{"id":4089,"date":"2013-11-27T01:58:27","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T07:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:04:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:04:06","slug":"craving-a-countercultural-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2013\/11\/27\/craving-a-countercultural-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Craving a countercultural Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Christmas Every Day experiment<\/a>\u00a0is starting to get awkward.<\/p>\n

Advent<\/a> hasn’t even started yet, but Christmas’ crazed and over-weight relative Consumerism\u00a0<\/em>is already in town, on the news, and wasting your gasoline and money as he drives\u00a0all around town shopping.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I’m crowding with others in the cozy chapel, savoring peace and quiet and adoring God’s goodness while we pray for wisdom about how to revive radical Gospel living.<\/p>\n

My Christmas ever day experiment is not about Santas, shopping, or catchy commercials. Yet, while these things become more prevalent, I am becoming afraid that any uttering of “Merry Christmas” that I make might be mistaken for an approval of the petty parts of the holiday happening prematurely. The truth is that I really do not approve of any Christmas consumerism or other commotion that distracts from Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Last week one one of my students innocently asked me a very normal question. \u00a0He poked his head through my classroom door while he waited for his bus after school. \u00a0“Sister,”\u00a0<\/em>he said\u00a0“are you going shopping on Black Friday?” \u00a0<\/em>He was probably trying to spark a conversation.<\/p>\n

I was impolite. “Ha, that might be one of the funniest questions I have been asked all year! Why would you ever think I would do that!?” \u00a0<\/em>I honestly thought he was joking.<\/p>\n

Of course, it only occurred to me much later that the student was asking a very ordinary, culturally appropriate question. \u00a0And, I realized, my response may have seemed a bit uncultured, bizarre or down-right rude. (God have mercy!)<\/p>\n

I shuddered with shame as I realized my insensitivity. \u00a0The thing is, the kid pushed my button.\u00a0I assumed the student knew me and that I am trying to live a counter-cultural life, understood all my values, and in spite of his youth, he was already dissecting the cultural norms that conflict with Christianity. \u00a0He’s a smart kid— so, fair mistake, right?!<\/p>\n

All of the emphasis on materialism this time of year really does make me squirm. \u00a0I am pretty sure I saw my first Christmas commercial that reminded people about layaway back in September. \u00a0I probably could have given out Christmas candy for Halloween, if only I had I asked a shopkeeper for some, since candy canes appeared on the shelves right on November 1st. \u00a0And now, even though we’re still in November, jolly Christmas carols seem to be chiming through speakers all around town trying to get us in the mood to shop, shop, shop. \u00a0I even heard\u00a0a radio show host<\/a>\u00a0joking about how Christmas already came and went, since it happens around Veteran’s Day now.<\/p>\n

If holiday seasons are supposed to stick to a schedule, we have reasons to be disturbed.<\/p>\n

Or, more importantly, when we remember what Christmas is really all about, we have reasons to resist.<\/p>\n

Christmas everyday, and Christmas in general, is all about celebrating the Incarnation. \u00a0Love was made manifest in human flesh. Jesus Christ is God and God came to earth in the most humble and simple of ways. There’s generosity, joy, community, peace, trust, lots of love and pure, human fun wrapped up in the real meaning of \u00a0the ancient story of Christ’s coming<\/a>:<\/p>\n