Will the Real Reason for the Season Please Stand Up?

It's that time of year...you know, the time when Christian have to force their message of "the real reason for the season" on anyone who will listen.

I came across one of these "real reason for the season" in the form of art not to long ago; there are many different versions of it--from ceramic art to actual painting--but they all of them have Santa bowing down to Baby Jesus.

I get what the artist is trying to say, but I don't really like the message. If you must tell a child about Santa (or heck a non-Christian for that matter), can't you just say he's a jolly fat guy who gives gifts to people because that's what Jesus would want him to do--he's giving out love and wanting noting in return; who cares about the historical "real Saint Nick" who wasn't very Saintly?

The painting above and all it's variants seem to much like a cheap gimmick, and one that really spreads no message at all; it's not saying anything about Jesus and what he stands for--it's just saying Santa worships him, so you better too.

If you must use Santa to illustrate a point, I sort of like the one below, which is both disgraceful but also too true.

The Real Meaning of Christmas, or How Dirty Water Kept Me From Being a Grinch

Today's post is brought to you by Chase Andre. Enjoy!

"Happy Birthday Jesus!" reads the illuminated sign that casts a light across the 405 Freeway this time a year. Below the sign stands the headquarters for the largest Christian television network in the world. Directly across the 12 lanes of traffic stands South Coast Plaza: Orange County's ritziest of mega-shopping centers.

The two seem to face each other, and dual out "The Real Meaning of Christmas" every year.

"Presents and Holiday Deals!" screams the one, in bright fluorescent.
"Keep Christ in Christmas!" the other matches its electric tone.

This banter happens like clockwork (Well, that's not entirely true. It seems to start earlier and earlier every year. I believe I started seeing "Holiday Special!" sales in August, and my pastor started his "Nativity Series" in mid-September this year...I digress). Either way, you can count on seeing it.

I have to admit, though, I tend to dread it. Not to get all Charlie Brown Christmas on you, but I don't think either sides of this debate is "the true meaning of Christmas." The whole thing makes my head spin, and to be honest, I get downright Scroogey. Or maybe Grinchy. Depends on the mood; or how many @JimCarey tweets I've read.

But this season, I heard a statistic that put legs to my Bah-Humbug.

In fact, I became downright... disturbed.

Every year, Americans spend $450 Billion on Christmas.
Only $10 Billion of that would solve the Clean Water Crisis, Globally.

That same crisis that is claiming 42,000 lives a week.

What does this mean? It means that if we all shaved roughly 20% of our Holiday budget from ourselves and gave it away, we could give life to nearly a billion people who live without this Basic Need. But what do we do instead? Buy Toys and Tinsel.
(Excuse me sir...your Grinch is showing.)

Despite my flaring Bah-Humbugs, Hope has grown in me this year. It's a Hope that comes from the promising prospect of Change; and not the kind offered by any politician.

Instead, what I see is young people, like ourselves, who are beginning to take Jesus at His words:

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me." (Matt 25:40)

As Travis mentioned, a group of friends and I went out on Black Friday to remind folks of the tangible impact their money could have on their Global Neighbors. We started a Facebook Event Page for what we were doing and it spread to more than 3000 invitees, and over 600 positive responses from around the country.

When you hold a protest/picket/whathaveyou such as this, you never truly know what the response will be. Overall, our small group (around 10 friends who banded with us in our area between the hours of midnight and 9am), was very well received.

One man, in line for the midnight opening of Toys'R'Us, stopped in his tracks. You could see on his face that what our cardboard signs stated disturbed him, too. "$20 could provide clean water for a person in a third world country for 20 years? I have to give!" Immediately, he pulled out his iPhone and tapped in www.water4christmas.com: "I'm donating right now!" he told us, before he crossed the store's threshold.

Another, about my age, sprinted out of Best Buy at around 5:30am with a flat screen TV under his arm, and a grin-of-victory spread across his face. I offered him a bottle of water, and told him why we were out there when he asked.

"You need to get laid, bro," came his response.

I gave him a bottle of water anyway. He accepted, without breaking stride. As he rushed off to wherever he was rushing to before sunrise, I called out, "And, uh...I hope...that TV, gets you... laid?"

Humorous as I found it, I was saddened to know that is the gauge-of-success much of our culture carries. It affirmed why my friends and I were out there.

