BONUS Items
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Christmas Sermon: A Visit from St. Nicholas
- Bye-Bye, Christmas; Hello, Holidays
- Glow vs. Glitter
Introduction
Although the following items were not selected for publication in the Advent-Christmas family booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" they are worthy to be shared.
If you publish any of these, please give credit to the author and to "Simple Living Works! Visit SimpleLivingWorks.org."
Christmas Sermon: A Visit from St. Nicholas
John Celichowski, OFMCap
'Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through our flat
Not a creature was stirring
Not even the cat.
The stockings were hung
By the sofa with care
In hopes that a plasma TV
Would be there.
My wife in her nightshirt,
And I in my shorts,
Had fallen asleep in a chair
Watching sports.
When out on the street
There arose such a racket
I sprang from the room
And threw on my jacket.
Away to the front porch
I flew like a flash.
I looked for a burglar
Or a dog in the trash.
When what to my wondering eyes
Should appear
But a hybrid fuel sleigh
And eight free range reindeer
With a portly old driver
Still lively and quick
That I knew right away:
"It must be St. Nick."
More rapid than
Microwave popcorn they came,
And he shouted and gestured
And called them new names:
"On Nike, on Target,
On Costco and K-Mart!
On Marshall's, on Polo
On Gap and on Wal-Mart!"
I cried out, "Oh Santa,
This doesn't make sense.
Instead of good things,
You're giving pretense."
I said, "You've sold out."
But the saint, he protested,
"I'm just bringing the Christmas
That you've all requested."
As he balanced
His reindeer and sleigh on our roof,
He went on and said,
"I'll give you some proof."
"Since Halloween
The stores have been packed.
With everything Christmas
The store shelves are stacked."
"So yes, I've gone corporate,
But you led the way,
By buying and buying
And spending all day."
"And not only that,
You've started a war,
Giving bombs and more bloodshed
To the suffering and poor."
"What seems so ironic --
My wonder won't cease --
Are the reasons you've given:
Life, freedom and peace."
"But Santa," said I,
"You know the real reason
We recall and revere
This wonderful season."
"Without a doubt,"
He nodded and cracked,
"But let's talk inside.
I could use a good snack."
Though ancient in years,
He was still pretty spry.
He slid down the chimney,
With nary a sigh.
I offered him tofu
And organic fruit.
But he snorted as if
He would give me a boot.
"The doctor," he said,
"put me on a diet.
It's this Atkins thing.
You really should try it!"
"But," he winked,
"I can take off a day.
Just cookies and milk,
And I'll be OK."
He looked pretty tired
As he slumped in the chair:
"It's been a long night,
But we're almost there."
The room then grew quiet.
There wasn't a sound.
We shifted our feet
And looked all around.
Then I saw in his eye
A twinkle so clear.
It ran down his cheek --
A single long tear.
"This isn't about buying
And selling and such.
It's about God's compassion,
How God loves us so much."
"The Prince of Peace came
To dwell on this Earth
To share in our suffering,
Our loving, our giving, our mirth."
"In a muddy old manger
God came as a child
To free us from evil
And the good we've defiled."
He looked 'round the room,
Still seeming upset,
And found in the corner
Our Nativity set.
It was dwarfed by our tree
And American flag
Which was nailed to the wall
But had started to sag.
In a whisper, he said,
"Sharing gifts is a start,
A manifestation
Of God in the heart."
"But please remember
On this holy eve:
The best gift of all
We've already received."
"The peace and good will
At the heart of this feast
Are given to all,
The great and the least."
"And the freedom you seek
With bombs and with guns
Could die as folks bury
Their daughters and sons."
"God gave us his Son
To give us new life
To overcome poverty,
Injustice and strife."
"The best gifts of love
Aren't under a tree.
They're found in our hearts,
In you and in me."
Then he nodded his head
Once more toward the Manger.
With a wink and a smile, he said,
"I won't be a stranger."
Then quick as a flash,
Up the chimney he flew.
Within seconds, it seemed,
He was gone, out of view.
He did leave some gifts
That night near our tree,
But the best gift he gave
Was what he told me.
May our Christmas be blessed
And the rest of this season
May we never forget
God's gift...and the reason.
[I hope Alternatives' ministry is doing well; heaven knows we need it more than ever with the Wal-Mart-ization of the globe.
