the susie solution

Ever read Fox’s Book of Martyrs?  I confess I haven’t.  Not the whole thing, anyway – just enough excerpts to curdle my blood.  I’ve also read a number of accounts of modern martyrs of the faith.  There are more who have died for Christ’s sake in the last century than in all the time since Christ’s own death.  With that in mind, I now turn to the plight of the poor American Christian who must endure the persecution of …..  The Annual Christmas War.

I expect to hear the first salvo any minute now:  some Christian complaining because the world is disrespecting Christmas.  “Why can’t the clerks say ‘Merry CHRISTMAS’ instead of “Happy Holidays’?!!!” “Why won’t schools sing songs about JESUS?!!!!” “Put CHRIST back in CHRISTMAS!!!!”  “Why can’t we have a Nativity in the Capitol?!!!”  “Don’t they know how stupid it sounds to call a Christmas tree a ‘holiday tree’?”  It gets more strident with every December that passes.  It makes me shake my head, it really does.  It’s so senseless!

To complain about the world not keeping Christmas is to fault the world for not celebrating that which it has NO REASON to celebrate in the first place.   The Bible makes plain that the world loves darkness instead of light (John 3:19), suppresses the truth by its wickedness (Ro. 1:18), is futile in its thinking and its heart is darkened (Ro. 1:21), is filled with every kind of wickedness and is a God-hater (Ro. 1:29, 30), it has rejected the truth and followed evil (Ro. 2:8). Those in the world walk totally and completely in the flesh, which is hostile to God, and does not – and CANNOT – submit to God’s law. The world stands already damned. (John 3:18) It has every reason in this world to hate, loathe, and detest Christ Himself, let alone give a fig about some “holy” day His followers have chosen to declare.  The world can’t “put Christ back in Christmas”, because for them, He was never there.

Since the world can’t celebrate Christmas, those in the world who want to celebrate a form of Christmas substitute other versions created in man’s likeness.  Stuffmas is the celebration of gifts.  Since affluenza is the defining characteristic of American culture, it should be no surprise that this time of year is when it is seen in its most acute form.   There’s the celebration of Santa Day, usually accompanied by Rudoph, Frosty, and the rest of the gang.  The modern American Santa is the incarnation of works righteousness.  Santa is a God-figure, or at least, God as many wish He would be:  an all-seeing and all-knowing miracle worker, giving rewards to those who are “good” and punishment to those who are “bad” – but really, such a jovial and kindly old man that we know he couldn’t ever truly be angry, but will look on most offenses with a wink and a nod.  Many in the world don’t mind celebrating Sweet Baby Jesus Day; after all, who doesn’t love babies, all helpless and innocent and inoffensive?  For most who celebrate this day, the babe in the manger is eternally an infant, never growing up.  Even for those who think about the fact that the baby became a man, they will acknowledge Him only as a “good man” or “wise teacher”.   They cannot face the reality of Jesus as LORD.  The plethora of “feel good” movies celebrating the “”True Meaning of Christmas Day” are all about generosity, sharing, caring, and giving of oneself, often self-righteously repudiating Stuffmas while occasionally embracing Sweet Baby Jesus Day.  When stripped to their basic premise, however, all are making a statement about man’s essential goodness.  That is, deep down, we’re all really good people, and would be warm, kind, generous, and loving if we just opened ourselves up and let our inner goodness shine.  All four of these celebrations are pretty poor subsitutes for celebrating the birth of the Messiah; but they’re the best the world can do.

