Prozac or Mistletoe?

It is Christmas time, so I endeavor to be more cautious and charitable than I ever am. And my intention is not to throw anyone under the bus with this writing. But I have been wanting to say what I'm about to say for a very long time. I say it in support of joy. I say it in support of people. And I say it in support of Christmas itself.

For 14 years, every Christmas season, I was force-fed a diet that consisted of guilt, shame, and stern warnings. I, and roughly 125 other people, during the Advent season, were reminded that millions of people around the world suffer the heart-wrenching, spirit-debilitating effects of depression more so at Christmas time than any other time of the year. And this is a true statement. No doubt, in an effort to inspire compassion and good works toward others, we were reminded, year after year, Christmas after Christmas, that suicides increase at Christmas time (which is not statistically accurate) - that millions weep over the loss of beloved friends and relatives, who can no longer share Christmas gifts or a bowl of eggnog – that the poor, destitute, and homeless, many of whom have always been poor, destitute and homeless, feel most rejected and left out of society during Christmas time, for they cannot afford to celebrate in the same fashion as most can celebrate. Consequently, for 14 years the unparalleled joy of Christmas time, which should have been mine, should have been ours, was diminished, greatly, by an unintentional, yet reckless, spirit of morosity. If there is no joy in Mudville, at Christmas time, there is no unbounded joy at a certain location in Gloucester, Massachusetts. But, again, I speak with no malice, only regret, and I hope, in this writing, that my offered, different perspective might help someone else to remember to and celebrate Christmas the way, I believe, God intends it to be celebrated.

Christmas time is not to be a self-absorbed, selfish time of year. Of all the times of the year to be self-absorbed, to be selfish, let it not be Christmas time. The holy Child was not given to men by a self-absorbed and selfish God. The Child was a gift to the poor in spirit, and to the lost. The Child came selflessly, and grew selflessly, and lived selflessly, and died selflessly. To The Child, The Man, to The Father, to The Spirit, it was all about others; it was about us. So, to honor The Child, to memorialize and celebrate His birth, His coming, and in keeping with His command to follow Him, we must be all about others, too. Let Christmas time, let Christmas Day, be about others, the depressed, the poor, the destitute, the homeless, and “the least of these.” And not just at Christmas time or upon Christmas Day, but every time of year, every day of the year. For the Christian, all of this should go without saying.

So, in our work, our daily work, we give to the depressed, to the rejected, to the poor, to the destitute, to the homeless, to the lonely, to the forgotten. We provide for them, we pray for them. These are our works. But work is not celebration, neither is celebration work. Work focuses on being sacrificial. Celebration focuses on being thankful and joyous. Sometimes we work – sometimes we celebrate! Sometimes we weep with those that weep, but sometimes we rejoice with those that rejoice. And Christmas time, my friends, is not a time to weep but to rejoice!

During Christmas time, I would submit that our Christian hearts are more bent, naturally, to pray and work for the least among us. So, at Christmas time, our work is most proficient now than any other time of year. How is this so? Because we are Christians, filled and led by the Spirit of God. Christians need no extra, morose reminders to increase at Christmas time the good that they do all year long. The Angels that heralded the birth of The newborn King knew perfectly well that there were depressed souls, poor shepherds, homeless Bethlehem-ites, lonely widows, and pining friends, yet they focused on joy, they advocated joy, they proclaimed joy that night. They put their work aside and they greatly celebrated the coming of The Child born Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace! Should these angels be found guilty of the charge of negligence towards the plight of depressed souls? Should these angels be ashamed of themselves for not taking a short time then, hovering above the sheep, to advocate visiting the the sick and shut-ins? Should this host of angels not be embarrassed to loudly and joyously sing and light up the skies with the divine light of Heaven, over little Bethlehem, when there was so much suffering and misery to be found, not only there, but all over the earth? No, they should not be found guilty, they should not be ashamed, they should not be embarrassed. Their work was over for a time; now it was time to celebrate! We would do well to follow their example. I have nothing against taking the opportunity of Christmas to remind folks to pray for and help others, but I do not think it a good thing to rob Christians of the full joy of Christmas by emphasizing sufferings over thanksgiving and work over celebration. All God's children need a time of refreshing, and what better way to be refreshed than to dance with Fezziwig or toast with Cratchit? What better way to honor the giving of The Child than to give gifts to our loved ones?!

