Bah, Humbug! A guest post from Jerry Johnson

Note: what follows is a guest post from CtK member, Jerry Johnson. Jerry's opinions are his own, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of CtK or the ELCA.

Bah, Humbug!

     As I grow longer in the tooth, my attitude about holidays has changed--Margaret would say for the worse.  Some of it is definitely age related.  Huge holiday meals are overwhelming and leave me miserable.  Drinking has its own problems.  Staying late at functions has lost its charm and gifting in a materialistic society is crass at best.  January should give us a new start, but it’s frequently with unneeded pounds and a feeling of exhaustion. 

      In our current atmosphere of fear “Christians” forget their role and want to isolate Muslims as we did to the Japanese in WWII.  They complain about Starbuck’s holiday cups, saying they either promote Jesus or dis him, when the intent was neither.  Earlier cups had snowmen, candy canes, etc. which are not Christian symbols.  My understanding is the plain red and green cups are so you can decorate them any way you want, or not.

     Christians whine about the “War on Christmas” not fully knowing the history or seeing the melding of the spiritual and the commercial and of course we’ve carried political correctness from reasonable to ridiculous.  The origins probably began with celebrating the lengthening of the day after the winter solstice, and Romans celebrated December 25 as the birthday of the sun god Mithra.  It wasn’t until the 4^th century A. D. it was associated with Jesus’ birth and didn’t become significant until the time of Charlemagne around 800 A. D.  Catholics made it a tradition and Protestants banned it (Puritans thought Jesus was born in September and they hated the associated holiday debauchery in late medieval England).  The Christmas tree came from Germany and was considered to be a symbol of pagan idolatry.  The Lutherans were castigated for “groveling before a shrub.”  Jeremiah 101-4 condemns cutting down a tree from the forest and decorating it with silver and gold.  George Washington even attacked the Hessians during the Battle of Trenton in 1777 on Christmas because it was a popular German holiday.  Clement Moore’s poem “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in 1823 was an enormous success.  In 1836 Alabama declared Christmas a public holiday, but it wasn’t until 1870 that President Ulysses S. Grant declared it a federal holiday.

     Of course, the media likes turmoil, so they seize on anything to stir up the pot.  I find Advent a time to reflect.  I like our “Soup and Service” suppers and the fellowship.  In our Tuesday men’s Bible study we studied Stephen Patterson’s book, Beyond the Passion: Rethinking the Death and Life of Jesus.  Patterson says that without Jesus’ life, his death and resurrection are meaningless.  Ernest Campbell said the Gospel receives its force in the world from the fact that it was lived.  People confuse expressing religious values with living them.  The most recent example of this is Martin Luther King, Jr. who preached passive resistance as did Ghandi.  We put King on a pedestal and violence is still the way.  The same could be said for Jesus, revere him, but don’t follow him--that could be dangerous to our health (mortal, not immortal).

     As Advent draws to a close and Jesus’ birthday is upon us we need to think on what it’s all about.  We should recognize that all things change, even what we know about Christmas.  We should remember in Jesus’ life and love he reached out and asked us to follow him--feeding and clothing the poor, visiting the sick,  taking in the stranger and visiting prisoners.  For each other it will be plenty sufficient to share our love.

                                                          Jerrold E. Johnson, 12-21-15

This is a re-post of a previous blog entry. But it fits! Just change the "12" to a "15." And, if you've signed up for the youth group to do the blessing with you on Wednesday, we'll see you then!

Merry Christmas!
I hope the season has been filled with joy, love and wonder at the Incarnation for you and your family!

Tomorrow is Epiphany, and it's customary in many homes (especially in Western Europe) to mark the lintel above the front door with symbols of blessing. You can do it, too!

Mark the front door (or somewhere on the door frame) with these symbols: the date, abbreviation of the phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat ("Christ bless this home" - which are also the initials of traditional names for the Magi - Casper, Melchior and Balthasar), and four crosses (representing the four seasons).

Order the symbols in the following way: 20 + C + M + B + 12

In the new year, this marking serves as a blessing over the entire household. Be as artistic and creative as you want! Get a jump start on an art project tonight and post it tomorrow night - use markers or do a collage on a piece of cardboard! Alternatively, the marking may be made with chalk, for those who like to keep things simple.