To complain about the world not keeping Christmas is to fault the world for not acting as if OUR holiday were the only one that mattered.   America has never been as homogeneous as some would like to believe, but certainly by now no one should carry any illusions as to our uniformity.   Christmas – even the world’s forms of it – is NOT the only holiday going on at this time of year, and especially for those in the marketplace, there is a vested interest in trying to appease all sides. Christmas-purists may be offended by a “Happy Holidays” greeting, but NON-celebrators feel no differently about “Merry Christmas!” – and if the former say, “Well, they shouldn’t be so sensitive; it doesn’t hurt them to hear ‘Merry Christmas'”, the reverse is just as true. Or maybe businesses should just rotate their greetings? “Merry Christmas!”, “Happy Hanukkah!”, “Happy Kwanzaa!”, “Happy Bodhi Day!”, “Happy Winter Solstice!”, “Happy Eid al-Adha!” and “Happy winter!” for the atheist. I really pity the poor clerks who are on the front lines, having to follow the manager’s directive because he is the one signing their paycheck, but getting huffed at by purists upset because they didn’t get the “Merry Christmas!” they wanted.

But even if those of general Christian tradition were the majority, would that make it right to insist that everyone do things ONLY our way? Having lived in an area of extreme religious influence, and myself being in the very definite minority, I can tell you that, sure, as the minority, you may choose not to make a fuss about it and just “live with it” if you see no way of changing things; it won’t kill you. But I can just as certainly tell you this: having their will imposed on you in that way will NEVER make you look favorably on them, will NEVER give you warm, fuzzy feelings about what they believe, and will NEVER make you want to be like them.   Having our way at the expense of others…. doesn’t sound very much like Jesus, does it?

To complain about the world not keeping Christmas is to fault the world for not doing that which we ourselves are not commanded to do. The celebration of Christ’s birth is not sacred. That is, such a celebration is nowhere commanded – nor even hinted at – in Scripture.  We therefore have the freedom in Christ to celebrate or not celebrate; celebrating doesn’t make us “holier” and not celebrating (and there are many Christians who do not!) does not make us “less spiritual”.  The celebration of Christmas is entirely a man-created thing. Yes, Christ was born, and yes, without Him having been born He could not have lived and died and risen, but there is nothing that says we have to have a celebration of that birth.  If there is nothing that says we have to celebrate the birth, there is most assuredly nothing that defines just what that celebration must look like!  Thus, every culture that has been touched by Christianity has developed its own cultural traditions, every denomination has its own traditions – there is no right or wrong.  We do not have any grounds on which to dictate to anyone else what they should or should not do to celebrate.  If we have not that right even within the Body, which is celebrating true Christmas, why on earth should we feel it incumbent on ourselves to correct the WORLD which is not even celebrating Christmas at all?

To complain about the world not keeping Christmas is to waste our time, our energy, and our witness!   The world can’t ruin our Christmas, but WE can; nothing the world does can stop us from celebrating Christmas, but every minute we spend huffing and grumbling about how someone else isn’t celebrating Christmas like we think they should is a minute we haven’t spent celebrating Christmas, either.  I don’t think it hurts Jesus’ feelings that the world doesn’t join in the birthday party we hold in His honor – but I can’t help wonder if it doesn’t grieve Him that so many Christians, by their militancy about the subject, give the world so little cause to want to see what it is we’re celebrating!   If we set ourselves to use every opportunity to speak to the reality of Christ and His power in our lives, His love for sinners, His forgiveness of sins, the cross as well as the crèche, keeping our cheer no matter what the perceived “offence”, having compassion for those who have so little to celebrate, I think our celebration of Christmas will present a winsome witness that will give real meaning to our “Merry Christmas!”

Let the world do what it will.  We have the Christ!

Years ago, about this time of year, driving by a street corner well-supplied with campaign signs, I pondered whether those proliferating signs grow from seeds or bulbs.  “Neither,” my mom dead-panned.  “They come from nuts.”

So, we’ve come through another Election Day.  I always have mixed reactions.  On the one hand, I am deeply thankful for the privilege we have in this country of voting.  There are millions of people the world over who would give anything to be able to do so.  It is a responsibility that should be taken seriously.  On the other hand… most of the time, I hold my nose while I cast my ballot!

