United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley

Last Sunday I attended the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley, which further amazed me at how wide the diversity is among the UCC as well as making me realize that I’m likely much more high church than I thought before. The UCC of Seneca Valley is probably liberal to moderately liberal and on the lower end of the high church spectrum and a bit higher than Bethesda. Seneca Valley had a choir with choir robes, but also struck me as it was the first time that I had seen a guitar used in the same service as a robed choir. The pulpit was also upon a raised platform at the front and the majoirty of the service liturgy was conducted by a liturgist instead of the pastor, Rev. Carolyn Roberts. Another UCC first that I encountered was the presence of a blank page in the bulletin with the header sermon notes. Nothing wrong with that and in fact I think it is a wonderful idea and if anything was surprised that more UCC churches (or at least the ones that I’ve seen) do not do so likewise.

Rev. Carolyn Roberts sermon was on the social justice with emphasis upon the church’s part in the civil rights movement. While personally I would have spend a bit more time talking about the Biblical basis for engaging in social justice, her sermon was still good despite being from a stronger liberal perspective than I’m accustomed to. Although her main point of how anger toward social injustice alone is useless without also presenting an alternative and better way of doing things really stood out to me as a powerful message. As all too often I think the church just like politicians are quick to complain and make an outrage about things but without proposing a better way of doing things. Sure it is safer to just get angry and complain about the need for change but unless one has a vision of change for something better it is questionable how much if any good one will be able to accomplish in the end.

Saint Patrick

Today is Saint Patrick’s day so what better day to write about the man behind this day as compared to what it has become. As while many people celebrate Saint Patrick’s day with large parties, going all out with green clothing and alcoholic beverages associated with the Irish of beer, stout and whiskey often colored green and Irish Coffee, a mix of coffee, whiskey, sugar and cream. Along with the traditional throwing Lent out the window for the day, especially if falls on a Friday often refereed to as a “corned-beef indult”. Often to the point of insanity such as dying the Chicago river green every year for Saint Patrick’s day. Which in some ways is ironic considering that up until very recently it was a darker blue and not green that was most often associated with Saint Patrick as was found on older Irish flags.

So I ask what exactly are we celebrating today as Christians on Saint Patrick’s day? To which I believe the best answer is the legacy of a successful missionary who was in a sense an apostle to the Irish much like Paul was an apostle to the gentiles within the Roman Empire. Historically there are only two acceptable primary sources about Saint Patrick that have survived, a pair of letters in Latin that he wrote and gave a brief testimony about his life and call to ministry. From the first we learn that: “Patrick was born at Banna Venta Berniae. Calpornius, his father was a deacon, his grandfather Potitus a priest. When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties” (wikipedia). In the second a few years after being home he recalls the following vision: “I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: “The Voice of the Irish”. As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.” (wikipedia) To which Patrick was faithful in setting out as a missionary to the very people who had previously kidnapped him as a child and made him a slave as a sign of radical forgiveness and obedience to Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies and to pray for those who persecute you. Converting and baptizing the masses, ordaining priests to serve in the new churches and becoming a bishop in Ireland. And the rest is history or should I say legend as we know that the Celtic Church arose and viewed Saint Patrick as its founder. The other stories such as Patrick using the shamrock or three leaf clover to teach about the trinity, the creation of the first Celtic cross and driving all snakes out of Ireland (possibly figurative for druids and their serpent symbols given the lack of evidence that there were ever snakes in Ireland) along with the collection of prayers credited to him may or may not be true. But what matters most is that he was a man who impacted the culture of Celtic Ireland enough that he was remembered as a worthy man to be associated with such things.

Bethesda United Church of Christ

This past Sunday I visited Bethesda United Church of Christ, a small UCC church in the Washington DC area. Bethesda if one is forced to put it into a box is at the lower end of the liturgical church spectrum given the focus upon the church year. The worship environment was casual and the choir did not wear robes and the music centered around a mix of old and new hymns and some African spirituals thrown into the mix for variety.

