Christmas is a-coming, and with it all the news reports and stories about the over-consumption of the average American consumer. And in response, all the blogs, commentaries, and editorials about how we, as the Church, should either limit or do away with entirely the gifts that go along with Christmas.

The first year I really paid attention to this campaign against gifts (CAG for short), I didn't really think much of it. But each year, it seems that the voices protesting gift giving get louder and louder and more bold in their approach.

I do understand where these people are coming from. Really, I do. It's no secret that we as Americans wallow in consumerism and that we have more stuff than we know what to do with. It's no secret that probably over half the world struggles for daily food and water while we plan how to spend our annual Christmas bonus. Black Friday is a joke.

But here's the thing: those problems exist even when it's not Christmas. Children starve, entire countries suffer natural disasters, and Americans buy way too much stuff ALL YEAR LONG. I think the CAG has begun to bother me because it has taken on a guilt inducing form. It has the tone of Christian Harvest Nights; you know, Halloween is wrong, so come on down to the church dressed in your best costume, and we'll give you free candy. We kind of have the same message at Christmas: look at this picture of a starving child, read my thoughts about over-consumption, and oh, don't mind the gifts under my Christmas tree.

Here's a dirty little secret of mine. I LIKE giving gifts at Christmas. Now, some people may not like the gifts I give them, but I actually enjoy shopping at Christmas. I like planning out what I'm going to give people. I really don't care if people give me gifts, I just like the whole atmosphere of gift giving at Christmas. In the Christian subculture, that's almost like blasphemy. But I look at it this way. We, as Christians, keep Christmas to really focus on "the Incarnate Deity." Emmanuel. Yes, the greatest event in Christian history was the cross, but there would have been no cross without the Incarnation. Our Savior "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped," and came to us. CAME TO US. Brought the gift of life to dying people.

It has really started to bother me that we use the world's poor in an attempt to induce guilt-driven gift abstinence within the Church. I am not suggesting, in any way shape or form, that we should ignore the World Vision pamphlets in our mail box, or the Shoebox dropoffs, or the Salvation Army buckets. What I am asking is, why is it either/or? We are ridiculously well off in the U.S. - can we not buy a goat for a family in Africa along with buying a gift for a family member that we love deeply?

I'm just not convinced that we'll have to answer for how few gifts we bought at Christmas. It seems that we will have to answer for how we helped the poor all year long, every year of our lives.

Rituals, Chants, and Other Magic Spells

This morning, as I logged out of my email account, a news story on Yahoo caught my eye (oxymoron, I know: News = Yahoo? Yeah, right). Anyway, it was about the "outrage" of critics of President Obama's Thanksgiving Day speech. Their criticism? He didn't mention God.

This article just made my blood pressure mount higher and higher, as I read about how so many people felt slighted by the President's omission. Wailing and gnashing of teeth...one reporter apparently even tweeted that the speech was "screwed up."

Am I missing something here? Since when did the measure of a man's (or woman's) faith in Christ become how many times he says "God" in a short Internet speech? This reminds me of the National Day of Prayer fiasco of a few years ago, when (gasp!) the President declined to have a personal prayer service at the White House. Oh, the persecution! The abuse! How in the world will the Church in the USA ever survive??? Woe is me!

C'mon people...just because someone claims the name of Christ - or God the Father - does not mean they share your faith. Would President Obama's critics been satisfied if he had mentioned God 2.3 times on Thanksgiving Day? Of course not. Critics are called critics for a reason: because they CRITICIZE. Their job was awfully hard for them this year, as it's tough to find something to criticize in a speech full of gratitude and appreciation for US troops. But, wait a minute, yes, wait a minute.....he didn't say the magic word! He didn't close his eyes and wave his hands and say "God!" Yes, that's it! Now we have the worst omission of 2011. Never mind that he mentioned God in an earlier Thanksgiving letter...he didn't do it in person! That MUST mean he's not a Christian, and OBVIOUSLY it means that we are being persecuted! Down with the man!

When we reduce the very name of God to a ritual, or magic word, then we have seriously missed our calling. We are commanded to make disciples, not people pleasers who have to say the right words to gain favor from the Church.

A Vow is a Vow is a Vow is a...

So there's a lot of hoopla about the remarks Pat Robertson made on his TV show regarding the man who wanted to divorce his wife because his wife had Alzheimers. If you've not heard of this, you can watch the clip here:

http://youtu.be/_qt_JCnRdCQ

I have to say that I think my jaw hit the floor when I watched this. Not because Pat Robertson was saying something outrageous (that, unfortunately, seems to be common for him), but because he is generally on the outer fringes of conservative. This seemed to be a reach, even for him.

But as I've seen all the outrage over his comments, something occurred to me. What makes this any different from the Church's reaction, as a whole, to divorce in general? I know that there are biblically justified reasons for divorce in some situations, but I'm not talking about those. Most people that I know or know of who have gotten divorced have done so under the umbrella of "irreconcilable differences." Don't we, in effect, say with our attitudes the same thing that Pat said to this frustrated man?

Don't we look the other way when our fellow believers get divorced? I think the reason Pat's comments sparked such heat (other than the fact that he is Pat Robertson) is because he voiced things that the Church is afraid to own up to. We harp on homosexual marriage, while turning a convenient blind eye to divorce within heterosexual marriage.

