Mom called the other day, asking that question she's been asking me and my sister for decades: what do you want for Christmas? As I thought about an answer, I realized, again, the answer is nothing. I couldn’t think of a thing I need, and not much that I want.
Sure there are things I’d love to have (a million dollars, a two car garage – the latter so I can fill it with the stuff I got in Christmases past), but I don’t NEED anything. And the stuff I want, most people who aren’t Donald Trump, aren’t in a position to give.
Sermons or sermonettes on the commercialization of Christmas are almost as common as Macy’s daily “one time event” catalogues. I remember hearing these sermons growing up, and I recently watched the very old “Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street” which is also a sermon against crass commercialism. It’s easy to rail against our capitalistic commercialism. But who doesn’t go to the mall and enjoy looking at those shiny and soft things?
When I heard these sermons, I used to think the problem was out there – at the Mall, in the shopping center, or in our system that encourages material acquisition. But at best, that is only a fraction of the picture. Sure there are crass business people, Enron types, who ought to be fired, or in some cases put in jail. But most corporations are just doing business. How Macy’s makes any money after they pay their printing bill, I don’t understand, but I’m sure they’ve got that figured out. I agree with Ben Franklin who wrote that a rightly balanced desire for things helps build a strong economy – and you aid your neighbor when you rightly want right things. Desiring to live in a hovel helps no one. Including you.
I don’t think the problem is at the mall. I think the problem is in our heart. The problem is disordered love. When we love a flat screen television more than a person, there is a problem. When we focus solely on toys and tools and not baby Jesus and ultimate love, there is a problem.
How do we know if you heart is well ordered? God has given us giving. That is the true test. Are we willing to give, to convey our love by generous sacrificial gifts? This is where the sleigh sleds hit the snow. Dickens’ Scrooge figured it out, but it took three ghosts for him to see that it is only what we give that we keep.
For me, the reminder came in the faces and laughter of the African children we kept on Sunday night. 10 years old, orphaned, with a questionable future and no physical assets, they were amazingly happy. What they really missed was no “thing.” The question came during the evening: “are your parents still living?” Cecelia and I both, with a twinge of survivors guilt, were able to answer yes.
What do I want for Christmas? A whole lot more than a million dollars. I want a grateful and giving heart.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Op Ed Sunday November 5, 06 STL Post Dispatch
Moderates should conspire to take over America
By Scott Stearman
11/05/2006
I'd like to direct this to American Muslims: Dear Friends of Faith,
One of my Baptist brethren says you are busy plotting the takeover of America, but I hope you'll pause in your preparations for a moment to read these words from a fellow faith child of Abraham. There are vast and significant differences between our faith traditions. But let me point to one area where we should get together and commiserate: Both of our traditions have been hijacked by extreme fundamentalism.
David Clippard is the current executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. In a public sermon on Monday, he declared that Islam has a strategy to conquer America, that Muslim student groups get support for this cause and that, eventually, anyone who does not convert of their own accord will be forced to adopt Islamic law. His words are ridiculous, but painful. Obviously, they are painful to you, but it is important for you to know that they also are painful to Baptists around the world. We hate this sort of hate speech. I shared Clippard's words with my congregation on Wednesday night. They were aghast, angry, sad and sorry.
We want to apologize, but we recognize the limitations of such expressions. After all, are we responsible for the extreme fundamentalists who have taken our beloved Bible and turned it into a sword of hatred? Are we responsible for those who would take our central symbol, the cross meant to express self-sacrificial love, and use it as an offensive statement? (Referring to Muslims, Clippard's sermon said that we must "crucify you in Christ!") As an Oklahoman who had a friend die in the Oklahoma City bombing, I ask: Are Christians somehow responsible for Timothy McVeigh — just as the extreme fundamentalists blame Islam for Osama?
Muslims often are criticized for not actively fighting fundamentalism. I have voiced this criticism myself. Indeed, part of our commiseration can revolve around discussions of how we walk the narrow road of moderation.It is not always obvious how to fight fundamentalism and secularism. The values that we believe God gave to us are undermined by both.
At the same time, we often find ourselves in the unenviable position of being called unfaithful by fundamentalists and irrational by secularists. We share the view that fundamentalists and secularists have misplaced the foundation of ethical behavior and that both literalism and rationalism are idols. And so we follow our shared faith-Father Abraham who, according to the story in your tradition, crushed the idols in his own father's "idol shop."
Neither Clippard's words nor the seemingly positive reception of those words represent the teachings of Christ. I have a feeling that you already know this, but I think you need to hear it from one of "us." And although comparisons can be overwrought, I can imagine your feelings of frustrations as your own faith tradition is used to fan the flames of hate and promote violence.
Let us take a moment, then, to cry together, and then begin plotting together how to "take over" America with the values of mutual respect and active dialogue.
By Scott Stearman
11/05/2006
I'd like to direct this to American Muslims: Dear Friends of Faith,
One of my Baptist brethren says you are busy plotting the takeover of America, but I hope you'll pause in your preparations for a moment to read these words from a fellow faith child of Abraham. There are vast and significant differences between our faith traditions. But let me point to one area where we should get together and commiserate: Both of our traditions have been hijacked by extreme fundamentalism.
David Clippard is the current executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. In a public sermon on Monday, he declared that Islam has a strategy to conquer America, that Muslim student groups get support for this cause and that, eventually, anyone who does not convert of their own accord will be forced to adopt Islamic law. His words are ridiculous, but painful. Obviously, they are painful to you, but it is important for you to know that they also are painful to Baptists around the world. We hate this sort of hate speech. I shared Clippard's words with my congregation on Wednesday night. They were aghast, angry, sad and sorry.
We want to apologize, but we recognize the limitations of such expressions. After all, are we responsible for the extreme fundamentalists who have taken our beloved Bible and turned it into a sword of hatred? Are we responsible for those who would take our central symbol, the cross meant to express self-sacrificial love, and use it as an offensive statement? (Referring to Muslims, Clippard's sermon said that we must "crucify you in Christ!") As an Oklahoman who had a friend die in the Oklahoma City bombing, I ask: Are Christians somehow responsible for Timothy McVeigh — just as the extreme fundamentalists blame Islam for Osama?
Muslims often are criticized for not actively fighting fundamentalism. I have voiced this criticism myself. Indeed, part of our commiseration can revolve around discussions of how we walk the narrow road of moderation.It is not always obvious how to fight fundamentalism and secularism. The values that we believe God gave to us are undermined by both.
At the same time, we often find ourselves in the unenviable position of being called unfaithful by fundamentalists and irrational by secularists. We share the view that fundamentalists and secularists have misplaced the foundation of ethical behavior and that both literalism and rationalism are idols. And so we follow our shared faith-Father Abraham who, according to the story in your tradition, crushed the idols in his own father's "idol shop."
Neither Clippard's words nor the seemingly positive reception of those words represent the teachings of Christ. I have a feeling that you already know this, but I think you need to hear it from one of "us." And although comparisons can be overwrought, I can imagine your feelings of frustrations as your own faith tradition is used to fan the flames of hate and promote violence.
Let us take a moment, then, to cry together, and then begin plotting together how to "take over" America with the values of mutual respect and active dialogue.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
trial
"It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there." William Carlos Williams
Abraham Heschel quotes
Just came across these yesterday:
God is of no importance unless He is of utmost importance."
"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."
God is of no importance unless He is of utmost importance."
"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."
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