Bethesda UCC also promotes itself as being a Green church with the following Green Church Covenant: “As faithful and loving people, we believe peace and justice are God’s plan for all creation. God, the Creator, calls us to care for, appreciate, and enjoy all of creation. Relying on God, the Sustainer, we strive to live in harmony with all people and the environment by respecting and honoring God’s creation. As humble stewards, we commit to deal justly with one another and the earth in all areas of our personal and our church lives.” The emphasis upon being a green church played through during the service with an emphasis upon God as Creator and the creation to which we are stewards. Which I found interesting in how social justice was viewed as a subset of being a green church as it is not what I tend to think of when I hear the term green. For example there was mention of a person from the church who had previously spend a week with coffee growers and came back talking about the importance of buying fair trade coffee because of the difference it makes for the farmers. But then again maybe they are also one in the same of being better for the people and the environment as I believe every fair trade coffee that I’ve encountered was also organic or at least in my limited exposure to coffee as a tea person.

Finally I must admit that they level of being Open and Affirming caught me by surprise when it came to communion. As Bethesda UCC literally had a 100% open communion table as they served communion to everybody including the young children. Which caused me to think of Jesus’ command in Matthew 19:14 to “Let the little children h come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (ESV). As well as wonder if many of the churches have been a bit too restrictive in keeping children away from the table out of fear that they are not ready to receive the Sacraments.

A Serious Response to the Go Commando Challenge for Lent

Shortly after writing my initial post about sweatshops a few months ago somebody sent me a few links of people that had closely related ideas to Laura’s “go commando for Jesus” joke in regards to the Christian response to sweatshop underwear. One of which was a Facebook group and blog started by two young women in college who decided to give up underwear for Lent that year and were encouraging others to join in with their celebration of Lent by taking part in the Go Commando Challenge. These young women even proceeded to explain why one would give up this “seemingly trivial article of clothing” with three points where are as follows in their own words:

First off, what people don’t realize is that to wear underwear is a privilege. Our cavemen ancestors didn’t have such luxuries, as well as many people in third world countries today. Don’t you think, then, that by us adding an unnecessary layer, we are being gluttonous and greedy? We choose to take a stand against this overindulgence.

Secondly, we as a society place too much importance in the hands of Victoria’s Secret, La Perla, and the like. Wearing underwear, when it comes down to it, is purely a vanity. Money spent on garter belts and boyshorts could easily be donated to worthier causes such as AIDS research and obesity awareness (Are YOU aware that obesity has become the leading cause of preventable death? It’s just science). Get your head out of the underwear drawer and say how-do to the world around you.

Finally, there is a water crisis in this country, in case you didn’t know. We wonder how many gallons of water you’re wasting each month hand washing those delicates. It is our social obligation; we’re responding to the call of duty. Mother Earth called, and we picked up the phone.

So the question remains: what are you doing for Lent? And more importantly: what are you doing for mankind?

I am sure that some of you reading this now are shocked by the fact that I’m even talking about this and may either find the idea hilarious or be outraged at a seemingly mockery of the holy Lenten season. But what one must keep in mind is that what matters most to God is the inner motives of the heart over outward appearances, so regardless of how strange it may seen lets not write it off just yet as being mere mockery of Lent. After the initial shock value and finding it funny, I reread it and realized that it was deeper than I had thought at first glance. Yes it could be a joke or it could be done with a pure heart for the right reasons and be honoring to God. One can argue that their unusual sacrifice was a lot larger than what most Christians do or should I say are willing to do during Lent. As compared to some of the typical if not traditional things that people do which often seem hollow like giving up chocolate for Lent and then instead of their usual chocolate starts to go through a few tins of Altoids a week or some other type of candy. So now lets look a bit deeper into their reasons of why they were giving up underwear for Lent.

