I Don't Like Christmas Carols

I Don’t Like Christmas Carols

            I told my wife I was going to write a blog about my favorite Christmas carol. She asked me what my favorite carol was. I told her I didn’t have one because I really don’t like Christmas carols. She said, “How are you going to write about your favorite one then?” I said I’d just make something up.

            Well, now that I’ve thought about it, I decided it’s probably not nice to make something up and act like I like something that I really don’t like. I think that’s called a lie, although it seems like a pretty innocent lie to me.

            I guess it’s better to tell the truth and the truth is I never have liked Christmas carols. I’m not really sure why. I grew up singing them, but I didn’t like them as a kid either. I’m not a Scrooge. I love Christmas. I like Santa Claus alright…although my wife doesn’t. I like snow and eggnog and presents. I guess it’s fair to say that I like pretty much everything about Christmas except the carols…and maybe mince meat pie. I’ve never really been sure what’s in mince meat pie.

            I know why I don’t like some carols…like We Three Kings. It’s in a minor key, and it’s kind of boring. My son sang it in a Christmas play once. I liked it that time but I think that was only because my son was singing it. That one that has the long GLORIA in the chorus…people always take a breath in the middle of the word and that bothers me, that and the egg shells thing. Silent Night is ok I guess, although I like it better in German and with a guitar…call me a purist. And then there’s the problem with the words, Away in a Manger for instance. That line about “no crying he makes.” Not only is awkward English, I’m pretty sure Jesus cried like every other baby.

            I guess what really bothers me about Christmas carols is that they kind of trivialize what happened that first Christmas. I mean think about it. God came down to earth! It wasn’t just about a star and shepherds and wise men. It was about God putting on flesh and coming to earth to be the Savior of the world. I’m not sure how you capture that in a song, or a sermon, or a book… I’m just saying that I think sometimes we reduce God-sized events into people-sized poems and songs and it really kind of steals the mystery and majesty of it all. I guess I don’t mind if you sing Christmas carols, just try to remember that Christmas is bigger than any carol.

            Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying to find one I like. Maybe next year.

           

It Takes A Community

When I was working on my Master’s degree, I took a theology course. Our main text was written by Stanley Grenz who sees all of theology through the “lens” of community. One of my fellow students, Kim, was so sick of hearing about community by the end of that course that she could barely stomach it. Needless to say she wasn’t a big fan of Grenz. I rather liked his take on theology and although community is not the primary factor that shapes my theology, it's probably in my top five. Kim and I are still good friends even though we don’t agree about Grenz, but that’s probably because I believe in community so much.

I’ve been thinking about community a lot lately. I think it was a key ingredient in the early church. I think for the most part it’s a missing ingredient in the 21^st Century church…but I don’t think it should be. The problem is that it takes time and effort to build community and I have a sneakin’ suspicion it also takes some work by the Holy Spirit. There’s a difference between a community and a village. A few years ago former First Lady, Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled, “It Takes A Village.” It was a nice thought but the truth is it takes more than a village. You see, a village is a group of people who live in the same geographic location. They can still be disjointed, disconnected and dysfunctional and still be a village. A community is a group of people linked together not so much by geography as by heart, soul, vision and purpose. What I think it “takes” is a community.

Here’s the problem: I think the church lives a lot more like a village than a community. We are bound by geography (same church building) but many times are still disjointed, disconnected and dysfunctional. We ought to live in community, united by heart, soul, vision and purpose. That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, discovery, assessment and intentionality to become a community. Sometimes people come to the realization during that process that although they are linked by geography they are not part of the heart and soul of the community. They may choose to move on to a place where they can be part of the community. We grieve over the loss but I think we probably should celebrate. I don’t intend for that to sound mean but I know some will take it that way. Shouldn’t we all want each other to be where we can be a part of community? That’s a good thing, right?

I get so excited when I see community begin to happen. As I write this blog, we have three people in our church building right now who are cleaning restrooms, vacuuming and mopping floors. They volunteered to do that this week because it was needed for the greater good of our faith community. A few minutes ago I got a call from a woman who lives in our neighborhood. She needed a ride to a woman’s shelter tonight for a meeting for abused women. I texted someone in our community and they agreed to give her a ride…no questions asked. Last week Jane and I visited a couple in our church family where the husband is recovering from major surgery. Some limbs needed to be trimmed because they were damaging their roof. I passed the information along to a man in our faith community who said he’d take care of it…no cost. Over and over, every week, I see community beginning to happen more and more in our church family. Although some will never understand this statement I have to say it anyway: We are never more spiritual than when we are living out a loving community as a testimony of what Christ has done in us.

How about you? Are you living in a village or a community?