Doing my chronological Bible-through-the-year reading, I spent until nearly October reading the Old Testament.  Reading the Samuels, Chronicles, Kings and then the prophets, one thing stood out:  kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall.  Amazing insight there, I know.  But really, when you  stop to think about it, and consider all of history, that pretty much sums it up.  Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall.  Within their very rising lie the seeds of their own destruction.  No matter how strong or advanced.  No matter how good or evil.  Sooner or later, ashes, ashes, they all fall down.  It doesn’t take particular punitive action by God, though there are times He has taken such.  Just as consumption of the wrong foods will lead to ill-health, not as punitive action by God, but as the natural consequences to the laws of nature that were set in motion when sin entered the world, the natural consequences of the sin that lies in the nature of man are enough to guarantee the crumbling of any earthly kingdom.  God uses the kingdoms of the earth to serve His purposes for their season, and then they fade into the mists of time.

There is no reason not to expect the same thing for America.  America has many virtues, beyond question, but no matter how sound the theory behind America’s government and economic systems or how high the principles on which they were founded, no matter what veneer of Judeo-Christian morality American has worn, no matter what “Christian nation” label she has claimed for herself, from the very start we have been a country as full of sin as any other.  We’ve always had our full complement of greed, pride, deceit, immorality, all the usual culprits.  Our story is shot through with slavery, indentured servitude, poor treatment of women and children, the oppression and even genocide of native peoples, discrimination against immigrants, sweatshop and child labor, political fraud.  Even once legal slavery was abolished, the de facto enslavement and oppression of blacks continued – and if you think it’s gone today, try reading up on our “justice” system as it relates to blacks.   We’ve traded in some of those older evils for new ones, many of which shock us with their blatantcy.  Truly, what is evil is called good, and good, evil,  reminiscent of Rome at her height.  (Or her depth, depending on how you want to put it!)  But although they are different lyrics, it’s the same melody.  It may sound louder, but it’s the same sin song as ever – and Christians are not immune to humming along.

My point isn’t that America is going to fall so we may as well give up.  Not at all.  Knowing that it will NOT last forever should put all the more urgency to our making full use of our freedom while we still have it.  As long as we have the freedom to influence our government for good, we have every responsibility to do so.  While there is still good for this country to be doing in the world, there is every reason to fight for her.  The point is that no matter how many ways God has used this country to forward His kingdom, we must not confuse the two and try to cling to the one as if it were the other.  Like Abraham, we should be making our home here “like a stranger in a foreign country … looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.”  (Heb. 11:10)  We should make use of political means as we may, but we must always keep proper perspective about it and not let ourselves get so tangled up in patriotism and politics that we forget that these things are simply temporary.  We need to be faithfully living out our calling to “live in a manner worthy of the gospel”, living as a people of Hope – a Hope that lies not in what happens in American politics, nor in leaders who are mere men, but is centered in the God Who has been working all of history toward one end, and one end only:  to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.  (Eph. 1:10)

Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall – blessed be the Name of the Lord!

One of the things that I get the most pleasure from is reading and studying and delving into corners of trivia and searching out knowledge, on all kinds of subjects.  There are lots of explanations why I find it so enticing, I suppose.  I’m wired that way, certainly.  Like the elephant’s child, I’m full of “‘satiable curtiosity.”  More than that, though, I like certainty. I find great satisfaction in feeling that I’ve got a firm handle on a subject.  There is great security in having things all figured out.

The older I’m getting, though, the more God’s been turning a lot of what I thought I knew on its head, and showing me that things I’ve been told are so, and things I may have even taught others are so…..  well, aren’t.  Trying to look at Scripture through new eyes, rather than looking through the glasses of the traditions in which I was raised and have spent my adult life, I am coming to a point of seeing both greater simplicity and greater complexity than I saw before.

There are certain basics of salvation that are clear and absolute.  No question there.  However, I am finding in many other areas of doctrine that I am now perfectly content to let Scripture simply stand just as it’s written, accepting the Mystery rather than trying to explain the inexplicable.  The more I study Scripture, especially looking into the original language used and reading various commentaries, often each with a different take on what the passage “means”, the more I realize that much of what is taught as “truth” is, in fact, putting words into God’s mouth that simply aren’t there.

