Christmas Missive "What am I going to Get?" (Jesus, moral)

[Davidium]

What am I Going to Get?
Christmas Day
December 25, 2004

On Christmas day my thoughts always turn to what Christmas was like for me as a child. Waking up at about five in the morning, purely from a feeling of excitement. Laying in bed for another two hours, because you know that no one else will get up any earlier than seven, and you are not allowed in the living room, because that is where the presents are. And so I would lie in bed, feeling the magic of that one day.

As I think about it now, it was not any religious impulse that spurred this magical feeling. As I lay there, I had no thought of “Baby Jesus” or of fellowship… I did not feel any excitement about others opening the presents I had bought (with my parents money) for others. It was not even excitement about the wonderful Swedish Tea Rings (pastries) that my mother would have for our Christmas breakfast.

No, my excitement was focused on one great question…. What am I going to Get?!?

And then, seven o’clock would roll around, and I would hear my younger sisters squealing excitedly, and I would know that it was now ok for me to come out of my room and rush into the Treasure Trove that our living room would temporarily become. Over the next hour or so, our parents would try to pace us as we opened our presents. Some would be surprises, and some we had searched around the house to find out about weeks before. Each of us kids would stack up our loot in a different corner, ranging from toys to clothes, from candies to cards, and from needed essentials to things we would never use. It didn’t matter…. It was Bounty! Loot! Stuff!

We were never a rich family. My father was a career civil servant and soldier, and my mother stayed home to raise us kids. Both my father and mother did heroic work to introduce the “reason for the Season” to us, and also to try and provide that Christmas Morning Magic for us…. But they were just two people, competing with a whole society that tells us that Christmas is about one thing, and only one thing.

As kids, we interpreted that one thing as “What am I going to get?”, but as an adult, we have another name for it. Consumerism.

I have kind of taken this Christmas off this year. Due to many reasons I am actually unable to travel to visit family, and so while I bought and sent presents, I told my family to hold any presents for me until March, when I plan to visit so I can meet my soon to be born nephew. My wonderful better 3/4ths is visiting her family, while I stay home this year. We will be having our exchanging of gifts when she returns in early January. As such, I think I have gained a different perspective on this holiday than I have had before. As I was not really participating, the excitement did not infect me this year.

What I have seen has disturbed me.

We all know the “Reason for the Season”… even those of us who do not accept the theological issues attached to this holiday. Whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was born on this day is inconsequential, for this mid-winter holiday existed long before his birth, and long before the Church adopted it.

No, when I say the “Reasons for the Season” I mean love and fellowship. This is the time of the first real snows each year. It is when our ancestral societies would band together, many in a single room (easier to heat) and tell stories, have meals, trade small gifts, and celebrate the fellowship of their community around a roaring fire. This was a time of love, life, and even loss. In those pre-industrial societies, most of those who “passed on” during a particular year did so in winter. And so, in this time of holiday, you knew that some of those in that warm fire lit room with you might not be there to see the next spring.

The Reason for the Season is fellowship and love, two concepts that were near and dear to the heart and teachings of that mystic from Galilee who some say was born today. In fact, if you remove the mythology surrounding the life of Jesus from what he taught, you find that his message is the same as that expressed in those fire lit rooms. Love, Community, Fellowship, Forgiveness, and Repentence..

Over the past several years, we have all encountered four particular letters as a question… WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? As I was bombarded by the modern Christmas Culture this past few months, I began to ask myself this question. If Jesus were here, with me, watching the social cult that has grown up around this supposed celebration of his birth, what would his reaction be?

What would his reaction be to the torrent of commercials for this new toy, that new tool, this new sweater, that new car, this new bauble, that new gadget… all of which you have to buy for someone if you do not want to be “Ebenezer Scrooge”?

What would his reaction be to the pushy sales directed at kids, telling them they would only be cool if they got this new toy for Christmas?

What would his reaction be to stores who tell charities they are not allowed outside their doors anymore, because that might annoy paying customers?

