Confusing Holy Truth with Holiday Tradition

I wanted to post this for a couple reasons.  One, I want to share the work of The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus.  (Anti-Social Behavioral Order…It’s a British thing.)  I visit this artist’s work all the time, and hope you will too. 

***edit:  some recent posts revealing the artist’s ponderings on hell and eternal consequences of sin make me more than a little sceptical about recommending the site.  I’m can’t recommend his point of view on that.  But as always, be careful with what you read, and know that publishing a link doesn’t mean that I fully embrace or absolutely endorse the offsite material.***

I couldn’t get this piece out of my mind, and that leads me to reason two…

Secondly, I wanted to share this because it hits home as we decorate for Christmas.  As we determine what stories to tell, and what decorations to put up, we must be intentional about what traditions are accurately historical, what has Biblical/Christological significance, what has family significance, and what are things that are meaningless fluff.

For instance, we don’t do the Santa Claus thing with our kids (they know).  We don’t put the Little Drummer Boy in the Nativity set.  And for a few years now we haven’t used Christmas stockings.

Here are our kids on decorating day, having plenty of fun with the stuff we didn’t put out.  Yeah, we got all that stuff at one time or another, but now we only want to put the focus on Jesus, where it belongs.  That doesn’t mean that we can’t have some fun! 

We love this picture…we call it “gangsta santa”

 

Who would have thunk it, that those stockings really do fit?

Analog to HDTV, Is There a Patch To Kick the Habit?

A relative at Thanksgiving dinner was mentioning the big difference in HDTV. His assessment is that it’s like B&W versus color.  I find that hard to believe, but then, I’ve never seen HDTV.  Of course I do understand when it comes to speed on the Internet.  Hearing the squawk and squeal of dial-up connecting is like hearing the crackle of a phonograph.  

Still, I thought with roughly a year to go on the no-analog TV deal, we’ll all be looking into HDTV in some form or another.

Or, here’s a novel idea, we’ve got roughly a year to wean ourselves from TV altogether.  Wouldn’t that be a hoot.  Instead of everyone going out to buy new equipment, we just all give up on TV! 

It won’t be easy, but you’ve got time.  And they probably make a patch for an addiction like that.

Giving it up won’t be so hard when I hear such disparaging things about my (only) favorite TV show, Heroes.  Kring, the show’s creator, admits to making a mistake with season two; they are making the last episode they had (writer’s strike) the season finale (which means it won’t really wrap things up well); and there was going to be a spin-off (Heroes: Origens), but is canceled for now.  I hate that this season has been deemed a mistake.  And I definitely don’t want them to do a spin-off.  I just don’t have the emotional energy to get wrapped up in another series (I learned this lesson from the Law & Order, and CSI franchises).

Tension between Compartmentalizing and Community

Compartmentalizing is a psychological tool summed up in the statement “leave work at work.” It seems that men do this more than women.  In fact, some have depicted the man’s brain as a chest of drawers, all compartments,  versus the woman’s brain as a ball of yarn, all intertwined.

I realize that most of the time compartmentalizing is seen as bad, especially when compared to “community;” the kind I have come to know through Randy Frazee.  While, I’ve become a big proponent of community, I lately have been wanting a little more compartmentalizing. 

As a pastor, my work and home are super-intertwined.  Plus, my friends are also sort of in my church.  And they are also in the small group in my home, and we see each other several times throughout the week, too.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all complaining about my friends or frequently doing stuff…remember, I’m a big community guy, and I get energy from socializing.  But as I have felt pressure from all these worlds colliding, I wonder if I’m missing out on compartmentalization. 

Do you suppose there is some truth to that “men’s brains are more like a chest of drawers” thing.  Maybe God designed us men that way with a good purpose, and I’m missing out on some redeemed qualities of a compartmentalized life.

Oh, the days when you could be one person at work, another with your friends, and yet another at home…just kidding.  I’m not trying to live a double life like that horn-rimmed glasses guy from Heroes.  And anyway in this last episode, his daughter said she hated him, and his only friend shot him in the EYE!

Carving the Turkey, not Craving It

I carved up my first turkey this week.  I am extremely proud of myself because I had worked up in my mind that knowing how to properly carve a turkey was some kind of rite of passage that I had missed along the way.  

Since no one has ever taught me how to do it, I did what any young man-of-the-times would do:  I YouTubed “how to carve a turkey.”  With a couple excellent three to five minute videos, I was ready and able.

I may have been glad to carve the turkey, but I wasn’t exactly craving the turkey this year because I’ve been sick.  Over a couple days, I didn’t have much of an appetite.  But by today, I’m much better.  I may not have craved it much, but it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if I didn’t go ahead and stuff myself with it anyway. 

First Renaissance Fair

We enjoyed checking out our first taste of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).  My brother and his family are very interested in this, and they belong to the Barony of Nottinghill Coill.  He and his family were helping organize a big demo benefiting the Friends of the Hartsville Memorial Library in Hartsville, SC at Byerly Park back in September.

We enjoyed ourselves a lot more than we expected.  It was a very family-friendly environment, and we felt safe in letting our kids go around with their older cousin.  It seems like they are all like one big family.  It’s easy to see why they like getting together like they do.

My brother (below, on far right) is known as Bonaventura