My brotherly counsel to you is not to allow any well-intentioned person to diminish within you the joy of Christmas. For over 2000 years, regardless of what date we chose to celebrate, the birth of Jesus Christ has been celebrated by the angels of heaven. And as is done in heaven, may it be done on earth. God rest he merry, gentleman (and ladies), let nothing you dismay. Remember, Christ our Savior, was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan's power, when we had gone astray. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

Sing your carols; choose, joyfully purchase, and give your gifts; bake your pies; deck your halls; ornament your trees; cook your feasts; kiss under your mistletoes; light up your logs; dance; drink; be merry and light of heart, for it is Christmas time - the fat-est, most wonderful time of the year!

The time of work focus comes, as it should and always will. This is the time of focused celebration!

A very merry Christmas to you all! God bless us, everyone!

Halloween: Good or Bad?

I'm not going to go through the history of this holiday; there is enough, readily available, helpful detail on this subject on the web.  So, I won't take the time to write, here, what others have covered.  I will advise the curious reader, those wanting to know facts, to one of those web sites, one I often use, The Christian Research Institute.  Here is an excellent article that gives an overview of the holiday: http://www.equip.org/articles/halloween-for-christians-oppression-or-opportunity

I celebrated Halloween when I was a kid, back in the 1960s.  I believe I was a carrot my first year; my mother made the costume.  I then went as a cat (store-bought) for the next two or three years.  As I grew older I became a hobo, Dracula and a woman.  It was a lot of fun to dress up in costumes, venture out into the dark night, ring doorbells, show off my costume, and...get free candy.  I remember the fun of coming home, where my brothers and sister and I would pour out our bags and see what we got.  I also remember the "scary" years, when the urban myth prevailed that hidden razors should be sought in apples and various drugs had been injected into candy bars.  That's when Halloween began to decline in fun, but by then I was almost old enough to quit celebrating completely.

So, here I am now a Christian grown-up, and what do I think about Halloween?  Well...

Halloween of my day is not the Halloween of today, nor of my own kid's day; Halloween is not the fairly innocent Frankenstein, Dracula, carrot and cat costumes of the 1960s.  I think, ever since Jamie Lee Curtis appeared in the movie, "Halloween," the holiday has become increasingly darker.  The blood, gore and occult are more in fashion these days, as are the seances and other Spiritualistic practices. These days, fewer kids  bob for apples and eat donuts off of hanging strings (with their hands behind their backs) as in my day.  Instead, more and more adults run to adult parties in hope of hearing some sage words from Harry Houdini or to speak with their dearly departed.  Death, blood, gore, Spiritualism, and a fixation with darkness now define Halloween today.

When my kids were growing up, we enjoyed watching them engage in the cultural holiday, but we guided them along the way.  Recognizing that dressing in costumes is fun, we encouraged characters and costumes that were not dark, because we are Christians and we do not celebrate death, blood, gore, Spiritualism (which is a real religion and quite pervasive in our entertainment programming).  We understood that allowances of practice are equal to endorsement, so we never allowed our kids to dress up as witches (witches are real, as you know), or skeletons (which are symbols of death), or any other dark character.  Our kids dressed up as Moses, an angel or princess, etc..  And they had just as much fun and got just as much candy as the kids that were dressed in those other costumes.  While many kids unwittingly celebrated death, gore and darkness, our kids celebrated what I and my wife had celebrated in our day: a night of costumes and free candy.  Our kids' celebration was just fun, not fun and dark.

Now, some will say, "Aw, loosen up, Rick; you're taking this far too seriously.  It's just all in fun!"   But to this I would say, "baloney!"

All people, of any age, are influenced by the world around them and by the practices in which they engage.  Jingles work because they embed themselves into the mind.   "Recreational"  uses of drugs, even "safe" ones like pot, often surprise the user, later, with a full-blown addiction (mental or physical). And the age-old warning from mother, "Be careful who you're friends are," is found to be as valid now as it ever has been. The bottom line is that when we allow ourselves or our children to do a certain thing, we are endorsing it.  And something endorsed will most always turn in to something accepted and, later, vigorously upheld and maintained.  So, do we really want to spiritually desensitize our children to the importance of sound, Christian doctrine by allowing them to, even for one night, become a witch?  Like that is okay?  Of course not!  Witches are real and Wicca is a religion that utterly rejects Christ's teachings.  Do we really want to desensitize our kids to the reality of Satan, who is a real entity and the enemy of our souls, by allowing our children to "dress up" as him?  Come on!

