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TygrBright sez: I will not let them win the War on Christmas
This War on Christmas, that is.John Pavlovitz gets it right:
Christmas, is a child of Palestinian parents desperately fleeing politically ordered genocide. Christmas is a dark-skinned refugee, born amid the smell of damp straw and animal dung, because no human-worthy welcome could be found. Christmas is a poor, itinerant, street preaching Jewish rabbi, living off the generosity of those around him. Christmas is a compassionate caregiver, feeding and clothing and healing whoever crossed his path. Christmas is a liberal activist fighting for the poor, condemning violence, shunning material wealth, and calling the world to live sacrificially for the common good.
...
The white Evangelical Church in America in 2018 has no use for this Christmas. In fact, worse than that—it has open contempt for it.
...
And this Christmas, is now hiding here in plain sight among the “least of these:”
It is the weary father of four taking refuge from ICE in a suburban church building.
It is the exhausted family sprinting through barren borderlands under the cover of darkness.
It is the transgender teenager trying to feel at home within their own body, while being terrorized by lawmakers and preachers from without.
It is the homeless veteran starving to death on the corners of its opulent megachurches.
It is the grievously ill toddler whose parents have exhausted their resources trying to keep him breathing.
It is the young black man terrified during a traffic stop, because he has seen this viral body cam video a hundred times before.
...
And so this season, while they hide behind ceremonial religion, armed with recklessly wielded Bible verses, dressed in ornamental piety, and drenched in flowery prayers and sweet songs—these religious people wage their war on Christmas; with every social media diatribe, with every piece of legislation, with every cell phone complaint to police, with every ICE raid, with every homophobic rant, with every manufactured crisis, with every incendiary Sunday sermon.
...
The white Evangelical Church in America in 2018 has no use for this Christmas. In fact, worse than that—it has open contempt for it.
...
And this Christmas, is now hiding here in plain sight among the “least of these:”
It is the weary father of four taking refuge from ICE in a suburban church building.
It is the exhausted family sprinting through barren borderlands under the cover of darkness.
It is the transgender teenager trying to feel at home within their own body, while being terrorized by lawmakers and preachers from without.
It is the homeless veteran starving to death on the corners of its opulent megachurches.
It is the grievously ill toddler whose parents have exhausted their resources trying to keep him breathing.
It is the young black man terrified during a traffic stop, because he has seen this viral body cam video a hundred times before.
...
And so this season, while they hide behind ceremonial religion, armed with recklessly wielded Bible verses, dressed in ornamental piety, and drenched in flowery prayers and sweet songs—these religious people wage their war on Christmas; with every social media diatribe, with every piece of legislation, with every cell phone complaint to police, with every ICE raid, with every homophobic rant, with every manufactured crisis, with every incendiary Sunday sermon.
Once upon a time, Christmas was not about shopping. It wasn't about partying. It wasn't even about donating to a good cause. It wasn't about taking time from a hectic schedule of scrabbling for economic, social or political advancement to spend a few days being kinder to one another.
Once upon a time, Christmas was a call to action. It was a reminder that one birth could change everything. It was a reminder that love can take human shape, and make an immense difference that resounds through eternity.
In the darkest and most difficult times, Christmas is about the Light which overcomes the darkness, and the darkness' inability to comprehend the Light.
However you wish to define "Christ" - as Divine Source manifesting within a human form, as a Divinely-inspired preacher/prophet/practitioner of love, as a mythological figure created to inspire the practice of the Golden Rule, a culture-wide focus on the presence and meaning of Christ provides an opportunity to shine that Light on the power of every human being to live with love.
May Christmas bring you inspiration, joy, and the transcendent flow of love in all you connect to, whether you are "Christian" in any form, any kind of believer at all, or a proud atheist invested in the ethical and humanitarian potential of our species.
It's a door. I will embrace the Christmas call to action, and bust that door wide open.
hopefully,
Bright
12 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
It captures perfectly what the season of hope and love should be all about. 
They've been fighting this non existent fight for 15 years, it's time to give it a rest. 