Yet with every story like that, we find stories of Hope and change.

For example: a friend, Brandt Russo, is fasting from all food until he raises $15,500 "to help Ryan Alexander of Not Fashionable in his quest to end hunger by helping him provide medicine to deworm 1,000,000 children." (To find out how you can help Brandt in his Operation:STARVATION, or learn more about the cause, click here)


We all know that this stuff -- the toys, and tinsel, and TVs -- won't last. Nor will they bring us anything but momentary happiness. Yet, year after year, we persist to buy them.

If I could make one request, it would be this: Give Life. This Christmas, let's not get wrapped up in the ribbons and glitter and electric allure of the Sales and Specials. Let's not say "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and do nothing to offer him a drink of water (See Matthew 25:40-46).

Instead, let's realize how greatly our blessings & excess could impact another. We could save lives. If the Hope for Change I see rising is a trend here to stay, then Save Lives, we will.

"And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."


Merry Christmas, Friends.

"Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 8:14, as told by Linus.

Photo Credit: Sarah Jean Photo

The Naked Gospel

Thanks to Andrew Farley's The Naked Gospel, I can no longer beat myself up with guilt and legalism. I'm not sure whether to thank Farley or curse him.

Even though we know we are no longer under the Law of Moses, Farley writes that many Christians don't really believe it. If you're like me, you somethings think that you have to follow some sort of moral code in order to get into Heaven, and you beat yourself up when you feel like you're not good enough. But as Farley explains, that's the Old Covenant, which is dead. While the Law shows us God's ways, following the Law cannot save you. Only Jesus' death on the Cross can totally pardon our sins--now and forever. Farley reminds us that we are new beings, and sin no longer reins over us. Of course, we still unfortunately sin for time to time. But according to Farley it's not because of our "human nature," but because the force called Sin still lives inside of us (Romans 7:17).

"The message of 'Jesus plus nothing' . . . is often too humbling for us to swallow," Farley writes. "Instead, we opt for performance hoops to jump through in order to impress God. Sure, we trust Him alone for salvation and a place in Heaven. But when it comes to daily living, it's difficult to fathom that he wants to be our resource and carry the load."

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm way too hard on myself. Even though I know what grace means, my mind still can't believe it. I don't have to jump through any proverbial hoops to win God's favor? And Jesus already did all the dirty work? There's got to be a catch! But no, there isn't.

So now that I don't have to beat myself up with legalism and guilt, what am I supposed to do now?

Busy Day, Busy Week

You may have noticed I did not post last week (or perhaps you didn't), but, being Thanksgiving, I took the week off. Today I am enamored with graduate school application.

Many of you probably know the dire state of public libraries (if not you can read about it here.........mcsweeney's link); this has left me in this unfortunate position of trying to figure out what I will do next year if it continues to get worse (or even if it stays the same).

For many years, I have considered the idea of returning to school to get my MFA--a quite backwards idea considering I've already published a book and currently teach writing; this year the idea of it has been louder in my head than ever because it will offer two years to get away from worrying about income and just write--and hopefully it will all be better when I'm done with school.

My chances of getting into any of the programs stand at just below 1%, and even if I do get in, I'm not certain I will even go.

And so that is what I'm working on today, and that is why this post does not fit the normal tone of this blog.

With any luck, I will return to the regular post next week...

When Black Friday Comes

"It's the holiday season, so woop-de-doo and hickory dock"--Andy Williams

Yes folks, it's that time again. The time for cheesy TV movies, pointless debates about the phrase "Happy holidays," and grown ups fighting over a laughing Elmo toy. It all starts today with that wonderful day all retailers anticipate . . . Black Friday!

A couple of years ago when I was working at Pier 1 Imports, I had the unfortunate privilege of working on Black Friday. My heart goes out to everyone working in retail today. (Special prayers are welcomed for my fiancee Amy, who has to work at Babies R Us today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Fortunately not everyone celebrates the day after Thanksgiving by stampeding over shoppers to get that best buy. Buy Nothing Day is the anti-Black Friday when anti-consumerist activists do not spend money on anything for the entire day, not even a tank of gas. I'm pretty good at sticking to Buy Nothing Day, although last year I did buy some toothpaste and facial soap from CVS last year during Black Friday. I'm against extreme consumerism just as much as the next person, but I also don't want to have bad acne and halitosis.