I will admit that their second and third reasons why one should give up underwear for Lent are fairly weak. They would be a big stronger if they were trying to convince people to stop wearing underwear, but doing so for the Lenten season only is a bit self-contradictory in a way as it would mean suddenly turning your back upon the cause come Easter. As to the argument that buying underwear wastes money that could go to better causes, simply giving up underwear for 40 days will most likely not result in any difference in overall spending. Also even if one were to stop wearing underwear, I highly doubt that they would keep track of the money that they would have otherwise spend on undergarments and donate it to AIDS research and obesity awareness. As to the claim that hand washing undergarments wastes water, why not buy only machine washable undergarments to fix that problem. Machine washable undergarments, on the other hand, are small compared to other garments making it very unlikely that having to was them will create more loads of laundry than one would do otherwise. As to the likely laundry objection by some pointing out how running out of undergarments and being faced with the decision to do laundry early with an incomplete load which wastes water or to go commando. Although this could easily be solved by owning more undergarments to prevent from running out early or doing the later option.

Regardless it can not be disputed that their first reason is very strong as they are absolutely right that wearing underwear is a privilege and a luxury. Although I personally dispute their claim about underwear being a luxury beyond many people in third world countries today, and argue that it extends into richer developed nations too including the United States as I can testify from personal experience. A few years ago the church that I was attending hosted a special underwear drive before Thanksgiving for a local soup kitchen and homeless shelter to distribute on Thanksgiving; which was inspired by the pastor finding when volunteering to help sort clothing donations that pretty much nobody thinks about underwear when donating clothing to homeless shelters. Yet even then the church ran into a few humorous blunders in the process. The first of which was somebody wasn’t thinking when they designed the collection box which they put right inside the door,  with a “deposit underwear here” sign on the box, to which during the announcements the pastor talked about his reaction upon seeing it when walking in and realized that it was poorly worded and could also imply that one was supposed to check their underwear at the door. Which he clarified by saying that we were still allowed to wear underwear to church before saying not to worry if you forgot your underwear and left it at home because they would be collecting it for the next two weeks as well without realizing his accidentally pun that could have also been referring to forgetting to wear underwear till people started laughing at his remark.

Another point that stood out to me was labeling partaking in the luxury of wearing underwear as being a gluttonous and greedy overindulgence. The claim that underwear is a luxury is correct or at my one friend said once that underwear is not necessarily necessary. But simply because something is not necessary does not necessarily make one gluttonous and greedy if they do. Still it must be admitted that underwear and many other things that we affluent Westerners take for granted are privileges and luxuries as compared to the necessities that we often make them out to be. So in this sense, like it or not they do make a valid point about how giving up something up like underwear for a time will cause one to realized that it is a blessing and not a necessity in life. Just like I’m sure that one entering into it proper mindset would most likely cause one to ponder and reflect upon what is really necessary and what is not throughout the Lenten season. Much like one could argue fasting shows one that three meals a day is not a necessity despite the propaganda of the food industry telling us otherwise. Yet even so, I wonder if the reflections sparked by this point about it not being necessary could be done in abstract about what else is technically an optional blessing and not a necessity or not. Or would one would need to actually go through with it to understand it deeper or to fully get it still it makes you wonder if the reflections sparked by point one could be done just thinking about it or if one would need to actually do so at least for a period of time in order to fully benefit from it or at least get it more than they would have otherwise without the experience. So for this point, yes despite it being unusual, one could receive longer term spiritual benefits from a fasting from giving up wearing underwear for Lent if done so in the proper state of heart just like any other Lenten sacrifice. As was the case with the creators who wrote in their blog: “We still feel that the benefits outweigh the costs. Everyday, we feel a little more appreciative that we have been given the opportunity to wear underwear everyday. We feel the change, and not just in our pants. And isn’t that what Lent is all about?”

Finally to answer the burning question that I know you have of whatever or not I would encourage others to take up this Go Commando Challenge for Lent this year. The answer is no, I would not go out of my way to convince people upon reading it that they should do so likewise. Also if you like the idea but are unsure about underwear, other equivalent possibilities include: socks, pillows, dishwasher, microwave, convenience foods, television, radio, and use of the hot water faucet when showering just to name a few to get you thinking as all of these are also luxury items even though most of us consider them necessities. Although if somebody decides to as a result of this write up or at least somewhat seriously considers going for it, I’d have to say that it is a matter between them and God. Regardless of what you think about this different observance of Lent I hope reading this has caused you to think about Lent in general and what it means.

