Oh God, Christmastime again *HURL* why do we need so much Christian propaganda everywhere? -Avery
What's the big deal with putting Christ back in Christmas? His name is right there in the label. How much more IN could he get?-Mike
Of course I don't want people wishing me Merry Christmas. It's a Christian Holiday. I am not a Christian. Why is that hard to understand? -TardisTime
Christmas is OUR Holiday. So of course it will have OUR imagery. Get a big enough celebration of something YOU worship, and then we'll start taking out the pentagrams or whatever and see how YOU like it. -Anonymous
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year and the church season of hope for the coming of Christ. It is NOT, contrary to popular opinion, the CHRISTMAS season, which has twelve days and starts on December 25th. (You may have heard a song about it.)
But despite that little inaccuracy, Christmas is in the air, on the air, on the buildings, on the radio, on the Lifetime movies, you name it. As you can see, I had some Christmas related questions building up, and so after waiting until after Thanksgiving to answer them (you're welcome) I realize that we have a running theme here... Christmas as a Christian Holiday.
On the surface it seems obvious. Christ Mass, the celebration Mass (sharing of the Eucharist) that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. It is, as Mike said, right there in the name. But the answer is more complex than that.
We haven't the foggiest notion of when Christ was actually born. I've seen in some recent conversation the supposition that he was born in July, but that is really wild conjecture based on more wild conjecture around guesses of the nature of the Bethlehem star, and about as likely to be correct as the process that selected December 25th, insofar as both are drawing from a 365 day pool, each of which has an equal chance of being correct.
No one involved in setting Christmas on December 25th did so because "it's his birthday".
Christmas came to be celebrated in the way it was (evergreen trees, in the winter, etc) because a number of converts didn't want to give up their celebration of Winter Solstice. They brought the party, and the priests provided the name and some new imagery. For a great many people, the party, not the theology, was the point, and so an ancient celebration got some new duds and just kept trucking along.
That's kind of what the really good parties do... they have a life force almost entirely their own, an energy that is the real point, regardless of the trimmings the partiers put on them.
So what is Christmas now? To a great many people, especially my Atheists, it remains THE Christian Holiday, the time of year in which the prevalence of Christian ideals in our society are the most visible... but is it, really? The Party has changed before, and there are certainly a great deal of Christians claiming that it isn't theirs anymore... so what is the Party now? Has it changed?
I have a slanted view of this. I am literally contractually obligated to attend a great deal of specifically religious iterations of the Party, and so the Christmas I see still has a lot of the religious imagery interwoven. But my experience is almost certainly an outlier, and this is where the challenge comes in.
This may also serve as a way to take some of the irritation out of the season for folks who are tired of being bombarded by Christian imagery this time of year, as well, by giving you a quick mental exercise each time you do it. Give it a shot.
This December, every time you see some sort of representation of Christmas in culture, no matter where you find it, pretend for a moment that you have never heard the name "Christ," rendering the title itself meaningless. Then, with those outsiders eyes, look at the thing you have seen(or listen to the thing you have heard) and try to imagine what you would assume this supposedly religious holiday is all about now.
Is it a memorial of the birth of a magic child who is now worshiped? Is it a call to buy buy buy? Is it a celebration of traditional family? Is it a big "Yay! Winter is Great!" party? Is it a time for caring for those in need?
If you REALLY want to nerd out, keep track of what you see, and then send me your results. I'll take all I get and talk about it again after Christmas is done.
My suspicion is that we will find that, though the name has stayed the same, the party has changed yet again. But I can't say that with certainty yet... so if you'll accept the challenge, we'll do the research.
At the very least, it will give you something to do besides wishing you could stab the Mall Santa.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
An Open Letter to Gov. Walker
Dear Governor Walker-
Hello. I'm Rev. Dan McCurdy, a Presbyterian Minister serving a small church in Weyauwega, WI. I've only lived in Wisconsin for a couple of years now, but in that time I have learned to love its people and culture. You've got a good state here, with a foundation of solid, caring, and hard working people.
I haven't agreed with you very much over the course of these two years, but that's okay. It's just sort of how politics goes these days, right? One group firmly on one side, the other firmly on the other. But something you said recently bothers me more than other disagreement, that being when you announced that Wisconsin would not be accepting Syrian refugees.
Now I understand that you don't actually have the power to enforce that decision, no Governor does, and so I assume you said it to try to calm people frightened at who the refugees might be, and what they might do. And I get that. You're the Executive in a state full of frightened people who saw news about the attacks in Paris and get more scared every day.
