Right on target. I wonder if most clergy become terribly depressed this time of year?
BTW, it's 'bated breath

Eucharisteo Brother Mark,

Amidst this year's pepper-sprayed Black Friday madness, your voice rings clearly through the words, I read, might listen later - I like that concept.

Did a revival message this year on the Almighty Dollar and survived without anyone taking it politically, a blessing if I am aware given our current socioeconomic divisions.

Please sign me up QUICKLY. I picked up your link from The Christian Left, hope your congregation is more tolerant than some of mine!

Towdah

YES. I've never understood why some of us so desire to turn Jesus into something secular and meaningless - whether it's making Jesus a figurehead for the consumerism of Christmas or including God in ceremonial statements on our currency "to prove we're a Christian nation." It seems to me like the craziest thing in the world to take something as powerful as Christ and try to commercialize and sanitize it into something much smaller.

I figure that, as is often the case, these responses are based in fear. So how do we lovingly engage these folks to help us all reclaim Christmas - and, for that matter, Christ?

I have been in this war for a long time now. It's good to know there is a sign-up roster, and that others are aware of the need for the strong to stand up for the weak. Thank you for finally giving me a place to report for duty. I was getting tired of feeling like just another, "Rebel without a Claus".

I praise God for people like you, who give encouragement to people who dare to disagree with mainline denominational ideals. I won't go so far as to say "brood of vipers", as I know that I have fallen short in all my own ways, but I will say their "Christian" narrative has lost all meaning to me.

It is refreshing to know that I am not alone. I have recently had published in Catholic New Times (Canada) an advent reflection asking these same questions - perhaps the Christian churches can reclaim Christmas as a religious event? But I currently doubt that the churches are interested as they too benefit from the hoopla around the social Christmas celebration. My article at http://www.newcatholictimes.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=1&catid=38&aid=2966

We Are One

We have painted ourselves into a corner. As many on the Christian Left have pointed out, the early Christians were more socialist and certainly not capitalist. As soon as you institutionalize a belief system of any kind the 1% seem take control of it and use it for their own agenda of wealth and power. Christianity fell from the principals that Jesus taught as pertains to a social conscience long before Adam Smith came on the scene. Jesus's birth isn't the only thing to be sanitized but the whole history of Christianity. examples being the Inqusition, Crusades, Salem Witch Trials, segregated churches.... Christianity is no different than another institutions that have been usurped by the wealthy, powerful, and greedy.

I loved the Holidays. The food, the decorations, the gift giving which shows generosity, the family fun and the underlying feeling that we are celebrating a bountiful year, the beginning of a new year and all the hope that starting again to do better entails which is the original festival that came at the time. All of that goes deeper and has existed longer than any religious mythology. It has to do with life and how we live it.

Here's the corner we painted ourselves into. If we give our money to feed all the people in the world, then most of us won't have a job and no money to give because our society's based on consumerism. Christmas and the gift giving generosity has been usurped. We can feed everyone and provide clean water. That is a no brainer. I have no desire to continue to argue over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Assuming one believes in such beings. What I do believe in is solving problems that face all of us humans. what a mess we have ourselves into.

We've all read how Jesus was actually born in the spring, 4 years later. That doesn't matter. What does is that the date and the story have been stolen from dozens of other religions. The very same story - virgin birth, death, seen alive a few days later... Amazing. Christianity should pay royalties to these past religions. They can surely afford it!
And to the poster who disliked the word 'war' - that was taken from the far right. They know true power belongs to those who redefine words - and religion.

Your words again ring true. Thank you for providing spiritual food. Again! With that said, how are we ever going to agree about a proper Christmas? Some swear Jesus was born in December. Some rationalize that Christmas is ok because that's when OUR culture celebrates the birth of Christ. Some say Jesus was born in the spring. Yet others know his birth was in the fall. We cannot agree on when He was born so how can we agree on the actual meaning of His birth? I have researched and studied Christ's birth. Jesus was 33 1/2 years of age when He was crucified. He was crucified in the spring. We know when He was crucified. That is clear. It's when we observe passover. Calculate backwards and that puts the conception of Christ in late winter and His birth in the fall. My point is this: Christmas has NOTHING to do with Christ. When we truly understand Christ, we will stop bickering and seek Him daily. We will stop focusing on differences and begin accepting each other as individuals with different thoughts and ideas. We have a long way to go!