Why do we do that?  Because it’s easier to force precision onto what is actually obscure than it is to grapple with the frightening freedom of the undefined.  Like the Pharisees, we figure we’ll help God along by explaining the things He forgot to be explicit enough about.  We do it on a church level, defining our ‘ologies and ‘isms to the nth degree so we can be sure to distinguish among the Sneeches on the church beaches.  We do it to ourselves, reading into the sacred text all kinds of new Laws for Christian Living.  We don’t call them that, of course; we call them “Biblical principles” or something else.  No matter what we call them, though, the fact is that all too often we are taking a few verses on a subject and extrapolating and expanding them and elevating them to a new absolute by which we can either assure ourselves that we are doing “right”, or criticize others for being “wrong.”  We like that feeling of certainty!

For example, take the subject of modesty, as defined by the specific style of clothes one wears.  By how much emphasis the subject gets in some Christian circles, you’d think there must be very clear definitions in the Bible of just what constitutes “modest dress”.  There are, in fact, exceedingly few verses relating to the subject of modesty at all, and one of them give particular definition to the term.  That sure hasn’t stopped many and many a preacher or church from “filling in the blanks”, though!  I’ve heard sermons preached even today that claim Scriptural authority for defining modest clothing for women as dresses only, below the knee, round necked, no sleeveless, plain cut, and plain colored.  That’s extrapolating in major fashion.

I’ve never accepted those definitions of modest dress, feeling they went too far and didn’t have enough Scriptural basis.  But that’s not to say I didn’t have my own set of rules about the subject!  Oh, my, no.  Now, understand, my intention (and that of those claiming specific Scriptural source) was good, and perfectly Scriptural:  I didn’t want to cause my brother to stumble.  The first problem comes in that, no matter how good my intent, like others, I elevated my definition to the level of a moral issue.  Wearing the Proper Clothes became an expression of Christian character – one more thing to check off on my list of Good Girl Things I Did Today.  The second problem follows quite naturally on the heels of the first.  Having elevated the definition to an absolute Right and Wrong, it became a Pharisaical law by which I not only ruled myself, but by which I  judged other women’s “modesty” on whether or not they dressed to MY standards of what a “decent Christian woman/girl” should be wearing.  God, being the gracious God that He is, finally called me on it one it one day.  “Really, kiddo, which is worse:  HER offending your personal definition of “modest” by wearing a ———–  or YOUR condemnation of her which breaks MY specific Scriptural injunction against judging your brother?  Hmm?”   ouch.

It’s one of the Enemy’s favorite traps: get us to define what God does not, puff ourselves up with self-righteousness over it, then bash others over the head with it.  Paul reminded the Galatians, who were falling for that trap again, that “it is for freedom you have been set free.”  We are not to put ourselves under a yoke of slavery to manmade rules again, no matter how virtuous and righteous they might sound, because law will never get us where we need to go.  We have been saved by Grace; we need to walk in Grace.  We give up rigid regulations for Grace-guided governance.  We accept His offer of freedom, learning what it is to walk in Love, with all its unknowns and individualities, even though it may not be as “comfortable” at first as having all those jots and tittles to go by.

I’m still learning just what that freedom means in this area.  I haven’t changed much of my wardrobe; I’m still comfortable with my own standards for myself.  I haven’t changed many of my opinions, either, insofar as there are still fashions I’d prefer others not wear.   What HAS changed is that now I can let that difference in taste be just that: a difference in taste, not a character value.  I’ve been able to start letting go of the burden of feeling the need to play Fashion Judge for the world, extending the freedom He’s given me to others.  He’s turning my focus from those externals of “What Not to Wear”, to how loving God and experiencing His love can engender true modesty in me.

In all modesty, I think a right heart will suit me better than the right clothes!