We're scared because there's not a lot we can DO about ISIS. You can't really declare war on a terrorist group to start with, and even if you could, it wouldn't be the people of Wisconsin who did it. They're over there, out there, in a place where we send soldiers to get hurt or die without any real context, because we are poorly served by a media that sells fear over useful information.
And when people get scared, with nothing to do, we tend to huddle up, circle the wagons, distrust outsiders. We look around in suspicion and lash out at things not familiar. It's just the human thing to do.
Except that it isn't the Wisconsin thing to do. When I first came to this state, visiting the church that would eventually become my home, I walked into a bar near the hotel I was staying looking for some food and within three minutes someone had introduced themselves, welcomed me to this State, and bought me a beer.
Five minutes after being in a position to meet someone here, and I had already been warmly welcomed. THAT is Wisconsin. We're a State that, despite deep divisions in the political realm, would much rather get together and watch football or go fishing than have an argument or a fight. But now we're scared, and so that side of us isn't showing.
These refugees need help, Governor. They are the VICTIMS of ISIS and groups like them, the ones who were being hurt by that damaging form of Islam long before the violence reached out to Paris. Their homes, and often their families, were taken from them by violence, and they were forced to either conform to the ISIS ideology or run and possibly die.
Any of them MIGHT be bad people, it's true, but I might have been a bad person, too. That guy in the bar didn't care. Wisconsin normally doesn't. Because though we know that strangers MIGHT be bad people, we know that they probably aren't. And in this case, we know they need help.
There are some Executives who live to serve the voice of the people, who gauge what their constituents want and do their best to act accordingly. But Executives also need to lead, to point the way to a better state of being, to not act in fear, but to remind us of who we really are. This, I think, is your opportunity to really do that.
There is a young boy in my church who is also scared of ISIS. It's not very surprising, he watches the news with his parents and as those stories are designed to scare grown men and women, of course he gets frightened. He's frightened because there's nothing he can do but wait and hope nothing bad happens. Except there are things he can do.
He can help. Help those who have been hurt, show them kindness and love, laugh and play. He's good at that, I've seen it every year when he helps with the Church's giving tree. Wisconsin can DO this, Governor Walker. We can bring in refugees, find them homes and work and shelter, welcome them as other places would refuse to do.
And even in the off chance that some few of them are ISIS soldiers... there is a lot to be said for love and hospitality melting a frozen heart. We've charmed Bears and Vikings fans, Governor. How hard could Islamic Extremists be?
I know that it is a lot of responsibility being an Executive, Governor Walker. I know you are faced with a great deal of difficult choices. But in this case, I think the best way to help Wisconsin deal with the fear faced by the shadow of ISIS is to stand up, to not be afraid, to BE WISCONSIN.
I think we can do it, and I hope you'll lead the way.
Sincerely,
Rev. Daniel S. McCurdy
First Presbyterian Church
Weyauwega, WI
Hello. I'm Rev. Dan McCurdy, a Presbyterian Minister serving a small church in Weyauwega, WI. I've only lived in Wisconsin for a couple of years now, but in that time I have learned to love its people and culture. You've got a good state here, with a foundation of solid, caring, and hard working people.
I haven't agreed with you very much over the course of these two years, but that's okay. It's just sort of how politics goes these days, right? One group firmly on one side, the other firmly on the other. But something you said recently bothers me more than other disagreement, that being when you announced that Wisconsin would not be accepting Syrian refugees.
Now I understand that you don't actually have the power to enforce that decision, no Governor does, and so I assume you said it to try to calm people frightened at who the refugees might be, and what they might do. And I get that. You're the Executive in a state full of frightened people who saw news about the attacks in Paris and get more scared every day.
We're scared because there's not a lot we can DO about ISIS. You can't really declare war on a terrorist group to start with, and even if you could, it wouldn't be the people of Wisconsin who did it. They're over there, out there, in a place where we send soldiers to get hurt or die without any real context, because we are poorly served by a media that sells fear over useful information.
And when people get scared, with nothing to do, we tend to huddle up, circle the wagons, distrust outsiders. We look around in suspicion and lash out at things not familiar. It's just the human thing to do.
Except that it isn't the Wisconsin thing to do. When I first came to this state, visiting the church that would eventually become my home, I walked into a bar near the hotel I was staying looking for some food and within three minutes someone had introduced themselves, welcomed me to this State, and bought me a beer.
Five minutes after being in a position to meet someone here, and I had already been warmly welcomed. THAT is Wisconsin. We're a State that, despite deep divisions in the political realm, would much rather get together and watch football or go fishing than have an argument or a fight. But now we're scared, and so that side of us isn't showing.