What would his reaction be to all the news reports that if we Americans don’t spend spend spend, If we don’t max out our credit cards, then the whole economy will fall apart?

What would his reaction be to stores beginning this sales pitch in September, and not ending it until January?

What would his reaction be to this whole consumer society that has grown up around this time of year once about fellowship, sharing, love, and community?

What would his reaction have been to that question that I asked myself as a kid “What am I going to get?”

I think we can find his reaction, laid out quite nicely for us, in a story told in the Bible itself. John 2: 12-16 to be exact.

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!”

(End part 1)

[Davidium]

(begin part 2)

How dare you turn my father’s house into a market? Now many of you know that I am not the modern concept of a Christian. I am a Deist and a Unitarian, and to me Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher and moral philosopher, but he was not God. As Shakespeare said, “He was a man, all in all. I shall not look upon his like again.”

And yet, many who accept the Divinity of Jesus think that, by celebrating this ancient holiday in an orgy of consumerism they somehow celebrate his teachings and his birth. Jesus argued strongly against such hypocrisy, and I believe would denounce it were he here with us today.

What Would Jesus Do? He would overthrow the whole consumer culture that has infested this holiday season. He would disown those who looked at this season as a source of profits and revenue. He would chastise those, (like me as a child) who thought of Christmas as a time for “what I can get” not “what I should give”. Not give things as presents, but give of yourself, through charity, fellowship, love, and support for those around us.

He would make a whip out of cords (and words) and drive them out of the Season.

Yet, discounting the mythology around his life, he remains with us only in his teachings. And as the modern Christian Churches have come to focus more upon the mythical stories of his life and less upon what he actually taught, we have lost sight of those teachings and let consumerism replace fellowship. What matters if he mystically “died for our sins” if we celebrate his teachings in our world with holiday practices that would have enraged him… this man of peace.

Think on that. This man who taught peace, who taught forgiveness and turning the other cheek. This man who taught poverty and humility. Think on how contrary to what he believed something must have been to have brought this man of peace into such a rage that he made a weapon and attacked these merchants, and drove them out of the temple.

Now, understand that all we have is this small story… yet to me it has the ring of truth. It seems to me that if this did not really happen, they would have left it out of the telling, because the story of the clearing of the temple is so contrary to the modern image presented of Jesus. And the lesson it teaches resounds to us today, in this time when consumerism has overtaken the true “Reasons for the Season”.

This does not mean we quit giving gifts, only that we adopt moderation in doing so. In those ancient fire lit rooms of years past, the gifts that were given were often personal things, handmade, or intimately useful for the coming year. A new set of tongs for the blacksmith, a book for the inquisitive child, a new scarf for the mother. Things of utility, of purpose, and of feeling. Things that were needed, not just wanted.

But this giving of gifts should only be an aspect of the larger Reason for the Season, that of Love. I am focusing on the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth in this missive, for today is his symbol. If you want to truly commemorate his life and teachings, you can only do so by showing Love, Forgiveness, and Compassion. He was a poor man, most likely the son of a carpenter and a slave-girl. He owned little except his mind and his voice. Being able to share bread with his closest friends was one of his greatest moments.

So, this Christmas, and in those holiday seasons to come, remember as you are bombarded with commercials and news reports, by toys and jewelry, by cries of “I want this!” from all of society…. Remember that to truly celebrate this season, follow in the example of Jesus, and of those who celebrated Yule. Gather around a warm fire, tell stories, exchange small personal gifts, and enjoy the fellowship of each other. Our ancestors hid from a world of cold and dangers this time of year… we must learn to hide from a world of merchants and consumerism…

Or make our own whip out of cords.

Merry Christmas!
David Pyle

[Ciscokid]

Another great sermon David.

You must spread some Karma around before giving it to Davidium again.

[mattlevan]

Very, very nice.. Our Methodist pastor gave a similar message recently, too. I'm glad there are many people catching on to the whole insanity of it all.