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Christmas Reflections
I was going to put off posting this until Wednesday (the Feast of Innocents) but as I'll be in Florida all this week (I take off at 7am tomorrow) and I'm not sure what my Internet access situation's going to be like, I'm going to post it now. Pretend it's Wednesday. (If you'd like, you can also pretend that this is on my "Politics" blog, because it'll get real political pretty soon...)
One of the things that irritates me about Christmas is how happy everyone is - not because I'm depressed or alone at the holidays (I'm neither), but because for me, this unrestrained happiness misses the whole point of the liturgical season of Advent. To me, it's clear from a reading of the Western liturgies (Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran) that the Christmas season, while a time of joy and happiness, should also be a time to reflect and consider the billions around the world suffering from oppression, economic injustice, and lack of opportunity - and to consider how much of a hand we, as individuals and as a society, have in their pain.
The Advent season - the four liturgical weeks leading up to Christmas - is focused on the themes of longing and hope. But this isn't the namby-pamby hope we think of nowadays, the "pie in the sky" hope of "well, things aren't all that good, but they'll get better" - the hope of Advent is the best kind of hope, the most impo
rtant kind of hope, the kind of hope that can only be found in the deepest and darkest of pits.
For the Palestinian in the first century BCE, this would be the only kind of hope there would be. Since the fall of Judah, Israel had been subject to the whims of one conqueror after another - even the brief Maccabean revolt had basically ended in the ruling class' capitulation to conquering foes. Ever since Malachi - thought to have been written somewhere in the 4th century BCE - God had been completely silent. All the people had were the prophecies of the three Isaiahs, the vague hope that the Messiah would come and God would start speaking to God's people again.
Then comes Christmas, the coming of Christ - undoubtedly a day of joy. The Incarnation is the most joyful event of all history, the day God came to earth. Even in the Nativity narratives and prophecies, though, it's clear that the focus of the Incarnation is that Jesus' coming is good news for the poor, the downtrodden, and the outcast - and most of the people of 6BCE Israel would find themselves in at least one of those categories - but bad news for the rich, the powerful, and the oppressors, who would be cast down from power and lose what they had.
Funny how preachers in America don't mention that little detail very often.
After Christmas, look at your liturgies, folks... because December 26 brings us back to Earth, with the Feast of Stephen and Feast of the Innocents, which fall on the day after Christmas and three days after Christmas. The coming of the Messiah is not without its costs - the martyrdom of Stephen for keeping the faith, and the killing of innocent babies and children at the hands of an oppressive foreign tyrant. We're immediately snapped out of our revelings, and back into reality, where oppression and violence still reign.
The season ends, of course, with Epiphany - with the Magi visiting the toddler Jesus and bringing what essentially were embalming materials. This reminds us that this little baby is going to be another victim of brutality, violence, and oppression - and that even though he will be victorious over Death in the end, it won't be without a great deal more innocent pain and suffering.
This leads me to understand the liturgy's view of the Christmas season - not as a time of unrestrained joy and happiness, but as a time of tempered joy, of focusing on the good news of Christ and the coming of the Savior, but also on the suffering of others and their need not just for salvation in a spiritual sense (whatever that means) but also salvation in a concrete sense - salvation from hunger, from thirst, from nakedness, from oppression.
But focusing on the suffering and poor doesn't sell more Xboxes, and depressing stuff (i.e. realism) doesn't put butts in the pews, so American society and American religion in general have chosen to jettison the real liturgical meaning of the Advent/Christmas season... which is a crying shame, because there's so much more we could get out of this season, and so much more the world could get out of the purported followers of Christ in the richest, most powerful nation in the world.
posted by jimmy at 19:03 -
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It's a Festivus miracle!
I'm actually updating!
There really isn't much to update on, though. I'm in Michigan for the holidays, and it's freaking cold. Really freaking cold. And a bit dull, because I don't have any transportation and my parents live far away from things like civilization and a good cup of coffee.
That's really about it. I leave you with this quote from Cheers which has been in my AIM profile for a while, and was recently brought to my attention again by an email to a listserv:
"Well you see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
Happy Festivus, everyone.
posted by jimmy at 23:11 -
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Merry Christmas from Chewbacca!
RAAAAAAAWR
Hey, it's better than the stupid dogs barking "Jingle Bells"....
posted by jimmy at 09:48 -
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Manamana (do dooo do do do)
I went to the DMV today, and it took less than 15 minutes. For those inexperienced with the California DMV, that's nothing short of miraculous. (Californians, here's a secret: The third week of every month, the DMV is open on Saturday, which means they take Monday off and come in 1/2 hour early the rest of the week... if you're there at 7:30, there's hardly anyone in line, and you can pretty much walk right in.)
I also saw Narnia the other day, in a theatre full of children. The children had this unfortunate tendency to applaud whenever anything good happened, and they were very loud. My roommates weren't bothered by this, but I was, because I'm not such a fan of children, particularly when they number in the hundreds.
The movie, though, was very good... I was really impressed with all the child actors, little Lucy especially. Everything was very well done, and I thought the English countryside was particularly well-used. It could have stood to be a bit longer, because some of the secondary characters didn't get fleshed out quite so well, but that's a minor quibble. I enjoyed Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan, but I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like had Sam Elliott (old Western star and "The Stranger" in Lebowski) done the voice.
posted by jimmy at 10:33 -
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--blank--
So... yeah. Not too much going on. I finished all my work for the quarter today... in the past week I've written 35 pages of not-incredibly-insightful academic prose, which I'm sure will more than meet Fuller's standards for decent work. I honestly can't recall a school term where I cared less about what I was studying. But I'm so close to graduating that to not finish now would make the past 2 years and all that tuition money a complete waste. Next quarter should be better, too... I'm studying theology and culture with John Drane, who wrote The McDonaldization of the Church, so it'll be interesting at the very least.
So now school has joined pretty much everything else in my life, stuck in a holding pattern until January. I can't really move forward with anything on any front, because I leave in just over a week for the snowy tundra of Michigan. I suppose I should find the holding pattern restful and relaxing, but since I've been chomping at the bit to get on with my life, it's just that much longer I have to wait.
Oh well. That's about all for now. I'm about to go see Mojo Monkeys at the Mint with some friends... that should be fun. Rumor has it Lucinda Williams is going to be at the show...
posted by jimmy at 19:14 -
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Recent movies.
I have nothing better to do right now, so I'll tell you about the movies I've seen recently, because I know you care about that sort of thing. Except that you really don't.
I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again tonight, and remembered how much I like that movie, and how much I like Charlie Kaufman's work. I really can't sit through many movies and remain intellectually connected, but his stuff just keeps me thinking.
Earlier this weekend, Nirvana, Annette, and I went to see Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney's film about Edward R. Murrow, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare. To be honest, I don't think I'd really understood the extent of the rhetoric that was coming out of McCarthy's and others' mouths... I can only imagine what damage would have been done if Fox News had been around back then. All in all, the film was timely - not just for what was happening in 1954, but for what's happening in 2005...
And last week, I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which had no political content really, but was a lot of fun. I was glad that the director dispensed with all the worthless exposition that happens in the other movies and just made a lean, exciting movie. I enjoyed it.
It's probably a good thing I'm not a movie critic, because I really can't sit through bad movies. That, and I can't really write about them all that well. In fact, I apologize for the low quality of writing in this post. I really don't know what I was thinking.
posted by jimmy at 01:44 -
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