We watched the television promo for the latest blood, gore and mayhem movie coming our way, a film called The Darkest Hour. It looks awful, as so many of these action pictures do, but we both felt queasy when the ad finished with "Opening Christmas Day!" What the... may the peace of Armegeddon be with you!
I get it that there are other religions than Christianity in this country and that a growing number of people are post-Christian whatever their religious heritage might be, so Christmas ain't what it used to be. But for the love of God --literally -- is this what we have come to? And this year Christmas is on a Sunday to boot.
We deep-sixed the sabbath years ago so we could grab a few groceries and extend the possibilities for acquiring stuff, stuff, stuff. Now we are desecrating a day when folk could actually connect with loved ones and maybe even worship the Baby Jesus.
Yesterday someone kindly expressed his concern that I will be required to work on Christmas morning. Actually, many years I have been at the hospital early on Christmas day to visit parishoners because it felt like the right thing to do, not because it was required of me. This year I will consider our Christmas morning worship experience to be "the brightest hour' because the Christian community has chosen December 25th as the day to celebrate God-with-us.
Have we made a religion out of consumer choice? Anyone else unsettled by the bizarre drift of our culture?
1 comment:
Everything seems to piggyback onto Christmas -- it becomes a vehicle for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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