Good afternoon, Marysville! You’ve got three shopping days left, more or less. Here’s a little Sun to help deck the halls of your heart.
☀️Christmas Inconsistencies
What is not to love about all the Christmas inconsistencies in our culture? There are just so many excellent questions that come up during this season, questions that beg for the Light.
Before wrapping our minds around some of those cultural inconsistencies, I can tell you my purpose. The aim of my writing here is joy, and especially joy rooted in faith, with that faith rooted in truth. Remember truth? Truth hasn't forgotten the Truth.
We get busy just trying to get things done and don't always take time to get things understood. We're bombarded with superficialities, and even though tinsel isn't all that heavy, enough of it thrown at us makes it hard to see. Where is all that tinsel even coming from? "Don't ask that!" says the world. "Only those with white privilege want to know that." And so we try to live our life, wondering about the beginning and the end, but unable to find out answers about the Life.
Christmas has the Light, the Truth, and the Life. Christmas is the Way. Christmas has it all, and for those with eyes to see, all the inconsistencies go to show it.
How did we get this global holiday? Who doesn't know about Christmas? Why do most businesses take a break, and other employers pay workers double-time on December 25? Why do we expect a day off? Because pagans love the Winter Solstice? Are you kidding me?
Why do we plan so many get-togethers, with family and friends? If it's with people we like, do we need an excuse? If it's with people we don't like, why force the issue? And why do we feel compelled to shove all the extra events into the same month when everyone else is also shoving their extra events into the very same month? Why do we overwhelm ourselves on purpose? Because of evolutionary herd mentality?
What's the deal with the decorations? It's apparently part of our human nature to adorn things, but it's also clear that many humans know how to decorate for darkness and death. The end of October has gotten quite special in this regard. But December gets cute and playful and bright, says who? When did we all agree to this color scheme?
And how about all the gift buying and giving? Let's say for the sake of argument that it was some Corporate Scrooge, a boss of persuasion, who convinced all the earth to buy, BUY, BUY MORE! during this season simply in order to gratify his greedy little two-sizes-too-small heart. Not only does that imply that the people are dumb, it goes against our experience. When we give a great gift, why does it make us, the giver, so pleased? The joke's on Scrooge.
Have you heard the songs? I mean, yes, I've heard about grandma’s unfortunate accident, about Santa Baby, about the sad loss last Christmas. But why does every person who's ever sung into a mic make her own Christmas album? Why is there so much stinking music? (All the noisy racket is what really bothered the Grinch, right?) And, go ahead, turn on another Hallmark movie, and watch the plot try to be about everything trite, yet somehow so much of the soundtrack is still filled with lyrics like, "Late in time behold him come, Offspring of the Virgin's womb: Veiled in flesh, the Godheadd see; Hail th'incarnate Deity." What kind of world do we live in where every pagan performer sings a version of Silent Night: "Christ the Savior is born"? Is this some uneditable, holdover boilerplate part of a musician’s contract? Do record companies think it's an easy way to make money? Okay, but why would we think people will buy it? Who cares?
Then there's the the name: Christmas. Let's say someone writes “X-mas” instead, trying to avoid the obvious. The trouble is that X is also the Greek letter pronounced "chi" which happens to be the first letter in the word Χριστός/Christos, the Messiah. Alright, so we're told that's offensive, and we must say "Happy holidays." I'll bite: what's a "holiday"? Is it a "holy" day, a day set apart to celebrate something? What are we celebrating? That we spent all our money on trinkets to stuff in knitted socks hung by a fireplace to help us forget that tomorrow we might die? Are we really ready to give St. Nihilism that much glory?
Finally, I have questions about the adjective, merry. Or sure, swap it out for happy. On what basis would there be any hope to exhort the cashier to be glad? Is merriment even a rational thing? And we should make it common practice to give and receive this exhortation? I ask, Why? And again I ask, do we even know what we're saying?
All of these things do have an answer, and it is consistent. This is Jesus' world and we're just living in it. Jesus made the world and all that is in it. Jesus upholds the universe by the word of His power; in Him all things hold together. Jesus is the eternal Logos, God of God, Light of Light. Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, angels sang of His coming, and the story of His life unto death unto the eternal life of all those who believe in Him has been told for generations. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the root of David, born as King to rule the nations. He is the root of all our Christmas consistencies. He is the root of all our joy. He was:
Born that men no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King."
—Charles Wesley, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, 1739
Merry Christmas!
☀️Best of Snohomish in MARYSVILLE
The Herald is running their “Best of Snohomish County for 2023” poll through January 8. Click here to cast your votes. Take special note of 5 Rights Brewing Company (vote here: Food & Drink - Brewery and read more about 5 Rights in a previous Sun here) and VanderBeken Remodel (vote here: Services - Home Remodeling and read more about VanderBeken Remodel in a previous Sun here).
☀️Friday Fun
A little dark meat holiday humor.
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