Christianity 2017
The Christmas season is in full swing! The child has been born, and we are gearing up for Epiphany. But before we get there, I want to share at least one reflection of the Advent/Christmas Season. This reflection begins in about 1989. Christmas was on Monday, and it was the first Christmas after my mother had moved from the farm where we had lived since 1964. As Christmas was on Monday, and John and I had only one child (#2 was due in March), we went to my mother's for Christmas Day with the majority of my family. Both boys were not home yet, but all 3 of us girls, with husbands and children, along with Aunt Nancy and Mother were in her front room, rather crowded but noisily opening presents, with the 3 fathers armed with video cameras. I remember a conversation in the middle of the chaos, which has been recorded for perpetuity, about how 7-11 was open on Christmas, and that was so shocking! Nothing should be open on Christmas, not even 7-11!
Fast forward to Christmas 2016, which was on a Sunday. Interestingly enough, during Advent, I kept hearing conversations about having church on Christmas, and how that was just messing up all the plans; Christmas Eve should be enough. I found it surprising to hear people, church going people, question why church services would be held on Christmas Day, and was equally stunned to hear how many churches didn't have Christmas Day/Sunday services. We don't question that Easter is on Sunday, so why, when Christmas lands on Sunday about every 5 years, we question if we are going to church on Christmas or even if we should have church on that Sunday?
I am not going for a guilt trip over Christmas, a guilt trip over family vs. church, or a guilt trip about church attendance. I am looking at the bigger picture. Where is our Christianity in what is now 2017? What does it say about us when we actually consider not having church on the Lord's Day which is also December 25? Has the consumer world overtaken the religious world when it comes to Christmas?
And I think is was this question about Christmas and church which got me really thinking about Christianity in the 21st Century. We just came through an election cycle where religion was never mentioned; voters didn't know that Hillary was a Methodist or that Donald was a Presbyterian, or that Bernie was Jewish, and if they did know, it was as if they didn't care. Faith and beliefs were not topics in debates or town halls or even in tweets. Historically, John Kennedy, as a Catholic was a major point in the 1960 elections, but now religion isn't mentioned. Have we as citizens, become complacent, when it comes to faith and organized religion? Were we so caught up in the reality TV aspect of our last election that we were so blinded by the shining objects of tweets and negative campaigning that we forgot to look at the real issues of what our candidates believed, and how those beliefs would help them run our country?
Yes, we have become complacent in many areas of our lives. We have definitely become complacent when it comes to our faith and our church life. Maybe complacent is too strong. We are more conscious of not wanting to offend people, so we find it is easier to just avoid talking about faith so we don't hurt feelings or come off sounding like an evangelist. What is interesting is that the times have changed, our lives, and the world has changed, but Christianity hasn't changed, the message is still the same as it was in the First Century. And just like those of the First Century, we need to talk about it. We need to share what we believe in for one reason:
1: So others will hear of the saving grace of Jesus Christ
Christianity in 2017 is the same as it was last century, but how we talk about and live our Christianity is different. We can no longer assume that everyone knows the "old, old story of Jesus and his love", we need to tell it; tell it with words, tell it with actions, tell it in our reactions. We still have a story to share, a story of goodness, of healing, of grace. My hope is that everyone who reads this will think about how, even as the world has changed, and as 2017 will probably usher in more changes, that story can be shared.
Blessings,
Olivia
