walking into christmas .. heartily

the big day is 1 1/2 weeks off

it's the biggest day of the year, yuh know ..



the retail company i worked for back in the day
   a viable/profitable relic of the department stores era
racked up 30+ % of it's annual sales durins the 3 weeks surrounding christmas
.. huge
if not for those 3 weeks there'd be no business

here's a thought ..
as most of us know christmas has become the greatest excuse
   to indulge in Moi-ness
whether it's used as opportunity to splurge on my family and close friends
or on Me
... ..    .

ok so i'm not breaking new ground here ..
christmas is actually a celebration of The Christ ..
that word is the Greek rendering of ' Messiah ', a Jewish term for ' anointed '
and most of the time refers to the Son of God, incarnated as Jesus
the man we know from the New Testament documents ..
Israel had long awaited his prophesied advent as their Deliverer

and he did advent
but in most unusual ways
unexpected personage
waaaay off the beaten track ..

read the gospels ..
please ..

don't get caught up in the politicizing of christmas
or in the consumerising of it  ..

sure, it's a wonderful time to be gracious
to join in the celebrations
enjoy your family
your friends
your workmates ..
                             your ... enemies ..  ?

ever notice how allofasudden people who despise one another all year long
suddenly pause the animosity at christmas  ?  ..
strange that ..
.... .      ..    .

i vote we do it Jesus-style
i vote we buck the system
i vote we diss the way everybodyelse does it
overspending overdoing
mostly to impress
mostly because if we don't the givee will be offended ..

Jesus didn't care much for being inoffensive to the uncaring
he let the chips fall ..

contrarily, he went to the offensive
to those who were an ' offense ' to society
like beggars and whores and thieves and people with awful skin diseases and mad people and ...
those were the people he listened to and talked with and helped and taught the truth of God ..

let that sink down into you
into me

Jesus went to the oppressed and the marginalized and the beaten-down and the sick and the fatherless and widow and accused and abused and the stranger and the alien
he went there
and he brought a ray of hopeshine
he blessed the poor and the mourning and the meek and those that strive for peace ..

he threw the whole thingy in a tizzik
upended the privileged
overthrew the religious and their tables of prosperity
   plaited a whip while they looked on, and then used it to drive the abominable out
they were a stench in his nostrils ..
.... . .    .

i vote we do something different this christmas
as we go about our christmasbusiness and busy-ness ..
let's be open-eyed for someone ' down-on-their-luck '
somebodies needy-like
hurting
hungry
old/dirty clothes
some child with probably no decent gift for christmas
some old person dying in that old-folks-home-of-death
some disabled vet
some forgotten body
..
let's look for them
let's pray that God points them out to us
let's ask him for the opportunity
each day ..

carry around an extra something in our wallet
earmarked just for that purpose
looking for the opportunity
to give ..

and then bless
bless them
in Jesus' name
with a smile
and a hug
a warm embrace of love
blessing them
...    .     .

give
    peace
                    love
          hope
joy

give
from your heart
with your heart
to their heart

be the heart of Jesus this Christ-mas
give
overflowingly
cheerfully ..

it will not make you any the poorer
in fact it will enrich your souls
'cause you're doing it to Jesus
for Jesus
as
Jesus

and it will not be lost on God .. .  ...  .

you got my vote