These refugees need help, Governor. They are the VICTIMS of ISIS and groups like them, the ones who were being hurt by that damaging form of Islam long before the violence reached out to Paris. Their homes, and often their families, were taken from them by violence, and they were forced to either conform to the ISIS ideology or run and possibly die.
Any of them MIGHT be bad people, it's true, but I might have been a bad person, too. That guy in the bar didn't care. Wisconsin normally doesn't. Because though we know that strangers MIGHT be bad people, we know that they probably aren't. And in this case, we know they need help.
There are some Executives who live to serve the voice of the people, who gauge what their constituents want and do their best to act accordingly. But Executives also need to lead, to point the way to a better state of being, to not act in fear, but to remind us of who we really are. This, I think, is your opportunity to really do that.
There is a young boy in my church who is also scared of ISIS. It's not very surprising, he watches the news with his parents and as those stories are designed to scare grown men and women, of course he gets frightened. He's frightened because there's nothing he can do but wait and hope nothing bad happens. Except there are things he can do.
He can help. Help those who have been hurt, show them kindness and love, laugh and play. He's good at that, I've seen it every year when he helps with the Church's giving tree. Wisconsin can DO this, Governor Walker. We can bring in refugees, find them homes and work and shelter, welcome them as other places would refuse to do.
And even in the off chance that some few of them are ISIS soldiers... there is a lot to be said for love and hospitality melting a frozen heart. We've charmed Bears and Vikings fans, Governor. How hard could Islamic Extremists be?
I know that it is a lot of responsibility being an Executive, Governor Walker. I know you are faced with a great deal of difficult choices. But in this case, I think the best way to help Wisconsin deal with the fear faced by the shadow of ISIS is to stand up, to not be afraid, to BE WISCONSIN.
I think we can do it, and I hope you'll lead the way.
Sincerely,
Rev. Daniel S. McCurdy
First Presbyterian Church
Weyauwega, WI
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
The Real War on Christianity
So I haven't been very happy with most of our politicians lately.
The vitriol and fear being aimed at the Syrian Refugees has been nothing short of disgusting, and with a bunch of Governors and Presidential Candidates jumping up to say that they should be kept away (except if they can prove their Christianity, in some oh so generous cases) I was just ready to see the backlash against them.
I mean, there is going to be backlash, right? The idea of turning away people in as desperate need as these refugees is about as antithetical to the Biblical message as it gets. Over, and over, and over again the Bible stresses the important of caring for the poor, the orphan, the alien, the refugee. It says that people who are aware of such need, and ignore it, might as well be turning away Christ himself.
There is no wiggle room, no loose interpretation, no uncertain context. This isn't debateable. The Christian response to these refugees is to try to care for them in any way that we can, if not in memory of a time when we were lost without a home (as was the case given to the Hebrews in the Hebrew Scriptures) then because it was Christ's command in the New Testament.
So what is the backlash I see? Another stupid post about the stupid red Starbucks cup.
I often react to that kind of post with an eye-roll and and a shrug. Yes, there are places in the world where Christians are persecuted for their beliefs, but that simply isn't the case in North America. But though we aren't being persecuted, there is a War against us and our beliefs, being waged every day right in front of our noses and, most infuriatingly of all, often on our dime.
Every time someone suggests that we should be outraged over the iconography (or lack thereof) surrounding a commercial holiday, rather than caring for the poor, a shot is fired. Every time we are told that being disgusted by homosexuality is reason enough to keep a foster child from being placed in a home, a shot is fired. Every time we are convinced that the world is out to get us, and so circle our wagons and cry out about how we are persecuted, rather than seeing the need of the world and opening our arms to it, a battle is won.
There IS a war on against Christianity, and we are losing it.
We are losing to politicians who want us to be a predictable voting block, trained to froth at the mouth at predictable talking points while ignoring policy that actually has something to do with our faith. We are losing to media who want us to gobble up click-bait stories about how the world is out to get us and ignore the real trials and fears faced by people outside of our bubble. We are losing to civic planners who want us to shout and wail over an engraving of the Ten Commandments on a Courthouse instead of the state of the homeless.
We are losing to those who would rather us be frightened and biddable over informed and active.
We've already lost that battle in the perceptions of many outsiders, those who see us as nothing more than pampered anachronisms. And why not? We are at our loudest when we spend our money, and these days our money goes to ad campaigns against homosexuals, or women's health. We are loudest when we seize a loud speaker and run into the streets to froth at people about their sin. We are loudest because that is when the people who would control us hand us the microphone.
