BCNE News
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Jesus lived, Merry Christmas!
Christmas is right around the corner! We as Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as God coming, crashing into our world, in history and clothed in flesh. There is a growing objection to Christmas that goes something like this: “We don’t even know if Jesus was a real person. He may have been a myth made up by the Church.” The good news is this is a question we can answer without too much difficulty, since our faith is a historical one, rooted in God’s work within time and space.
Christmas: God with us
We are getting close to that time of year when our social media and photo apps will offer up our “Year in Review,” allowing us to see the highlights of one year all in a few minutes. I love being reminded of the good days, the moments of laughter, and of the Lord’s faithfulness stretching out over another year of my life.
Light of the world
I love living in New England. I love the history, the ocean, the people. But there’s one thing that I just do not like. I hate that in the winter the sun goes down so early and the days are so short. I find myself really looking forward to the Winter Solstice. It may be the shortest day, but I know from that day forward each day will get a bit longer and include a little more daylight. It’s a bit easier to face the shorter days, when I know we are one step closer to spring and sunshine.
Preparing your family to savor the Christmas season
We are just days away from gathering with our family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. Many will probably enjoy the meal and then quickly launch into the Christmas frenzy! Let me suggest four practices that you could incorporate into the four weeks leading up to Christmas in order to bring your focus back on the meaning of Christmas and give your family an opportunity to bond in a special way and savor the true meaning of Christmas.
Making a list and checking it twice
Hey moms! I see you trying to create magical Christmas memories for your family. You are working through your shopping list, decorating the house, and planning special activities. You are baking cookies, planning parties, and searching for matching Christmas pajamas. You are thinking of ways to make Advent more meaningful for your family and looking for ways you can serve your neighbors and community. If you are like me, you’ve created in your mind a list of all of the “essential” things needed for the “perfect” holiday. I don’t know where exactly my list came from.
Rediscover the feeling of Christmas
When we first moved to New England there was already snow on the ground. It was only a few weeks until Christmas and the small village in Vermont that we moved to looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. We were busy revitalizing a historic church that has considered closing just a few weeks before we arrived. During those first few weeks as Christmas approached, we did a lot of “Christmas” things we had never done before.
Advent is for the weary
In New England, the season of Advent creeps into the literal darkness of December. As the days shorten, the holiday season ramps up, it’s frenzied and bright. The loudest messages speak of exuberance and abundance and assume a constant state of exhaustive cheer. And while joy is central to the coming of Christ, the season of Advent also presses back with a counter-cultural invitation into a stillness of soul as we watch for the coming light.
Finding Christmas peace that lasts beyond Christmas
We all have our favorite movies that we have watched so many times that there are no surprises left. We know all the characters, all the plot twists and all the subtle details that make the movie so great. Because such movies are our favorites, we want to keep watching them, but because we know them so well, some of the excitement we used to feel about them has faded. Then, along comes one of those “documentaries” about how our favorite movies were made. They reveal the behind the scenes details about the movie, and we fall in love with it all over again because now we know the background of the movie as well as the movie itself.
The wonder of the incarnation
My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. It might just be my favorite movie period, the only one I can watch over and over. Something about Buddy’s “affinity for elf culture” though he is a human, as well as his innocent unawareness of the fact that he sticks out like...well, like a grown man in an elf hat and yellow tights among the working professionals of New York City, is just so endearing. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Buddy doesn’t realize he’s a human, though nothing about the miniature elf world he’s grown up in suits him. It isn’t until falling behind in his toy production that he overhears a couple of elves whispering about him: “Well, if he hasn’t figured out he’s a human by now, I don't think he ever will.”
Christ is nearer than you think
Christmas will be different this year.
Changes, disruptions and difficulties have marked this year, and now we turn the corner towards a Christmas season that will, for many of us, be one more cruel reminder of how trying this year has been.
A blue (collar) Christmas
It was my father who first called my attention to the visitors in the Christmas story. “Look how the wealthy and highly educated wise men had to travel hundreds of miles, guided only by a star in order to greet the Son of God. And yet, the poor shepherds just doing their jobs were visited by millions of angels and only had to walk down the street.” It was always clear to my dad that the Lord had a special affection for the working class, while he was not all that impressed with the well-spoken “elites.”
Lessons from The Grinch
In a year of true controversy and arguing with loved ones in person and “friends” on social media about masks, politics and why the Sox traded Mookie, I’ve got one more question that could spark some controversy and heightened feelings:
Which of the Grinch movies is your favorite?