A WORD FOR TODAY, November 4, 2024
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, November 4, 2024
"Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands! Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations." Psalm 100, WEB
One of the biggest jokes in the Christmas music world is that the Christmas season has officially begun when Mariah Carey's "What I want for Christmas is You" is heard. I was in a department store on November 1st that was already playing Christmas music. Then I heard it, a month before Thanksgiving... Mariah Carey! I know, it is too early to start talking about Christmas, which is still many weeks away. The stores all have their Christmas displays. The shelves are filled with Christmas presents and decorations. I've seen the tents for those selling live trees going up around the area. I understand some of the signs of Christmas already. People have to ship presents a long way. Holiday planning takes time, and it doesn't bother me that some things are already for sale. I was not ready for Mariah Carey's song, though. I suppose the stresses of our world is making people anxious for the peace and joy of Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving used to be the offical beginning of the Christmas season, but that is no longer true. I've even seen "Black Friday" sales ongoing already!
Black Friday has not been the first day of Christmas shopping season for years. I remember when my mom worked at the mall; she didn't put anything Christmas out on her sales floor until Black Friday. The mall employees worked overtime on Wednesday night, putting up the tinsel and other decorations so that they could be ready to reveal their Christmas display to the world on Black Friday. There were always special celebrations, welcoming Santa Claus to the mall and then opening the doors for everyone to shop. In those days the mall did not open at 4:00 a.m. They opened at normal hours and received the rush of customers ready to find those special values being offered. You didn't see Santa until the day after Thanksgiving.
The stores are taking advantage of the public's desire to get the best deal by offering those "Black Friday Deals" now. We are willing to run out today to get that video camera or new computer at the "lowest price of the season." Yet, despite the great looking deals, we know that someone, somewhere will have a better price. The question is: will we get to the store in time to get that deal, or will we miss it because we are late?
One of the best parts of the Black Friday shopping experience for me was always sitting down with the newspaper on Thanksgiving Day to see what the stores were offering. We don't even get the paper anymore, and I don't think the newspapers even print a pile of ads like they used to. Besides, you can find out everything you need on the Internet. There are even websites that puts the ads online so you can plan your Black Friday shopping trip in advance. You have to have a plan if you want to accomplish your goals. There is so much pressure on gift-givers to get the right toys, the right electronics, the trendy gift of the year. Unfortunately, the "perfect" gift is often poorly supplied and in high demand. Every parent has experienced the desperate quest to get the hot toy that a child expects to receive from Santa Claus?
I am not complainging commercialization of Christmas or the much too early appearance of the holiday. I'm sad that so much of the magic of the season has disappeared. People worked hard to make it happen, but I loved how everything seemed to happen overnight. I'm sure there was preparation in advance: sets designed, decorations cleaned, repaired and replaced, extra employees hired and merchandise received. But for the child or even the adult who loves Christmas, the sudden appearance on that Friday after Thanksgiving of twinkling lights and Christmas green is a mystery. How did it happen so fast? Where did it all come from? We've lost the spirit of surprise from the season.
Sadly, I think the same is true of the Church. While I think it is good that we've thought about God from an intellectual perspective, reasoned our faith and studied the text in academic terms, we've put too much focus on our brains and forgotten that God is so far beyond anything our mind can comprehend. The Israelites tried to lock God into a curtained room in a Temple in Jerusalem, but we've tried to lock Him up by defining Him in terms we can understand. The problem with the loss of mystery in our relationship with God is that we've made Him so much like us that it is a wonder whether He's even worthy of praise. So, while it is good for us to seek knowledge of God and know Him, let us always remember that we will never fully know God, but He always knows us. We might not always understand how or why He does what He does, that's the mystery, but we can always trust that we are loved.
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