Busy Nothings

Today my brother in Montana, brother in Wisconsin, and myself in Alaska spent over 4 hours racing Project Gotham 2 on XBOX live. It was the most wonderful 4 hours! I don’t remember when the last time was that I spent that much time with both brothers–probably about 10 years. What a great feeling! Thanks to the internet and technology, we can “get together” quite often and it’s so nice! What a great day!

I am amazed at myself. Today I was frantically cleaning so that I could enjoy Christmas Eve and Day with my hubby. I kept thinking I had to get the whole house clean ‘cuz my in-laws are coming. That might not seem so strange, except my in-laws don’t really care. They are not coming to check out my bathroom. They are not coming to see if I mop my kitchen floor. They are not coming to look for every speck and crumb on my kitchen counter. They are not coming to inspect my fireplace. They are not coming to check for dirt on my floor. They themselves aren’t all that worried about that stuff in their own home, why am I so concerned that they would be in mine? As a matter of fact, they are coming to see my and me DH and feh on the condition of our worldly entrustments. That is why I stopped to blog before scrubbing my bathroom floor.

I did some research today on what other paganistic traditions Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Gramps and Grams brought over from Germany to ruin their Granddaughter’s life besides Christmas and Easter (the idea of bunnies as a fertility symbol has definitely altered my view of Bunny Peeps and other Eastre fun). The yule log mom lit? Pagan. Mistletoe? Pagan. “Santa” is actually the feminine of saint (”san” being masculine) so Santa Claus is really a bald cross-dressing fat woman with female reindeer (males lose their antlers by November). I discovered that I now should pawn my wedding rings as they originated with the pagans. Even funerals, caskets, flowers, etc. are of pagan origin. Oy. Now, these traditions I can choose to observe or not (the tree is still staying), BUT there are some pagan originating things I did NOT choose to observe, rather they were thrust upon me. Namely the names of months and the days of the week. For this reason I am creating a non-pagan 2005 calendar. I am soliciting ideas for the names of the days of the week and the months. Sa***day is the Sabbath, as it is the day of rest God instituted.

On a side note, you will be happy to know–as I was–that Egg Nog is not pagan, but originates from 17th century England. I just made some with a light and happy heart! And since it has rum and bourbon in it, the rest of me is light and happy, too!

Wow! I can’t believe how many comments IntolerantElle got on her post yesterday. How awesome! I’m going to quote from one of my favorites:

“People don’t celebrate church holidays and festivals – they celebrate cultural holidays and festivals. This has always been the case… it’s just that once upon a time the church culture was stronger than it is now.”

This is so true on so many levels. Not just at Christmas, but all through the year. My Christmas decorations (including my tree) are cultural traditions. I was thinking along these same lines last night as I was tossing Elle’s post and all the comments around in my head. The tree, presents, lights, stockings, and all the other decorations mark cultural holiday traditions. That does not take away, however, from the advent season for me. My piano students asking me why only two candles are lit in my “candle holder” is a great opportunity to explain advent and the advent wreath to them. Having the little nativity set next to a small lighted Christmas tree has already been a great way to share the truth of Christ’s birth. Even if our western culture now dominates this holiday, it’s wonderful to have an opportunity to share the birth of the Savior with those who haven’t heard about it.

IntolerantElle, infamous for being intolerant of many things, wrote of her Christmas annoyances in this post. Here’s my opinion on the subject which is more post than comment, so I decided to add it to my blog.

I am not bringing a Christmas tree into my home to worship it as the pagans did. For me it is a traditional decoration that reminds me of the holiday coming–just like there’s nothing wrong with hanging artwork on your wall. There is nothing wrong with it, so stop trying to cut down my tree!

Celebrating Christmas in a traditional way does not mean I have conformed to the materialism of the holiday. Quite the opposite–I am appalled by it! I am not, however, refusing to show love to my friends and family in what happens to be my primary love language: gifts. Since traditionally it’s done at Christmastime, what’s wrong with that? If you no longer want Christmas gifts, I’ll gladly keep them or take them back.

Although Christ may not have originally been in Christmas, he is now. Why deny those who choose to worship his birth on this day? Thanks to all those Christmas Eve services as a child, I have Luke 2 memorized. I could recite it any day of the year, but with advent it’s exciting to anticipate His birth just as it must have been for the Jews waiting for their Messiah. And don’t forget, it is also a time where we focus on his coming again. And those Christmas Carols! How can you deny the joyous message of the birth of our Savior? “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” to name a few bring me such exhuberant joy every year that God’s love for me was so great His Son was willing to humble himself and become a puny human like me to fulfill the promise of salvation.

So maybe the date is wrong, the origin a little questionable, but is that a reason to reject it completely? God’s people, the Jews, were a very traditional people. We were created with this enjoyment of following traditions. Although not every tradition is the same and not everyone follows everyone else’s tradition, that does not make them wrong. Lying about a fat man is lying, tradition or not. Worshipping a tree is idolotry. So is worshipping money. Or gold. Or your computer or TV or even football. Should Christians not have any of those things in their homes then? Decorating is not a sin. Tradition is not a sin. Celebrating the birth of our Savior certainly is not a sin. Do you think God’s up there looking at his calendar every year and saying “Hey, Jesus, those silly people down there got your birthday wrong again this year. Their worship doesn’t count if the date’s wrong.” Hardly.

In your zealous desire to get this whole Christmas thing right be careful not to become a legalist!

Last night I was recording the liturgy on MIDI, but wasn’t able to completely finish. I went into the office I share with the Mr. and told him I couldn’t record the liturgy right, and he replied, “That’s okay, God’s tired of that music anyway.” From the mouth of an ex-Catholic.

I was talking to my brother, a pastor, about his cute little son who likes to come into his office and play with whatever papers or books are lying around. After attempting to play with an off-limits sermon book, my nephew was given Luther’s Catechism. All was well until he ripped out a page. I asked my brother what page it was, and he replied “one that talks about the sinful nature.” How’s that for irony?

I am really at wits’ end with those liberals who say violent video games breed murderers. Rather they are guilty of penetrating one’s vocabulary with unwanted phrases. Take for example Unreal Tournament. My aversion to this game isn’t that it is violent, it’s that in my sleep for the past 5 years I’ve heard “Head Shot, double kill, multi kill,” “I’m on your side, idiot!,” and my personal favorite whiny phrase “I need some backup!” The situation doesn’t improve with the 2004 version. Now all I hear is “Red power node under contruction” and “Blue power node destroyed” in some woman’s sultry voice. I mean, come on video game people. Can’t you make the sound effects, etc. a little bit more stomachable for those of us who have to listen to someone play this game hour after hour? Good grief!