I live with a friar who is pastor of the church here. I participated in the Christmas liturgy where he shared the enclosed with us congregants. I thought it was a great piece. Michael Crosby]
Bye-Bye, Christmas; Hello, Holidays
(LICC* connecting with culture)
'Tis the season to be jolly. Or at least 'tis the season for UK citizens to spend a great deal of money on gifts, and for companies to throw their annual parties. In line with the secularization of the whole frenetic process, rumor has it that an increasing number of companies are calling the Christmas party, the 'holiday party.' Or are simply avoiding any overt reference to Christmas, containing as it does that offensively religious word 'Christ'. This is, apparently, one more manifestation of the desire not to offend adherents of other faiths who, some obsessively politically correct Human Resource departments seem to believe, will be offended by the use of the term. Well, if they were offended, it would be one thing, but, as the Muslim Lord Ahmed pointed out, very few Muslims are. And I doubt many Hindus or Sikhs are either. On the whole, they expect Christians to be Christians and call their festivals by their proper names.
On the other hand, why should we expect secular organizations to perpetuate the use of a name that suggests they are celebrating the birth of Christ when they aren't. Is that not hypocrisy? Furthermore, why should we let the world use our 'brand' to lend a veneer of legitimacy to celebrations which have so little in common with the values of the kingdom of Christ? Why not just call Christmas 'Get Day' or 'Deeper Debt Day'? Or better still, give it the name of the god that our culture worships. Let's stop pretending that it's about the arrival on Earth of the Saviour of the world, the God who came to liberate people from sin and give them abundant life. Let's call it Mammon Day.
In the meantime, the Christmas season remains a wonderful time to communicate something of the love of Christ, to bless colleagues, be generous, and explain, in however small a way, what this season means to disciples of Christ. Last year we gave all our staff a star to hang on their trees - a reminder of who they follow, the witness that they are, and the fantastic job they'd done. Others wrap up a Christmas booklet or invest in an Advent calendar for their colleagues. And if you're looking for a free conversation starter, you could simply download the elegant advent calendar screensaver developed by SGM - www.sgm.org After all, it isn't the world's job to tell people what Christmas is about. No, it's our privilege to show and share the wonder of the Christ who came for us all.
Mark Greene
Why let the church use our 'brand'?
a time to communicate the love of Christ
*The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
mail@licc.org.uk
Visit www.licc.org.uk for articles and events listings. [I came across the following musing on Christmas and thought you might appreciate it. This email arrived as part of a free, weekly, very thought-provoking series from the UK's London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). The author of this piece is Mark Greene, current director of the Institute and a VERY interesting and witty fellow. He even admits that he spent 10 years in advertising, which gives him a rather unique perspective! I hope to email LICC and tell them about Alternatives, too. A little cross-pollination seems like a good idea! Bye for now -- keep up the great work!
--Nancy Matthews :) ]
Glow vs. Glitter
(Meg Cox's Ritual Newsletter for December 2003)
Stop for a minute to search your memory bank for visions of Christmas Past. Recollect those Tiny Tim moments when your children's faces were rapt with wonder and awe.
I'll bet most of those magic moments did not occur when they were ripping open Yule packages. Perhaps the joy look dawned at the moment when the Christmas tree lights were turned on that year. Or the moment your children looked out the window at the season's first snow. Or when they helped bake your grandmother's special old-country Christmas cookies, and sampled the results.
Chances are that most of those rapt looks were related to special holiday traditions your kids look forward to all year long. What generates that glow doesn't come from the glitter part of Christmas sold in stores, but the meaning part that we make together as families.
Our goal as parents is to increase the glow, while decreasing the glitter. Comfort and joy don't come from the toys.
When it comes to the practical part, increasing the glow isn't just about piling on new traditions, however creative. Sometimes we need to keep our old rituals, but practice them in a deeper way. Don't just throw a handful of ornaments on the tree between errands. Plan an entire afternoon or evening and take your time. Play or sing Christmas carols while you drink cocoa with marshmallows -add a candy cane to stir. Tell the stories of your favorite ornaments while hanging them on the tree.
Getting out Christmas cards often seems like a chore. Have your kids help by adding stamps, address labels, and stickers or drawings to personalize the envelopes.
And make the content of your cards a collective family tradition, like subscriber Patty Glass does. Every year, the family sends out a Christmas card that is a list "of all the joys and things we're grateful for that year," says Patty. In order to do that, "we're forced to keep a running list of the joys throughout the year," a task which Patty aids by keeping the list on her Palm Pilot and updating it whenever she has a free moment. One of the most powerful results of this ritual, says Patty, is that "sometimes even the hardships and family deaths will be transformed into a positive memory, like listing 'the celebration of Uncle Bob's life." She gets comments every year about what a joy it is to receive these special cards.
Page updated 11 Sept. 2013
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