  But there is a War on Christmas, or so I am told.

          Only it is not war.  I don’t what it is, but it is not a war.  And it is not against Christmas, it is against exclusion.  It has taken on stupid proportions.  This “War” interrupted the after dinner conversation a few weeks ago.  A friend of mine just had show me posts about “The War on Christmas.” 

          The difficulty with all this, is that not only is it vulgar hyperbole – to liken people’s dislike of the name of a holiday to a war is vulgar – I see both sides missing the point.  So for our side, the Christian side, the objection is not against Christmas, it is against this insistence that everybody celebrate it. 

          And if you really think about, would you want to be the one to explain to God that we have turned the celebration of Christ’s birth, into a glut of materialism.  Would you want to be the one to explain that while there are still people dying from disease, hunger and brutality we are celebrating the presence of God on earth by spending money like drunken sailors on the latest gadgets, fashions and toys?  What we do at Christmas time, denies the central message of Christ.

          But even still, the War on Christmas, is not a War on Christianity.  It is an objection to our insistence that those around us conform to our culture and morals.  The War on Christmas is an objection to the back handed racism of you are welcome here as long as you do what we want you to do.  So understand that the War on Christmas is something that I think we as Christians should support.  For this “War” is a struggle to include others.

          Now for the other side, I did write that both sides are off on this particular issue.  Despite how much Christmas has been morphed into an obscene celebration of materialism, and how much we ignore the traditions of others, it is part of our culture.  Banning Christmas will not change much.  It will not shift our focus back to gathering with our loved ones, nor will it help others to celebrate their traditions even better.  And no, it will not hasten the acceptance of your particular view on God, spirituality and the like.  The best we can hope to do, by excluding something, is make less room for others.

          Personally, I am ambiguous at best when it comes to Christmas.  We have appropriated an other’s culture in celebrating the birth of Christ in the dark of winter.  I have not seen much in the way of the Church making comment about the commercialization of this celebration.  So, I see an emptiness, not surprising for me, that while we keep a tradition of Christmas, we often miss the original intent.

          Yet! I see within this strange and uncomfortable tradition, people taking one day a year and making a declaration.  The declaration may not be that Christ has been born on this day.  The declaration may be that in this time of the year, when the weather outside is frightful, we gather together to enjoy the company of each other.  Even if does mean that Christmas evening ends with the entire family is out in the front yard with garden implements raking through the snow trying to find cousin Dick’s car keys.  It is declaration to each other that this gift I give you is a symbol of the value you have in my life.  It is declaration that often unseen, often ignored, that there is a greater reality that goes on around us.

          So, I do not need you to participate in Christmas.  I would welcome it, but if you do not want to join in this Christmas, that is your choice. But don’t think that making me forgo “Christmas” will make room for other cultures, other traditions, or other points of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1LUXQWzCno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhzqoYYROA

86. Hello Darkness My Old Friend - Conclusion

Psalm 51:10 - 12

Create in me a clean heart, O God;

 and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence;

and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;

 and uphold me with thy free spirit.

So the question is....if God is all powerful, and thus able to heal me, why hasn’t he? 

There have been people that defend God by saying that it is my choice to be depressed.  It is sort of like saying it is my choice to have an abscessed tooth.  There are also people that suggest that I am left unhealed because God wants to keep me humble; God wants to keep me in my place. My atheist friends would suggest that I am not healed because God does not exist.  There are others that would suggest that God has not healed me because he does not care.

          For many years I did not know that the misery I experienced was depression.  For many years I searched for a cause that did not exist.  And if I am honest, I cannot help but wonder what greater glory I could have brought God had I not been depressed? Most of my ‘spiritual growth’ has been recovery from depression in its many manifestations. And as I understand my life now, the drug addiction and alcoholism were a manifestation of the depression. 

          Could it be that he has been present all along?  Could it be, that his healing has been made manifest even during those times that I have suffered and stumbled?  Could it be that what I thought was broken, my life, was being made into something beautiful?  After all, it is my values, and my prejudices that place importance on youth, the time that I believe has been wasted by depression.  Maybe, just maybe, those times when I thought I was furthest from God, were the times that he used me the most? 