Tithing of Time

Thinking through various time management and money management strategies and values within the context of stewardship is a subject that I like to think about.  Not because I have it all together but because I believe it is an area that a good many of American Christians, including myself have a lot of room to grow.  I am not giving any names but a few weeks ago I read a casual comment from a friend online where they mentioned that they were tithing their time to God for the past few weeks, at 2.5 hours a day. To which I was quick to notice that they rounded up from 2.4 hours (2 hours and 24 minutes) to 2.5 hours, a 6 minute difference. This then had me thinking that there were different ways to count a daily tithe of time. Such as if one considered a tithe of their time to be a tenth of their awake time and got the recommended 8 hours of sleep it would come out to 1.6 hours a day or 1 hours and 36 minutes. Although if one were to go a step farther and tithe their free time assuming an 8 hour workday and an hour round trip commute average it comes out to .7 hours a day or 42 minutes. Which I find a bit interesting as a lot of Christians preach the value of a daily quiet time with God and suggest 30 to 60 minutes as a good chunk of time to set aside. I know some people might say that taking off work and sleep off of their tithing of time is not really tithing and view it at the level of somebody claiming to tithe their income after taxes, rent and utilities bills, but I beg to differer. What God expects of a person depends upon what resources they have been given, so when it comes to stewardship of time the same principal should also come into play. For example a Christian doctor who commutes 90 minutes one way into the city and works 8 hours a day healing the sick has less time outside of work to devote to “the things of God” than a retired man in good physical and mental health. So just like nobody is going to be harsh against a homeless person or a person living in poverty with a minimum wage job barely scrabbling by for not giving to the local food bank as they are the type of person who the food banks exist to help. But still I think another just as important if not more important question is not how much time one gives over to God but what they do with the time that they do give over. Such as while Bible reading and prayer are great and everybody should be engaging in them, 1 vs 3 hours a day might not be as big of a difference as it seems at first glance. If it means that the person doing 3 hours is not doing anything else when the person doing 1 hour a day could also be involved with a tutoring and homework help ministry run on weekdays out of their local church. In conclusion, no I am not saying that you need to start tithing your time, I just hope that reading this will cause you to think more about how well of a steward you have been when it comes to managing the time which God has given to you on earth.

poetic justice

When I hear the term “poetic justice” the first image that comes to mind was a video from one of those 90’s home video humor shows.  The video showed a group of middle school aged girls carrying one of their friends toward a lake with the intention of throwing her in.  Although when they were going out on the dock to throw their victim off the edge, they slipped and all of the carriers of the “victim” on the one side ended up falling off the edge of the dock without draging in the intended victim with them.  After that the half of the group that did not fall in took off without throwing in the victim who also got away before the half that fell in could climb back up on the dock.  Stories like this amuse people as they enjoy seeing people get what they deserve in the short term, especially when it happens on its own leaving one to speculate if it was through carelessness on their part or guided by God’s providence.

Today I witnessed another similar story when I was driving down to Maryland.  I was driving on a road with a 30 MPH speed limit with signs saying that it was photo enforced.  After a few miles of driving a little under 30 MPH the car behind me suddenly illegally passed me in a no passing zone driving onto the left side of the road to do so at what must have been 45 MPH or faster.  My initial reaction was to dismiss it as no big deal, just another person for whom the speed limit isn’t fast enough for them.  But then I noticed right by the side of the road where they illegally passed me on the wrong side of the road at blazing speeds was a newly installed speed traffic camera which I am certain got a picture of them doing it in the act with their license plate number showing for the camera.  As to what to fully make of this story I’m not going to pass judgements but just wanted to put it out there for others to hear and think about.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit

