An Exercise In Reality
I've given my Sunday morning class an assignment in two parts.Part 1: Bring in Christmas cards so that the class can compare the pictures on them to the reality of the event.
This serves two purposes. For one thing, it gives us a look at the white, All-American Jesus we see in most art. For another, it shows us the re-imagining of his birth that has taken place over the last 2000 years. One picture of Jesus that was brought in this past Sunday shows him looking over his shoulder at a flock of sheep, looking for all the world like a movie star/linebacker. Somebody else brought a card depicting the nativity scene. On it, the Christ child is surrounded by what can only be described as a group of Disney animals. I, for one, never knew that there were so many bunnies in Bethlehem.
Part 2: Listen to the lyrics of the Christmas carols you are inundated with.
Here's an example from "Away In A Manger": "The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." No crying? Where does it say that Jesus didn't cry? I have serious doubts about the magical storybook birth and childhood we've created in our heads for Jesus. I don't believe that he made play-dough birds and then caused them to fly away. I DO believe that he bawled like a, well, a baby when he was born. There's nothing peaceful about giving birth in a stable.
Lisa claims that Part 2 of this assignment is ruining her enjoyment of the songs. Sorry, honey.
I'm looking forward to other examples the class will bring in. My hope is that we learn to think about the life of Jesus on earth in a real way, rather than the flannel-board, fairy tale way we've gotten used to. He was a real man who lived a real life. When we forget that, we lose sight of the whole reason for the incarnation.
Any other examples?
posted by Thurman8er @ 8:54 AM
3 Comments:
The confusion between celebrating the birth of Christ and going further into debt (against the desire of Christ) to buy things we cannot afford for people who already have enough.
We just closed our Christmas play here at the Cordova COC, and I've had Christmas music on the brain for months now. I tend to listen to lesser-known carols with thoughtful lyrics, like these in the Christ Child Lullabye - "You are my God and helpless son, high ruler of mankind."
I caught myself humming along with Frosty the Snowman in the supermarket last week, however.
I know this isn’t original and in fact, I’ll give “props” to Greg, Randy, John Ortberg, Rubel Shelly, and any other preacher that has said this already. The fact that we have this “angelic / all is well view” of Joseph and Mary at the time of Jesus’ birth is certainly something that is far from reality. Joseph marrying a pregnant Mary and the brutal death that awaited Jesus would have been two of many factors that would have made Joseph and Mary’s life difficult.
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