You don't have to be Dr. Phil to see that such allowances are not spiritually healthy for your child, the little person that you are trying to raise and teach to follow Jesus.  The Word of God clearly states that there exists no fellowship between Darkness and Light.  So, why on earth would we want to "celebrate" and allow our Christian kids to "celebrate" any holiday using dark, ungodly, anti-Christian costumes or practices?  Allowing this to happen is counter-productive to our goal and confusing to the kids, and I believe it is poor stewardship of the parent's role as teacher and protector of the small ones entrusted to their care.  We should, instead, promote characters that, at the least, are not dark and morose and filled with occult overtones.

It is not prudish to deny these types of costumes; it is prudent to do so, because we recognize that children are easily confused and influenced by what we allow and they can, like adults, become desensitized by the bad message and practice.  As I said, permanent mindsets are the result of thoughtless acceptance and thoughtless acceptance is the result of desensitization.

Christian parents, do not desensitize your kids to the darkness and the occult, which needs to be recognized as real and which daily imprisons countless hearts in cells of deep, personal, spiritual despair.  Instead, celebrate the holiday differently and use these modern, dark and occult images and practices of today's Halloween, which are swirling all around us and gaining momentum, as opportunities to talk with your children about the root of these dark strongholds, and explain to them that God has no fellowship with evil, and the symbols of Satan, death and the grave.  And since God has no fellowship with these things, we should not playfully, casually pretend that they are not real by dressing up as ungodly characters, nor engage in practices in which God has forbidden his people to engage (such as seances, tarot cards, Ouija boards, and other occult, holiday "amusements").  Christian parents cannot ignore the influences of these subtly destructive, seemingly harmless but popular holiday practices, else they will surely find that they have fostered the desensitizing of their children to the presence and reality of spiritually dark forces among us.  No, Christians should not be paranoid and look for a devil behind every tree, and they should not to obsessed with evil spirits, but neither should they pretend that dressing up as Satan or a bloody killer is no big deal to God or to a healthy faith and personal attitude.  Halloween can be a very, positive, spiritually instructive time for Christian kids. Let us take our faith and our kids faith seriously.  Images, costumes and practices do matter, and they matter much.

At my house, we still carve pumpkins, give out candy to the neighbor kids, and sometimes my youngest  dresses up in costume.  Halloween is still fun over our house.  But that's because we haven't bought in to the prevalent dark and occult parts of the holiday as it is "celebrated" today.  At your house this year, it still can be a fun day of costumes and free candy.  And that's plenty of fun alone.

And who doesn't love watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"?

In Honor of Fred, my Friend

The song, linked below, proclaims this truth concerning the Christ Child, "...though the years have come and gone, He's waiting that same way. So come in from your hillside, and meet Him there today.  Meet Him at the manger..."

These powerful lyrics come from a Christmas cantata that my friend, Fred Serino, chose for our congregation's holiday program, back in the late 80s.  Fred was our choir director.  He asked me to perform the narration, and so I had the pleasure of joining the choir for about two months. My time with them concluded, after the performance of the cantata, but it was an experience I shall never forget.

I have remembered those fun times of rehearsals; the laughter and conversation; Fran and her wonderful piano accompaniment; the smiles on the faces, young and old; the camaraderie; the coffee and snacks; the joking around; the crisp, autumn evenings; the jitters of performance night; and Fred.

Fred was not only our choir director, he was our inspiration, our teacher, encourager and friend.  He set a high standard, though never displayed impatience with our mistakes.  He made us feel good about ourselves, made us all feel that we belonged and were important to him and to the whole program.  He smiled when we teased him, laughed when we messed up, gave us one-on-one time to help us work out a detail.  He made, for each of us, a treasured experience, one that, every Christmas time, I fondly recall with tears in my eyes.  I can never thank Fred enough for this wonderful memory, and I can never thank those folk enough for warmly welcoming me in to their fold for a time!

It's not the Christmas season yet, I know.  But it's always Christmas Day when you remember the gifts that God has given you.  And I was remembering Fred today.  So, Fred, if you are out there, this one's for you, the blog entry and the opening song from the cantata.  Thanks, Fred, for everything!!

Click on the link, below this line:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/VKvDR8Ye/14_-_Meet_Him_At_the_Manger.html