Earlier on this week I had an investing talk with my ordination mentor, Rev. Jonathan Hauze about preaching sermons and the process of writing sermons.  When it comes to the Biblical view of a pastor’s preaching duties, many view the duties of the preacher to be the closest to that of the Old Testament prophet.  In the sense that like the prophet, it is the duty of the preacher to preach the Word of God to the People of God today within their current setting.  Or as I was told by my pastor that the question to ask yourself when planning your sermon is “What does God want me to preach out of his word to this church today?  The United Church of Christ uses the Revised Common Lectionary, a three year cycle of preaching texts around the church year which is common to a number of denominations.  But as with most things in the United Church of Christ they are suggestions so one is not bound to follow the Lectionary texts ever week.  Still there is advantages to doing so as it makes thing easier by ensuring an overall balance in your sermon topics instead of falling into the trap of only preaching upon one’s favorite topics.  Yet the question that it brings up is if there is a repeating three year cycle, then should a pastor save their sermons and repreach them in future cycles.   Or as Jonathan pointed out a good question to ponder is if we see the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guiding a pastor in their preparation for their church, then what does that have to say about preaching the sermon a second time 3 years later at a different church than the one that it was written for.  Or even when you look at it to a certain extent even the same church is not the same church as it was 3 years ago in the sense that the situation of the people in the church can change over 3 years.   Also there is the practical aspect as while I am sure that most people would not notice if you preached the same sermon to the same church 3 years later that there would be at least one person in the church with an extra good memory would pick up on the recycled sermon.  While I am sure if one were to preach it again in 6 years it would be questionable if anybody would pick up on it.  Also Jonathan also told me that at times it seems like a different person wrote his old sermons when he looked at them 3 years later when preparing to preach again upon the same passage.

Personally I think it is a complicated issue but at the very least I agree that it is justifiable for a pastor to save their old sermons with the possibility of having something to fall back upon in case of emergency.  A key example being if one is either sick or has urgent pastoral care matters arise such as a death, neither of which can be fully planned for.  Or if one is at a church with multiple pastors and the one who was supposed to preach on a given week gets sick and then tells the other pastor that they need to fill in on them on short notice.  As in these cases I am sure that nobody is going to be too harsh against regardless of their view as long as it does not become the norm.  On the other side, I do not think one can say that a message prepared for a certain people at a certain time does not have any future usage as that is what makes up a large amount of the Bible.  Deuteronomy for example is Moses’ final farewell sermon before his death, to the people of Israel when they were getting ready to enter the Promised Land.  Yet in the case of Deuteronomy, it is clearly still useful to people outside of the original audience.  The same goes for the New Testament Epistles which were letters to given churches in response to their current situation.  Likewise I’d argue that many Christian classics also fall into this timeless quality from our perspective such as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters, Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, Thomas Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, and many are predicting the same will prove to be true for William Young’s The Shack.  Now I am by no ways saying that every sermon should be held at this level but that most good sermons upon passages of Scriptures should have some timeless aspect to them which makes them apply within a given cultural as long as one was preaching the message of Scripture and not opinions of the time.  A good example being  that I was told that there are old sermons in which preachers preach against women who wear underwear as being immodest – which I’m sure will shock most people today as it makes the pastor come off as a fool to us today.  But within the context one needs to realize that underwear as we have it today is a more modern invention and only became more common when skirt length started to decrease and there was a pop culture dancing style of lifting up the skirt.  So the person’s point was that women’s underwear is not needed as long as one wears a long enough skirt and keeps it down so wearing it implies that one intended to do otherwise.  So even though it was a sermon on the timeless value of modesty, it was too cultural contextual to be useful to people in a different time and place given that the definition of modesty is not a Biblical absolute but contextual within one’s culture.  Yet extreme examples such as election year sermons dealing with the Biblical stance on the big political issues of the day, do not negate that most but not all good sermons should also have value elsewhere as long as one knows the audience in order to figure it out.  Jonathan Edwards famous Sinners in the Hands of An Angery God sermon which I am sure most people have heard of and a fair handful of people still read and study.  Yet even though Edward’s sermon had a profound effect upon the people of his day I would never consider repreaching it today.  Still I must also point out that there are times when repeating sermons which are refined over time is actually the most responsible thing to do, such as in the case of a retreat leader who focuses upon spiritual growth and renewal.  As in the case of the retreat leader their message stays the same each retreat yet the people on the retreat is what is different, yet the context is the same as each group puts itself into the same context by virtue of attending a retreat on a particular topic.  In conclusion, I do believe that there is something special about a sermon that you write for the next week when thinking about what the people at a given church need to hear most from the Scripture passage you are studying so I think whenever possible one should strive to write as many of their sermons new for when they preach them.  Yet that does not mean that it is not always practical in reality so as long as it is a good sermon that fits the audience it should not overly matter.

