Christmas

Something to think about this Christmas. :)

This Christmas, Christians have been caught in the throes of a war on semantics. We are seeing and hearing more “Happy Holidays” and less “Merry Christmases.” The beloved “Christmas tree” has turned into being a “Holiday tree." One television ad plays regularly with carolers singing: “We Wish You A Happy Holiday” to the tune of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

One can surely see why a general mood of fighting back could prevail. I have seen numerous emails floating around with pictures of Christmas trees lamenting the secularization of Christmas. The underlying tone of these messages so far has been one of anger and partisanship, as if to say: “They can't take our Christmas away from us!”

It's an interesting question and one we need to consider seriously. If this a battle, on what level do we fight it? If someone wishes us “Happy Holidays,” do we respond with a hearty “Merry Christmas,” thus striking a blow for the kingdom of God?

I'm not so sure it's as important as all this. After all, it's Christ that is the issue, not Christmas. I don't even think Jesus cares very much about what we or anyone else call an evergreen with lights on it in December. Jesus never cared much about labels anyway; He always cared more about what was in the heart.

Here's how you put Christ back into Christmas: you celebrate Him as Lord of your life and ruler of your heart, and you love even those who want to take Christmas out of the Holiday equation. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). He came to forgive sins -- mine… yours… everybody's. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Let's not let religious pride get in the way of the core message of the gospel. It's never been us against them; it's us for them. We mustn't forget that Jesus came to die for the very people who are trying to secularize our country.

In our zeal to keep Christ in Christmas, let's be careful not to alienate the very people who need Him the most -- those who don't know Him. People are more likely to be set on the road to salvation by loving, caring believers who are secure in the hope of the real Christ living in their lives, and whose faith is brighter than any Christmas tree.

It's what's in your heart that really counts this Christmas. Let's not get so taken up with fighting to save a name that we forget to live out the reality of the hope of Christ to the world. If people end up encountering the real Christ of Christmas, it will matter little what we end up calling the holiday itself.

-- "Holiday Wars" by John Fischer

Justice and mercy

There is an unspeakable irony in the way that God always seems to put me first, and I treat Him with nowhere near the way He deserves.

***

Sinners, wrung with true repentence
Doomed for guilt to endless pains
Justice now revokes the sentence
Mercy calls you; break your chains

-- From "Angels from the Realms of Glory" by James Montgomery

Not a morbid entry, really!

One of the album's most poignant songs is "Homesick," one of eight songs on the album written by [Bart] Millard, who penned "I Can Only Imagine" after his father died of cancer in 1991. "'I Can Only Imagine' took the focus off of what you are going through and was comforting because it put the focus on where they were going," he says. "Homesick is the opposite because it completely addresses us that are left here. I don't think as a Christian that it's right for me to say, 'I wish you could've stayed here,' because truthfully, we're getting the raw end of the deal if we really believe what we say that heaven is as great as we want it to be. The whole idea is that we're the ones who have to wait."

-- From Christianity Today

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I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by Your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face is before me

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus, or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine

-- "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe

***

You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't You give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

Help me, Lord, 'cause I don't understand Your ways
The reason why -- I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if You showed me, the hurt would be the same
'Cause I'm still here so far away from home

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again

-- "Homesick" by MercyMe

***

Keeping promises to the dead, or to anyone else, is very well. But I begin to see that 'respect for the wishes of the dead' is a trap. Yesterday I stopped myself only in time from saying about some trifle 'H. wouldn't have liked that.' This is unfair to the others. I should soon be using 'what H. would have liked' as an instrument of... tyranny; with her supposed likings becoming a thinner disguise for my own.

-- A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis

***

Just some things that I've been pondering over; no, not because of anything particular that has happened. After all, these things happen, and one is allowed to dwell on thoughts about life and death. And yet these are issues that plague only the living (as does this world); perhaps it is only responsible to make preparations for them while we can.

People do this in many ways, but mine is going to be short and sweet: if in the event that I become somewhat incapacitated, either by death or in some other absurd manner, let my sister decide what to do with my possessions, online and off. It doesn't matter if what she does with it is not what I would have done, because sometimes what I would have done is not what is best for those who love me. It doesn't matter if she screws up -- I do it all the time -- I doubt that I'll be watching from heaven, waiting to zap down balls of fires when she does. Just let her decide what to burn and what to keep, what to show and what to hide, what to give and what to hold back.

Give her a hug, wipe away her tears; love one another; these are the things that matter.