7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 15)

1. I’m sad to take my little Christmas tree on my desk down soon. It was a good reminder that it’s still Christmas, even though stores and radio stations have moved on.

2. School starts next week, and I’m totally unprepared. I don’t even know where the library is, and I just got my schedule sort of fixed this week. And I have to get a parking pass and ID at some point…and notebooks and pencils and textbooks… I’m way out of practice.

3. Sunday night I went outside in shorts and a t-shirt. Then Monday night it snowed. By Thursday, it was up in the 50s. Ah, Tennessee weather.

4. Hopefully, we'll get the kind of snow that sticks on the ground but not the road this winter. I love when everything is all pretty and white, but I'm still able to drive around. Just because I have four-wheel drive now, doesn't mean I want to test it on icy roads.

5. I watched the Dr. Who Christmas special this week. So. Good. Am I the only one who sees major theological symbolism in Dr. Who? Probably. I’m able to see symbolism in almost everything these days. But how can I watch a show about a man beyond space and time who is always protecting humanity and not think of God?

6. I recently discovered the yumminess that is Laughing Cow cheese, particularly the mozzarella with sun-dried tomato and basil flavor. I've made many a meal this week out of it and Ritz crackers.

7. I've been thinking about how nice we are to other people is really the truest form of evangelism. Two examples: I've known a handful of Adventists in my life, and they all struck me as really sweet people. Then I worked with an Adventist this summer, and he was alwaying pushing his creationist beliefs on me, trying to get me to read Ellen White, and telling me how Jesuits were secret Satanists running the government. Though I know he was only one person, he completely soured my impression of Adventism. The second example is a woman I see at church on Sundays. I went to school with her daughter, and that's about the extent of us knowing one another. But she always says hello and seems genuinely happy to see me there. Just the simple "happy to see you" has made me much more comfortable going to church there. If a Catholic had pushed his/her beliefs on me last spring, I can almost guarentee that I would have resisted and closed my mind to the Church. But just by being nice and open, people allow others to see the way for themselves.

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Eureka!

When I hear the word epiphany, I always want to shout, “Eureka!” Because that’s what you exclaim when you have an epiphany, right? But I never really attached the holiday with the word epiphany: “an appearance or manifestation; a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning.”

Epiphany has been a documented holiday as far back as the 2nd century. Epiphany lumped all of Jesus’ early stories into one. The visit of the magi, the baptism, and the wedding at Cana. Each revealed more and more Christ’s manifestation. In the repetition of Bible stories, I’ve forgotten that it took time for people to realize, “Hey, this is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior.” Knowing the whole story, it’s hard to remember not everyone knew the outcome. I’ve heard the Nativity story so often that I forget to notice some of the more amazing details of the story, like a group of Gentiles travelling very far to look at some Jewish baby.

The Magi were scholars/astronomers from the East. Some interpretations have them as kings. At any rate, they were men who studied the stars, and they saw in the stars a sign of a new king. Not only did they believe a king to be born in Judah, but they understood him to be a king who they should go and honor, even kneel down before.

What are we to make of these strange men that appear, acknowledge Christ, and then disappear again? When in doubt, I read T. S. Eliot. In his poem, “The Journey of the Magi,” one of the magi realizes that after he has seen the Christ-child, he has to acknowledge that the world is different. He can’t go home and consult the stars or worship pagan gods and have his normal life go on. Seeing Christ changes everything about him and everything about his world. The age of oracles and gods is passing away.

Lots of traditions and symbols are heaped on the Magi. First, there are usually the extra-Christian number of three of them. Then there is the tradition that they were from the corners of the known world: Northern Europe, China, and Africa, representing the whole human race acknowledging Christ. Or they were Babylonian, so the former captors of the Jews were now bowing before a Jewish king. Then the tradition of the gifts foreshadowing Christ’s path, as Origen put, "gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God."

To me, the Magi represent that Christ came to save all of us, not just the Jews. That even men who weren’t looking for a specific Messiah could be drawn to Him and understand Him to be King. Yet whatever you make of the Magi, the point is that once you find Jesus, everything changes, and you exclaim, “I have found it!”

Keeping the Mass in Christmas

Hey, it’s still Christmas! If I’m counting right, I think it’s the 10th day of Christmas. But you wouldn’t know that from looking around. No more houses are lit up. No more Christmas tunes on the radio. People are apologetic for “still” having the tree up, as if it was supposed to be down days ago. Christmas may have stretched out to December 30th, but as soon as New Years Eve rolls around, everyone seems to move on.

During Advent, there are always the signs from the evangelical crowd: “Remember the Reason for the Season!” and “Keep the Christ in Christmas!” Both good messages, but how about remembering the liturgical season at all? And how about keeping the mass in Christmas?

In my view, there are two Christmases: the secular and the sacred. The secular Christmas season starts on Thanksgiving Day and ends on Christmas Day. Activities center on the buying, giving, and opening of gifts. It is about being nice to your fellow man a la The Christmas Carol. In fact, Victorian England is the origin for many celebrating Christmas Day, as the American Puritans had practically eliminated it earlier in our history. Most people seem to celebrate the secular Christmas, but confuse it for the other just because they sing songs about Infant Jesus and put up a nativity scene. They’ll call it sacred, but the churches are empty on Christmas Day. I’m not saying secular Christmas is particularly bad, especially for those who don’t celebrate other holy days, but it’s found lacking compared to sacred Christmas.

The sacred Christmas has a season of preparation called Advent, and then Christmas lasts from Christmas Day to the Feast of the Baptism of Christ (Sunday after Epiphany). Advent focuses on the need of and foretelling of a savior, while Christmas focuses on how God became man in the humblest of means. There are many stories of the Nativity that need the many days to tell: the birth of Christ, the shepherds and the angels, the wise men and the star, the killing of the Innocents, the presentation at the temple. Sacred Christmas isn’t about presents or getting together with family. It’s about rejoicing over the incarnation of our God.

I’m not saying a war on Christmas exists, because frankly, I don’t think people even know about a Christmas that extends past dinner on December 25th. But as everyone else is boxing up decorations, I'm just getting started! I feel as if I'm in some bizarre time warp where my calendar doesn't line up with everyone else's. Sometimes I wish people would at least acknowledge sacred Christmas, so I wouldn’t get alien stares when I say things like “Advent,” "days of Christmas" and “Epiphany.” Or that gifts would be exchanged on January 6th, like in Orthodox countries, so everyone would still be in Christmas mode during this time. But I’m resigned to the fact that most people will continue celebrating a secular Christmas with Jesus thrown in. It’s better than nothing, but there is so much more it could be.