Kettle Cleaning

Last night I cleaned out my electric stainless steel kettle that I use to boil my tea water.  The inside had become coated in water mineral deposits some of which had started to flake off but because the kettle has a spout filter none of them got out into my tes so I did not realize how bad it had become.  Although when I was drinking some Wuyi oolong yesterday I noticed some off tastes to it which at the time I blamed on my brewing.   Although when I noticed the same thing when I followed it up with some Puerh later in the day I realized that the water was the only common case giving that my Wuyi was brewed in a porcelain gaiwan and my Puerh in my yixing pot.  Upon my discovery I took the kettle and its base down to the kitchen and filled up the kettle with white vinegar and a little water and set it to boil for a few minutes to let the vinegar do its work and dissolve the  mineral deposits.  After that I verified that the mineral deposits were gone and dumped the vinegar water solution down the drain and replaced it with water and baking soda and boiled again for another few minutes to remove all traces of vinegar from the pitcher before rincing out the kettle with water.  I filled up the kettle with plain water and brewed some Puerh and had my best cup of tea in close to a week.

The above sounds like a lot of work to have a clean tea kettle but it is amazing at times how such a simple thing can make such a big difference.  Yet my neglect to descale my kettle resulted in a slow decline in the quality of my tea till it reached the point that I could tell that something was really wrong from how it was tasting.  Going to show the importance in routine maintance in things even when they appear to be function fine for the best optional performance and possiblly durability in the end.  Just like how the auto expects say that a tire pressure gague is one of the best investments you can make for your car as a decrease in tire pressure can hurt both your gas millage and the lifetime of your tires as well as decreased performance which can even result in accidents.  Yet I am sure that the vast majority of people rarely if ever check their tire pressure unless they see that something is wrong just like I did with my tea kettle.  The life applications to this illustration are endless as I am sure everybody has their own neglected “tea kettles” in their life which are only lacking a little attention and maintance before they can reap the beneft of increased productivity and quality of living.

The Aftermaths of Christmas

It is two days after Christmas and most likely, regardless of your age somebody has already asked you what you got for Christmas; and if not it is only a matter of time before it happens. So allow me to ask you a slightly different question: What did you get for Christmas that will still be around in 5 to 10 years from now? And by still be around, I mean things that you would still use and enjoy and not something like a book that you read once at most and then put it on a book shelf to only touch again when dusting. Or like an article of clothing that you wear for a time before it goes out of fashion so it remains neglected in the back of your closet for the next few decades. No I mean a gift that will really last in the long haul both in terms of its physical durability but also in terms of its usefulness which makes it worth keeping around because it serves a meaningful purpose in your life. Yep so there goes all of the ipods, computers, electronic gadgets as well as the latest top of the charts CDs and top blockbuster DVDs which are doubtful if you will even be able to still play 5 to 10 years into the future like the records and VHS tapes from a decade ago. As all of these things if they survive will most likely become the junk of tomorrow. So things that would make the answer to my question could include things like quality kitchen knives as compared to plastic food processors and a musical instrument like a flute as compared to a MP3 player. I know that this may be shocking to think of what your pile of new gifts would look like and mean to you 10 years down the road, but it really helps one get a long term perspective. And no I am not saying that it is wrong to give gifts that do not last like ipods and computers just that one should realize that their meaning and usefulness is feating at best. Like most clothing if it is worn regularly will wear out within a few years regardless of how well it was made, which is fine as it served its purpose as compared to something that was worn a few times and then discarded for something newer. Just like some simplicity experts recommend giving consumable gifts such as candy, flowers and homemade jams & preserves, in order to avoid contribution to cluttering up other people’s houses with things that they don’t really want or use but feel obligated to keep simply that it was a gift being too ashamed to regift it to somebody who would be more likely to put it to good use. I say this not to make people feel guilty about gifts that they gave and received this year which is past but to look forward to the years to come. As we are held accountable of being responsible stewards of God’s creation and the limited resources that are found within. While it is not wrong to use what we need to live, we need to take care to use it wisely from the perspective of the long term. Yet as to its exact application value to you and your life I can not tell you what it should be as it is something that you will have to figure out for yourself if you have not already done so.

