In a Holidaze...
I'm not a big fan of Christmas... That is to say, it's not my favorite holiday. It's too stressful. It's too corporate. It's way to materialistic. And for pity's sake, does it have to start before Halloween??
And don't even get me started on how much food there is. (Grandma's dinner could have fed a small army.)
I think maybe it's just too much for me to cram into the space of a few days.
Don't misunderstand, I like the good parts of Christmas. The pretty lights, the excuse to buy people gifts (I love to give presents!!), the mandarin oranges, the good chocolates.
What I can't stand is the corporate Christmas. Companies making up for their poor sales over the rest of the year buy advertising that you simply must get the perfect gift for everyone or they will hate you. The spoiled little kid who throws a tantrum because he/she didn't get everything that they've ever wanted under that tree. (And no, that comment was not directed at anyone.) That kind of holiday bugs me.
I consider myself a Christian (and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a very good one) and I know that Christmas should be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. But it's not. All I seem to see is a celebration of greed and money.
Besides, according to some (and this makes sense to me) Christ was probably born sometime in April, and Christmas is celebrated in December to compete with/replace the pagan solstice.
I think I'm having a religious identity crisis...
And don't even get me started on how much food there is. (Grandma's dinner could have fed a small army.)
I think maybe it's just too much for me to cram into the space of a few days.
Don't misunderstand, I like the good parts of Christmas. The pretty lights, the excuse to buy people gifts (I love to give presents!!), the mandarin oranges, the good chocolates.
What I can't stand is the corporate Christmas. Companies making up for their poor sales over the rest of the year buy advertising that you simply must get the perfect gift for everyone or they will hate you. The spoiled little kid who throws a tantrum because he/she didn't get everything that they've ever wanted under that tree. (And no, that comment was not directed at anyone.) That kind of holiday bugs me.
I consider myself a Christian (and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a very good one) and I know that Christmas should be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. But it's not. All I seem to see is a celebration of greed and money.
Besides, according to some (and this makes sense to me) Christ was probably born sometime in April, and Christmas is celebrated in December to compete with/replace the pagan solstice.
I think I'm having a religious identity crisis...
posted by Nezbitt at
9:44 a.m.
2 Comments:
I think you are a great Christian! Far better than most who claim to be! In my understanding a Christian is one who believes and follows the teachings of Christ as a way of life, no? And what I understand of Jesus is that he was a man who made his way of life through love and compassion for his fellow man, even the ones who persecuted him! My, dear, if there is one thing you do well ( there's a lot more than one ) it is sharing your love and compassion with the world! You are probably the most Christian person I know. Perhaps the religious identity crisis has more to do with church telling people to fear God and thus discourage folk from following in Jesus's footsteps, than it does with you not belonging as a Christian?
Anyway, I'm nobody to be putting my opinion on your faith, but organised religion makes me mad for this very reason. That you should ever, in any way, feel inadequate in your faith is a failure of the Church, not you. You are a beautiful woman whom I am proud to love as my friend!
Also, I hates the corporate x-mas, too! :)
By
Anonymous, at 7:46 p.m.
It makes me very happy that there is someone else in my social circle that self-identifies as a Christian. It makes me crazy that when people say Christian they often are thinking of George W and all the looney Americans and that is soooooo far away from what I believe.
I did the readings for the early Christmas Eve service at Knox-Met (they had 3) and it was lots of fun. It really brought Christmas back into the proper focus.
If you ever want to just sit around and jaw about religion give me a call. We can put on Vegi-Tales for the punks while we chat :-) But be warned, I'm a bit of a heretic :-)
Love ya!
By
Anonymous, at 10:16 p.m.
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