A 'disturbing' Christmas
The Christmas tree and all of its' trappings comes down in our house tomorrow. 2008 will have arrived and we, like many others, will have put away Christmas for another year.
The 'Christmas story', with its tales of old age and teenage pregnancies, of paranoid politicians and asylum seekers, tax hungry governments and state sponsored terrorism, hardly seems the stuff for 'family viewing Christmas specials' over the holidays. But somehow we have manged to take 'His' story sanitize it and make it fit to put on inoffensive greeting cards. It will now be put back on the shelf for another twelve months
I guess I am writing in this slightly 'bah humbug' tone because I have been 'disturbed ' this year, not by the perennial consumerism, but rather by the contents of the original story. It was while preparing a series on the 'Mission of God' that I found myself 'staring' at the people and the events described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. I was struck by the daring and the danger that runs right through the story. The word that most came to mind as I read the story(s) again was courage. It is a virtue that marked all of those involved (including God) at the beginning of the 'Mission of God'. It is a virtue that I believe we need to possess if we are going to be effective in playing our part in the Mission of God in 2008.
Knowing what we hope for and who we believe in will not be enough to get the job done in the coming year. The courage of personal and corporate convictions are vital to our effectiveness in 2008.
The 'Christmas story', with its tales of old age and teenage pregnancies, of paranoid politicians and asylum seekers, tax hungry governments and state sponsored terrorism, hardly seems the stuff for 'family viewing Christmas specials' over the holidays. But somehow we have manged to take 'His' story sanitize it and make it fit to put on inoffensive greeting cards. It will now be put back on the shelf for another twelve months
I guess I am writing in this slightly 'bah humbug' tone because I have been 'disturbed ' this year, not by the perennial consumerism, but rather by the contents of the original story. It was while preparing a series on the 'Mission of God' that I found myself 'staring' at the people and the events described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. I was struck by the daring and the danger that runs right through the story. The word that most came to mind as I read the story(s) again was courage. It is a virtue that marked all of those involved (including God) at the beginning of the 'Mission of God'. It is a virtue that I believe we need to possess if we are going to be effective in playing our part in the Mission of God in 2008.
Knowing what we hope for and who we believe in will not be enough to get the job done in the coming year. The courage of personal and corporate convictions are vital to our effectiveness in 2008.
posted by tony at
5:26 PM
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