Personally I can only name two things that I received for Christmas this year that I can say with confidence will more likely than not will still be around in 5 to 10 years from now. The first gift that I am confident will last long term is a fountain pen which was custom made by an artisan using top of the line German hardware, making it the finest quality fountain pen that I’ve had the pleasure of writing with to date. The second gift that I am confident will last long term is an upper end genuine leather (as compared to bound leather) ESV study Bible, which is guaranteed to last a lifetime with normal usage.

Now I ask you once again in turn and invite you to reply below in a comment: What did you get for Christmas this year that you can reasonably see still being around in 5 to 10 years from now?

Christmas Carols as Worship

A few weeks ago I heard a pastor during Advent complain about how her favorite radio stations had all gone to all Christmas music all the time before Thanksgiving. To which I was glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one who has been fed up with Christmas music or should I say the abuse of Christmas music for the past few years. Looking back at some of my past posts on Christmas, virtually all of which have been negative, I previously differenced between two types of secular Christmas carols and Winter Wonderland carols. Where the secular Christmas carols would include ones like: Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf the red nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming to Town, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause, and Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer. And the Winter Wonderland carols would include ones like: Let it Snow, Sleight Ride, Walking in a winter wonder land. In which case I concluded that Winter Wonderland carols could be mixed with Christian Christmas carols without cheapening their meaning given that they celebrate God’s creation. Yet even then it seems as if playing a mix of even mainly Christian Christmas carols and Winter Wonderland carols over and over again also cheapens their meaning or at least to me when you hear them over and over again. A year ago I concluded that the only way to redeem the Christmas or the Christ Mass from the corruption influences of consumerism and repackaged paganism to serve consumerism would be for Christians to focus upon Advent more to the neglect of Christmas.

Although the story does not end here as I had another Christmas breakthrough last Sunday during the Christmas Cantata at Wentz’s United Church of Christ, which now results in the first positive Christmas post for this Christian blog. I know it is a bit sad that it took this long for a positive post about one of the main Holy Days of the faith but it also goes to show how we are locked in a spiritual war against Christmas. Our holy day has been reduced in the eyes of many as a secular festival to serve the interests of consumerism by convincing people that they need to buy this and do that while ending up too drained to fully enjoy it. All the while of backing up their propaganda with the villain image of Scrooge to which descenders are associated with. Yet that is what makes Christmas carols all the more important once they are in their proper context which is worship. As sad as it is to say but till this past Sunday I failed to see the connection between the “Christmas carols” in the hymn book which we sing in worship at Church and the other Christmas carols which seem cheap to me. Yet sitting through “A Candlelit Christmas”, A Cantata by Benjamin Harlan at church made it clear to me. Of course those Christmas carols mixes 24/7 on secular radio would lose their meaning to a Christian, because they would be divorced from their context of worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, especially when diluted with the influence of “secular Christmas carols”. And no I am not arguing against all secular music as being wrong for Christians. In fact I dislike Christian media for that very reason as to me at least I feel that worship music becomes cheapened if one listens to it all the time, especially when multitasking with others things as background music. As to secular Christmas carols I am also not claiming that they are sinful, just that some Christians, myself included, are not able to handle them or at least too many of them before they begin to cheapen the real meaning of Christmas to them. Just that Christian Christmas carols and even Winter Wonderland carols, are just like any other hymn has its core in the worship of God, so once the context of worship is taken out then it by definition becomes a hallow shell of its former nature. So remember when you listen or sing Christmas carols to keep it within the framework of worship, otherwise you’d be better off to turn off the radio and sit in silence to avoid missing the point in the end.