While ole' Pat may make a nice target for our moral outrage and sarcasm- including mine - I hope that his comment will spark a thoughtful review of how we treat divorce in general.

Morning Has Broken

Normally, I am a morning person. This morning, not so much. So of course when things are not as they should be, a person should blog about it while drinking coffee. Never mind all that productive stuff like getting dressed, brushing teeth, and doing school.

I had big plans to get up earlier so that I would have time to read before the 3 circus performers were awake. Fail. It was so much easier to turn off the alarm and fall asleep to the sound of the rain. So instead I woke up to the sound of crying. Mmmm, much better than the Surfer's Groove alarm on my phone.

I had big plans to make pumpkin pancakes this morning. Circus Performer #1 wanted to help. Normally I am terrible about letting them "help" me because I am entirely too anal about such things, but I am making an effort to relax about that. After all, I don't want them to be 18 and not know how to cook. Halfway into the recipe, I realized I was following the WRONG RECIPE. So instead of pumpkin tasting pancakes, we had flour tasting pancakes. Yummy.

On to the workout. I think I might hate the peppy little blond leading me through the routine. NO ONE should be that excited about exercising, and what's the deal with her? Does she not need to breathe? I could seriously make it without her running commentary on the importance of Powerade. Breathe, woman, breathe. I also have Circus Performer #3 trying to sit on me when I do the ab exercises. I make it 18 out of the 30 minutes, put Circus Performer #3 down for a nap, and then feel the need to tell my blog all about it.

It just might turn out to be a wonderful day.

Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say

So last night Caison was watching an interview with some guy who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He is Republican, and therefore, "pro-life." It's like a Girl Scout badge.

The interviewer questioned him on this stance, to which he gave all the prim and proper answers that give us good conservatives the warm fuzzies: "Life is sacred, I look at my own children, they're beautiful, everyone contributes to society, etc., etc."

The follow up question was "Are there ANY circumstances where you would allow for an abortion?" Conservative Poster Boy's answer?

"Rape, incest, and the mother's health are the situations that I could live with."

Or, in other words, "I believe that if the circumstances are ideal, then the life you are carrying is worth saving. Otherwise, go ahead and get rid of it. I can live with that."

Not that this is suprising. Most "pro-life" politicians are really "pro-some-lives." The term itself has become a flag that politicians who wish they could be conservative wave in the face of evangelicals to gain support.

I think I might rather vote for someone who was honest about his/her positions and skipped all the emotional verbiage they use when they describe themselves as "pro-life." I could live without seeing pictures of "pro-life" politicians' families, followed immediately by one or more situations where they believe it's acceptable for a woman to take the life of her child.

And no, I've never been a victim of rape, incest, and so far my life has not been endangered while pregnant. Suppose in the future I am - does that make the life of the baby less worthy? Does the fact that a woman endures hardship (and I am NOT demeaning that hardship at all) give her the "right" to take life? What kind of a society are we when we can say, without shame, "these are the circumstances that make life less worthy?"

We Need Mr. Sandman

It's a good thing she's so cute....otherwise, we might have to trade her in for a better sleeping model.

Partly due to personality, partly due to the fact that I nursed Charlotte and not the other two, and partly due to my indulgence and just not being as uptight about that whole "sleeping through the night" thing, we now have a 15 month old who doesn't sleep nearly as well as Thomas and Olivia did.

Especially when we're down here at my parents'. She goes to bed fine, but at some point after the witching hour (and sometimes before if she feels like getting started early) it begins. Last night she mercifully let me sleep till 4:52am.

4:52am people. I am generally a morning person, but that is not morning. That is night. Even in the summertime, it's still dark at that hour.

Like I said, it's a good thing she's so cute.

Things I Would Post on Facebook (if I wasn't a big fat chicken)

Poor lonely, forgotten little blog. I ignore you for well over a year, and then thrust you out into the spotlight again with my ranting and raving. Sigh. But that is your purpose, dear little blog. A place for me to put things that I'm too chicken to put anywhere else. Especially on Facebook. That, and I also tend to think that Facebook is a terrible place to put political opinions and engage in personal debates. However, every now and then I see a person's status, and my fingers twitch with the temptation to type my (usually sarcastic) replies. And then I remember that I'm a big chicken and don't believe in that type of thing anyway.

But it must come out somewhere. So here's a random compilation of things that I would put on Facebook if I wasn't too skeered.

RE: Christian Persecution - The fact that President Obama has not held his own personal national day of prayer ceremony for all the world to see does not constitue persecution. Really! It caused you no personal harm, loss of property, or loss of reputation. You did not have to make a stand of any kind on your faith. If you ever experience actual persecution, you would never post about it on FB anyway.

RE: Prayer in Schools - Sorry, but the last place I want government is in the place of leading people in prayer. I get chills just thinking about that one.

RE: Homosexual Marriage - "Marriage is sacred!!!" Yes, yes it is random people I went to high school with....but, wait a minute, aren't you divorced? Because you weren't "in love" anymore?

RE: "I Know Who Will Re-post this" - If your post has this anywhere in it, I will hide it immediately. For real.

RE: Bra Color - I failed to see how this had any impact on finding a cure for breast cancer.

Oh, there are more. But that's probably enough for my jump back into blog world.