Consuming Christmas

I heard a very intriguing segment of NPR's Speaking of Faith: Money and Moral Balance

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/moneymorals/index.shtml


O come, O come, Emmanuel....Come God With Us....well, only so long as Emmanuel doesn't get in the way of all our church parties, expectations, traditions, pageants and shopping.

Ever feel like all the "things" of Christmas completely mask its meaning? Of course what good is it if we acknowledge the "true meaning" of Christmas if it means nothing more than assent to certain one-dimensional beliefs? If it's such a moment of transformation, where is its evidence now? How do we embody it? Instead, here is our question...

What did you get for Christmas? Why is that the question that we ask of Children after Christmas? Why not, "What did Christmas mean for you this year?" or "Who did you serve like Jesus would this Christmas?"

I hear some say that it's inevitable--you just have to play along with the materialism so pervasive during the holidays and not try to fight it; know that it's bad, try to reduce it some, but just enjoy it.

But I have to believe that transformation is possible--that alternatives are possible. I hope to avoid piling up extra guilt on all of us for leading normal lives--certainly they don't warrant guilt. There's nothing wrong with all the parties, expectations, traditions, and shopping...the normal things. But maybe God can do something with our normal "things."

What would change if Christ showed up, was birthed into the middle of our holiday routines and schedules? How does that happen? It must go beyond getting it "right."

For instance, so what if I'm suddenly aware of poverty, inequality, materialism...so what if I even discover that God stands for the oppressed and for abundant life for all people--so what if my "understanding" is converted? I'm trapped in the things of my own individual world. I'm caught in a gulf fixed between a Utopian ideal and the reality in which I live. What can I do to bust out of my own bubble? How can I be an embodiment of Christ? Maybe the answer begins not so much with an outward explosion, but an inward searching...

David Goetz of www.deathbysuburb.net said recently something to the effect of, "Maybe we should just let the riptide of consumerism carry us through and hope to find Christ's peace after Christmas..." I think he's partially right. If we journey inward into our own lives, inviting God to sit with us in the inner workings of life, I think we invite God's current to pull us out into the depths of God's grace. And it's there that we are changed and transformed into agents of the reign of God.

Through God's grace, we can see our world with Christ's vision. With Christ's vision, we can see the inherent possibilities in each individual and the way that God can take any situation and resurrect it into new life. When we see those moments, even in the dull things, the tiny run of the mill middle class holiday liturgy (which means "work of the people"), we can choose to act as Christ would and therefore "be" the presence of Christ--which alone transforms us and indeed the whole world.

The inward journey involves prayer, reflection, and action, in a constant cycle--a kind of digestion. So maybe we can say we OUGHT to "consume" Christmas...

Encounter the world of Mary's Magnificat:
Luke 1:46-55 "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

How would our lives change if such a God got into our lives and started messing around? What would happen if we let this message digest in our souls?

Maybe, if we journey inward...the fruit will blossom outward in ways that only the one who is the true vine can produce.

Monastery of the Holy Spirit

I took a small group of folks from my church to the Monastery in Conyers, GA this saturday. It was a beautiful day and just the thing we all needed. We were there from 10:30 till 3:30 with no agenda but to sit in silence, meditate, and pray. The amazing thing was that I didn't think of football one time all day and couldn't believe that the day was over when it was. The others felt the same as well. There's something about simply being in God's presence in a way that you can acknowledge that is not contrived, shallow, or pietistic. I'm finally beginning to meet the God of my adulthood, though I've known of and worshipped that God for some time now. That God has supplanted the one-dimensional God of my upbringing, bringing me into the complexity of the triune God who stands for everything that God used to be but so very much more.

I read a book on justice and contemplation. I'm really trying to plumb the depths of what it means to pursue the active life contemplatively. The notion of the inward and outward journeys actually being the same path intrigues me. For most of us, if we're even aware of both the inward and outward journeys, our journeys remain disconnected and one of them dominates the other. Works such as Parker Palmer's "A Hidden Wholeness" exemplify this connection.

How do I unifty Mary and Martha? Or how do I find the Martha in Mary and the Mary in Martha? 

Faith, Politics, and Policy Conference

I heard Jim Wallis (of Sojourners) speak this afternoon at the Faith, Politics, and Policy conference at Candler. He mostly reiterated many of his arguments in “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Just Doesn’t Get it.” He did give many hopeful stories about meeting younger and younger teens/children at his speaking engagements (who were not there just because of their parents). He quoted an 8 year old saying, “I asked here what made sense to her today in what I said. She responded, ‘Well, you talked about so many people being poor and I just figured that if I’m a Christian then I ought to do something about it.’ I hope that was true!

In a breakout session Dr. Mary Elizabeth Moore and Dr. Carol Lakey Hess spoke of the spiritual practice of narrativity as a way of experiencing the other in such a way that our perspectives are expanded. So, sharing stories with respect and love is a model for political awareness and collaboration.

Great Wedding

We just went to a very beautiful wedding in Weaverville, NC. Dave and Michelle Garber really picked out a great place. Lots of fun. See more photos on the website:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattbrich


 

Honeymoon Update

I've uploaded some pictures from the honeymoon to the website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattbrich/ 

Whirlwind Summer

I decided to revisit my blog and I realized that it has been quite some time since I have made a post. I guess that preparing for a wedding, getting married, and adjusting to a new lifestyle took most of my attention! It's certainly worthy of it. I know it hasn't been a month yet, but I really do think I have the best wife ever! I say that with some trepidation because no matter what I say about marriage so far, more folks than I expected like to either insert predictions of doom and proscriptions of current naivety (unwittingly, they do this), or use it as a time to muse about "way back when" they were at such a place in life. It's like I can't say anything serious about marriage without it turning into a joke that truly is a joke but has a disturbing undercurrent to it-- or turning into a reflection session about the other person, which is fine, just odd. Of course, I'm thankful for those who continue to remind me of how great a blessing married life is and celebrate with me in the goodness and sacredness of this life together. It's imperfect, but just like the rest of life, out of bricks of imperfection come beautiful foundations and architectures the likes of which we've never dreamed.

Blog Name Change

Today I have changed the name of the blog. I am thinking about starting another one that is just updates on life, while this one will be mostly thought/reflection oriented.