My friend Chase Andre is doing something interesting called Operation: Black Friday Takeover. He and some friends gave bottles of water to people standing in line to get inside the stores. Then they collected the empty bottles, and will recycle them and give the money to Charity: Water. Stay tuned and I'll let you all know how they did.

All this does get me to thinking about how I've been spending my money. Lately I've spending lots of money on music, especially since now I've discovered it's cheaper and easier to just download albums from the Internet. But it all adds up after a while, and besides I'm not really supposed to be spending all this money on myself this time of year. So I'm going to make a conscious effort to watch how I spend my money. I'll try to get into the habit of asking myself, "Do I really need this, or do I just want it? Is this going to make some one else happy, or just make me happy?"

So I hope everyone else reading this will look past the extreme commercialization of what used to be a religious celebration, and remember the true meaning of the holiday season. Oh great, now I sound like one of those cheesy TV movies!

Is the Prosperity Gospel Responsible for the Crash?

"DID CHRISTIANITY CAUSE THE CRASH?"

Definitely grabs your attention, doesn't it? However, the title of this month's Atlantic's cover story is a bit misleading. Writer Hanna Rosin does not blame the current economy on the teachings of either the Bible or the Church. Instead, Rosin examines how the economy might have went south with the help of a fad that many Christians denounce--the Prosperity Gospel.

The article mainly focuses on Casa del Padre, a Latino church in Charlottesville, VA, and their pastor Fernando Garay. On any given Sunday, Garay (a former loan officer) preaches that God is willing to shower true believers with great abundance. Like many other prosperity gospel preachers, he urges his congregation to aim big, regardless of their income. "If you can't afford a house you shouldn't buy it," says Garay's wife Hazael. "But if the Lord is telling you to 'take that first step and I will provide,' then you have to believe." If you don't, it's a sign of disbelief.

While Garay claims that the recession did not affect his church, many other churches aren't so lucky. According to the article, "most new prosperity-gospel churches were built along the Sun Belt, particularly in California, Florida, and Arizona--all areas that were hard-hit by the mortgage crisis." Also, at one point the article mentions that apparently Wells Fargo had the idea to send sales officers to church-sponsored "wealth-building seminars" and tell the churchgoers how they could buy new homes.

At the end of the article, there's no clear answer as to whether or not the prosperity gospel played a hand at bringing down the economy. However, I'm sure it didn't help things, either. If last year's crash taught us anything, it's that for too long we've been spending more money than we have. The pastor should be a voice of reason in a world of mixed-up values. But with these prosperity gospel churches, people are hearing the same message they would hear from Jim Cramer: buy it all now! The only difference is the prosperity gospel throws in religious guilt; if you're not prosperous, you're not a good Christian.

What do you think? Do you think the prosperity gospel had a hand to play in this mess?

And You Call Yourself a Christian? Really?

Did you hear the one about the US preacher in Arkansas sentenced to 175 years in prison for abusing young girls?

If there's a poster child for this blog--a person who shames the name of Christianity, he would definitely make the cut (you can see his photo below if you want to make him a poster child)

His name is Bernie Hoffman (AKA Tony Alamo) and he was accused last week of marrying several women when they were minors (amongst other things). In his defense he said that he was, "just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel." Because, you know, the Bible says go forth and have sex with little girls.

If all he was doing was having sex with little girls, I guess you'd just call him normal (at least for a cult leader--if you are the leader of a cult, it's sort of expected that you do perverted things...I'm pretty sure that's why people become cult leaders)

But Alamo was a bit weirder...When his wife died in 1982, Alamo claimed that she was going to be resurrected, so he kept her body around: for sixteen years! What's more, he actually left it on display for everyone in church to see for six months! Note to reader: if your pastor has his dead wife on display this Sunday because he claims she will come back from the dead, YOU ARE IN A CULT!

Alamo's lawyers wanted the judge to have sympathy and let him off the hook because he was old (in his 70s) and sick (he has diabetes...a life threatening condition that can be aggravated if ganged raped in a prison shower).

I'm really getting tired of people who don't think they should be held accountable for what they did simply because they are old.

Fortunately, the judge did not pity Alamo. So Tony Alamo, if polygamy is what you desire, then I hope gay marriage is allowed in whatever state you end up going to prison, because it looks like that's where you'll be staying for the rest of your life.