Fighting back will be difficult, because it won't make the headlines very often. Given the choice between Kim Davis and the Clerk who honors the rights of others, Kim Davis will get the headlines everytime. Between the preacher who proclaims acceptance and the preacher who calls for hellfire on all who are different, the hellfire gets the coverage. And a story about people who have been driven from their homes and need help doesn't get many clicks, but potential TERRORISTS who HATE US and WANT TO KILL US? Fear sells. And everyone's buying.
You have a choice, Christians. Right now. You can be the free thinking, justice-demanding, beacon of love in the world that Christ called upon you to be, or you can be the terrified, vengeance-seeking, cog of the machine the powers want you to be. They want to use you as a tool to prop up their power at the expense of others, and they are doing it while pretending to do so in the name of Jesus Christ.
The shots have been fired. Will you love your fellow humans as Christ called you to? It won't be easy, or glorious, and you won't get famous for it. You'll be glossed over in the press, ignored by politicians, and left watching as the focus goes to those who play the role the powers want you to play.
That is the real war we face, and the shots have been fired. Which side are you on, Christians?
The vitriol and fear being aimed at the Syrian Refugees has been nothing short of disgusting, and with a bunch of Governors and Presidential Candidates jumping up to say that they should be kept away (except if they can prove their Christianity, in some oh so generous cases) I was just ready to see the backlash against them.
I mean, there is going to be backlash, right? The idea of turning away people in as desperate need as these refugees is about as antithetical to the Biblical message as it gets. Over, and over, and over again the Bible stresses the important of caring for the poor, the orphan, the alien, the refugee. It says that people who are aware of such need, and ignore it, might as well be turning away Christ himself.
There is no wiggle room, no loose interpretation, no uncertain context. This isn't debateable. The Christian response to these refugees is to try to care for them in any way that we can, if not in memory of a time when we were lost without a home (as was the case given to the Hebrews in the Hebrew Scriptures) then because it was Christ's command in the New Testament.
So what is the backlash I see? Another stupid post about the stupid red Starbucks cup.
I often react to that kind of post with an eye-roll and and a shrug. Yes, there are places in the world where Christians are persecuted for their beliefs, but that simply isn't the case in North America. But though we aren't being persecuted, there is a War against us and our beliefs, being waged every day right in front of our noses and, most infuriatingly of all, often on our dime.
Every time someone suggests that we should be outraged over the iconography (or lack thereof) surrounding a commercial holiday, rather than caring for the poor, a shot is fired. Every time we are told that being disgusted by homosexuality is reason enough to keep a foster child from being placed in a home, a shot is fired. Every time we are convinced that the world is out to get us, and so circle our wagons and cry out about how we are persecuted, rather than seeing the need of the world and opening our arms to it, a battle is won.
There IS a war on against Christianity, and we are losing it.
We are losing to politicians who want us to be a predictable voting block, trained to froth at the mouth at predictable talking points while ignoring policy that actually has something to do with our faith. We are losing to media who want us to gobble up click-bait stories about how the world is out to get us and ignore the real trials and fears faced by people outside of our bubble. We are losing to civic planners who want us to shout and wail over an engraving of the Ten Commandments on a Courthouse instead of the state of the homeless.
We are losing to those who would rather us be frightened and biddable over informed and active.
We've already lost that battle in the perceptions of many outsiders, those who see us as nothing more than pampered anachronisms. And why not? We are at our loudest when we spend our money, and these days our money goes to ad campaigns against homosexuals, or women's health. We are loudest when we seize a loud speaker and run into the streets to froth at people about their sin. We are loudest because that is when the people who would control us hand us the microphone.
Fighting back will be difficult, because it won't make the headlines very often. Given the choice between Kim Davis and the Clerk who honors the rights of others, Kim Davis will get the headlines everytime. Between the preacher who proclaims acceptance and the preacher who calls for hellfire on all who are different, the hellfire gets the coverage. And a story about people who have been driven from their homes and need help doesn't get many clicks, but potential TERRORISTS who HATE US and WANT TO KILL US? Fear sells. And everyone's buying.
You have a choice, Christians. Right now. You can be the free thinking, justice-demanding, beacon of love in the world that Christ called upon you to be, or you can be the terrified, vengeance-seeking, cog of the machine the powers want you to be. They want to use you as a tool to prop up their power at the expense of others, and they are doing it while pretending to do so in the name of Jesus Christ.
The shots have been fired. Will you love your fellow humans as Christ called you to? It won't be easy, or glorious, and you won't get famous for it. You'll be glossed over in the press, ignored by politicians, and left watching as the focus goes to those who play the role the powers want you to play.
That is the real war we face, and the shots have been fired. Which side are you on, Christians?
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