And don't forget the prayer of blessing!
One person, or the whole household together, prays:

Be our shelter, Lord, when we are at home, our companion when we are away, and our welcome guest when we return. And at last receive us into the dwelling place you have prepared for us in your father's house, where you live forever and ever. Amen

All Saints' Sunday

Blessed All Saints' Day!
All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year, but since the first doesn't always land on a Sunday, many churches celebrate All Saints' Sunday on the first Sunday of November. This year, we celebrate All Saints on November 3rd.
The word saint comes from the Latin word sanctus and refers to the holy — that is, “set apart for the service of God.” In some of St. Paul’s letters to the churches he founded, he called all the members “saints.” Later, Christians who distinguished themselves by their zeal for Christ, especially the martyrs, were honored after their death by being canonized as saints.

The word “saint” was placed before their Christian name. The pages of Christian history books are filled with the stories of these very special servants of God.

Several became the patron saints of countries. Ireland’s saint is St. Patrick, England’s is St. George and Scotland’s is St. Andrew.

While the United States has no particular saint, Christians here should appreciate all the faithful people who served Christ courageously and delivered the faith to us to follow. We should also remember that in baptism, God names us "set apart for the service of God" - we, too, are saints.

This Sunday, those present in worship will have the opportunity to light a candle in honor or remembrance of saints in their lives. There's something about the concrete action of lighting a candle and letting the light of its flame shine that touches people deep in their souls. Candle lighting is a wonderful ritual action for families to do together, especially in concert with conversation about those who have gone before us, and those who strengthen our faith now.

Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Nadia Bolz-Weber with Krista Tippett at the Wild Goose Festival

Several CtK members have let me know they enjoyed hearing NPR's "On Being" this past week. The radio interview featured an ELCA pastor, the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, who is the founding pastor of a quirky congregation in Denver, House for All Sinners and Saints. Here's the whole, unedited interview, on video, from the Wild Goose Festival this past summer. Enjoy!
Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Nadia Bolz-Weber with Krista Tippett at the Wild Goose Festival from On Being on Vimeo.

The day between

Holy Saturday is a strange day. Not much happens in many congregations today (though if a congregation has an Easter vigil, there's A LOT happening). At this point we do not have a tradition of the Easter vigil, so apart from a dedicated crew setting up the worship space for tomorrow morning, and a couple of folks reading for Cover-to-Cover (our congregation's attempt to read the whole Bible during Lent - we didn't quite finish - good thing Easter lasts for 50 days!) there hasn't really been a lot of activity here.

Grant and I ran by Costco to get bagels (our donation for tomorrow morning's brunch) and there was TONS of activity there.

Consider this latest edition of Cafe - the zine for the younger Women of the ELCA crowd. (Yes, you can still read it, even if you don't fit into that "younger woman" demographic.) It begins with some wondering together about Holy Saturday, and continues with how art can be a sign of rebirth to new life. Let me know what you think.

And Sour

Besides worship (and enduring Dad's endless whistling of the sending hymn) my family has few Easter traditions - and even fewer Holy Week traditions. That's one of the reasons why I so enjoy the series of Triduum books that Liturgy Training Publiciation published (they've got a series for Lent, a book on Easter, Advent, marriage, the list goes on...)
Anyway - this is a new tradition for me, and while we won't be making the soup for supper tonight, there will be consumption of vinegar.

This entry is found on page 57 of Triduum I, and was written by Evelyn Birge Vitz.

In Greece and a number of other countries it is customary to eat something on Good Friday to which vinegar is added, in memory of the vinegary that Christ was offered on the cross. To this good soup the vinegar adds a symbolic touch.

GREEK LENTIL SOUP

1 pound lentils

10 cups water

4 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1/2 cup vegetable oil

6 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons wine vinegar or cider vinegar

Rinse and pick over lentils, removing any pebbles. Bring the water to a boil in a large pan. Add the lentils, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the lentils stand for 1 hour.

In the meantime, saute the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in the oil.

When the lentils have sat for an hour, add to them the vegetables, along with the parsley, bay leaf, and tomato paste. Simmer, partly covered, until the lentils are tender. In the last few minutes of cooking, add the salt and pepper.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Just before serving, add the vinegar. You might wish to do this at the table - and to explain why you are adding it.