Season's Greeting - Bah humbug!

It seems Christmas is under attack. Everywhere I look I see notices wishing me the 'Season's Greetings'. A simple look at the word Christmas shows us it to be the 'Mass' of 'Christ'. The person central to this celebration is Jesus Christ. Wishing 'Season's Greeting' does not make that truth go away. Christmas is a Christian celebration. Yes, centuries ago the church may have overlaid this celebration on a pagan festival, but the fact of the matter is, Christmas is a celebration of God-come-to-earth.

It seems some people want to try and jump on the band wagon of our celebration without being willing to acknowledge the figure which provokes our celebration. They are left with over priced presents, hangovers and Christmas left-overs, only to find that Christmas Day did not live up to the hype. Long after their expensive presents have lost their novelty value they are still paying off their credit cards.

If the world thinks it can find a better reason to celebrate Christmas than Christ's birth they are welcome to try, but so far they seem to be coming up empty handed.

Seasons Greetings? Bah humbug! Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Christian neighbours contribute the most

The online Telegraph for 19th November reports that "religious people are better neighbours than their non-religious counterparts. By this they mean they are more likely to volunteer to help out those less fortunate than themselves, as well as give to charity."

The statistics are quite overwhelming. It seems religion promotes community and community awareness promotes social responsibility. In the biblical gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus uses again and again the term 'Kingdom' to describe what he is inaugurating. Interestingly the word 'church' is only rarely on his lips. Jesus was more interested in the lifestyle of God's community; his Kingdom, than in the gathering of people in worship at set times. It is not that the bible says church is not important, it clearly is, but community lifestyle; the LIFE of discipleship is far more important than simply focusing on where and when we meet on a Sunday. It is this community that gives rise to the statistics that we see referred to in the on-line Telegraph. To be fair, the article is referring to all religion, not simply Christianity. But I would argue that scripture teaches us that such community is seen at its best where Christ is found at its centre.

The on-line Telegraph heads its article with the line: "Religious people are much nicer than atheists". I always think' nice' is such a bland and insipid word. For example 'nice' hardly sums up the character of the Christian Pakistani mother Asia Bibi who has just been been sentenced to death for being a Christian!

At my church I am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of both finances and time that the church family give to various activities and projects. Even the recession has not dented their passion to sacrificially give. Nice people? It goes beyond that. Church is not simply a gathering of religious people. The true church is the place where Christ incarnationally dwells in the lives and activities of his people. Nice? I find 'awesome' a more appropriate phrase.

Remember

I guess there are two ways to remember. In one sense 'to remember' simply mean to recall something -"Do you remember where you were last night?". On the other hand 'to remember' can mean to do something about it. For example, the bible tells us to 'remember the poor and those in prison'. Clearly what is meant here is to RESPOND helpfully to that recollection. Today is Armistice Day to be followed shortly by 'Remembrance Sunday'. Are we simply to recall those who died or do something about it? I suggest the latter. What you do I leave to you.