Keep Christ In Christmas
My take on the "Keep Christ in Christmas" battle cry.....In case you can't read it, the top phrase says, "A Free God Is A Dangerous God" and the bottom "Keep Christ In Christmas." Christ is unhappily imprisoned in Mammon Mall. I drew this in about 30 seconds this morning. I am not an artist. It was inspired in part by my sermon preparation for the fourth Sunday in Advent as well as the movie What Would Jesus Buy?. And also by all the "Keep Christ in Christmas" crap available online. My personal favorite vacillates between the "Keep Christ In Christmas Inspirational Journey Handbag" and the "Vintage KKK 1950s era Keep Christ in Christmas Greeting Card". I only wish I was making this stuff up.
Yeah, we keep Christ in Christmas alright. We keep Christ in Christmas by importing (pun there but not intended) him into our consumeristic narrative and then baptizing him into our faith in commerce by dunking him in a bowl of eggnog. We keep Christ in Christmas by making him captive and servile to “our most sacred holiday”. When I really stop and think about it, the statement, “Keep Christ in Christmas” is nonsensical. It does not compute, which is why answers to the question of “How can we keep Christ in Christmas?” are so very ineffective. You know the old saying, “Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.” And even if I was to try and answer, sometimes I wonder which Christ it is that we would like to keep in Christmas. Is it the same Christ that we celebrate when we participate in the Eucharist? I would like to propose to you that we are asking the wrong question. I would like to go even further and propose a few, ahem, more pertinent questions Christians should be asking ourselves this advent season. We celebrate more than anything, I believe, God’s faithfulness to his covenant people, to his promises given through the prophets, and to his own redemptive purposes. So....
1. What kind of lives are we to live in light of God’s past, present, and future faithfulness to his promises?
2. What kind of lives are we to live in light of God’s redemptive mission?
3. How can we, as David Bosch brilliantly puts it, prolong the logic of the life and ministry of Jesus?
Not complete. Not perfect. This is just how my brain works when I muse on the misguided phrase, "Keep Christ In Christmas."
posted by Tim at 8:09 PM
2 Comments:
Hurray for another blog post :)
I think you would like a song that a friend of ours wrote. I think I will try to put it on our blog. if I don't get a chance, go to billamonster.com (that's his website) and click on "music"- it is the song titled "you better watch out" , I think the tecno re-mix is my favorite :)
Addy looks amazing. What a gift.
With Love,
Jenelle
An echoed 'hurray' for the blog. I desperately want to keep Christ in Christmas and get frustrated with myself when I slip into consumer traps. On a practical note, one way is to honor God in/through our gift-giving (think ethical products, giving time, giving words: written or spoken). I think we have to think about it practically because 'food for thought' is good, but people need tangible steps they can take. Really, both are needed. Do you have an practical ideas? In regards to the comment you made on my blog, what mixed feelings do you have about 'ethical consumerism'? I don't see how there could be mixed feelings about it, however I'm still learning about it myself and I'm open to what you have to say. Looking foward to chatting about this...
-Rachel
p.s. Any new pics of Adi?? =)
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