          It is my self-interest that has me seek healing.  I have sought to have a clean heart, and a right spirit for my enjoyment, not to be of service to God.  Maybe God believes that what I consider brokenness are those times when I am most useful to him.  For I find my own compassion is based on my own struggles, and strife.  And I look at my life, of what I have accomplished, and I am left marveling.  Could it be that God, like he does with so much else, turns my understanding of brokenness and usefulness upside down? 

          The depression that has visited me during my life has actually provided a unique perspective to be of service to others. It has allowed a combination of experience, insight and compassion for those around me.  It has had me question everything that I have told we should believe.  In short, there has been incredible value brought to my life.    

          There is a style of pottery called Kintsugi.  It is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Behind this art is a philosophy that speaks to breakage and repair becoming part of the value of an object, rather than something to disguise.  Could it be, that it has been Christ that has been filling in the spaces between created by my brokenness? 

          So thanks for indulging me.  As a friend of mine suggests this blog is more about me working out my faith.  In this blog is has been sorting through one of the aspects of my life that I wish wasn’t. 

          I don’t know what it is for you, your brokenness, that part of you that you wish was different.  But maybe, just maybe, that which you wish was different is what makes you of value to God. 

Thank you for indulging me....

85. Hello Darkness My Old Friend - a second take

So last post I began writing about how my depression has created opportunities for God’s grace, and teaching.  If I maintain that God can use any situation to further his grace, and love, then I should apply this to my life.  I liken depression to living within a gray-scale world – everything is just a varied shade of gray.  This is not as exciting about a recent literary success that had fifty shades.  This is a continuation of that writing....

Hebrews 12:7 & 8 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

There have been times with my depression that I have wondered what I have done to bring this on.  Is depression punishment from God?  What was it that God wanted me to understand?  What was it that God wanted me to change?  Those days, mostly in my teenage years, and mostly in my addiction were excruciating.  I know about separation from God, as my depression has often left me unable to feel the love of others, as well as the love of God.  As I sitting writing, I recall feeling hopelessly lost, and condemned.

          I am not sure what the discipline of God would be, and honestly, I don’t know if I have experienced such discipline.  But I do know that this prickly shaped gift, has been of use.  There have been those of course who have been quick to point out that my depression is either God disciplining me, or that my faith has been lacking.  In this affliction, I find neither the discipline of a loving god, or a condition hastened by a lack of belief.

The first lesson I include today is...

Ecclesiastes 1:1 & 2 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

The first two verses of Ecclesiastes resonated with me as a teenager, the time when depression had its onset.  I don’t think my depression was a hardship visited on me by God. My experience was that I could not pray hard enough, or study the bible enough, or be obedient enough to find relief.  In hindsight, my depression seems to have stemmed from just how messed up life was at the time.  While maybe not the substance of books, life at home was chaotic and at times violent. 

          But I have learned that all is meaningless. That which we place importance upon, prestige, possessions, wealth, whatever we may take as having significance, isn’t.  That in the end whatever I may think is important, is not.  Whatever accomplishment, whatever success, whatever importance I feel I have in my life is meaningless. It does make me any better than you, nor do your accomplishments place you in a position above anyone else.

The second lesson is closely related...

Matt 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

There has always been an aspect of my depression that has seemed a clearer view of the world, a deeper understanding.  In the absence of joy in my life, I have seen the futility of the world around me.  Depression has pointed out that whatever is shiny and new will grow old, dull and rusty.  There is no lasting value in material possessions.  Depression is also quick to point out that regardless of whatever wealth may be accumulated it can never make up for the

          It has taught me not to seek fulfillment through material goods.  Not that I have that I sought to “store up” treasures in heaven, but I have frequently sought that which has a lasting value – compassion, grace, service and love/

There are few people that I have in mind as I write this, I hope that in doing so, that I can offer encouragement to you.

Til next post....