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{"id":4066,"date":"2010-12-17T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-17T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/christmas-the-christian-way.html"},"modified":"2010-12-17T08:40:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-17T08:40:00","slug":"christmas-the-christian-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/christmas-the-christian-way.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas the Christian way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Skeptics and cynics and atheists galore often criticize the modern, sanitized version of Christmas.\u00a0 They rail against such namby-pamby Currier and Ives<\/em> visions\u00a0of family, fireplaces, presents, and feasts when compared to the suffering of the world and the terrors therein.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Ironically, they\u2019re almost right.\u00a0\u00a0Such charming, safe and happy portrayals are not the entire Christmas story the way Christianity tells it.\u00a0 Sadly, some versions have come close, particularly in\u00a0certain modern manifestations of Protestant Christianity.\u00a0 Just a couple years ago, churches canceled services so their members could embrace Norman Rockwell\u2019s vision of what Christmas is all about.\u00a0 But they shouldn\u2019t have, and here\u2019s why.\u00a0\u00a0Christmas, the actual story, is a joyful story mixed with pain.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

For the actual Christmas story is one of great joy and untold suffering.\u00a0This is often missed, or ignored, yet it is affirmed in loud voices by the historical liturgical Calendars of the Catholic and\u00a0Orthodox traditions.\u00a0 What comes fast on the heals of Christmas?\u00a0 Why the Feast of Christianity\u2019s first martyr, St. Stephen (as in, on the Feast of Stephen).\u00a0 And then?\u00a0 The feast of the the Holy Innocents, that troubling part where Herod orders the death of the innocents in order to snuff out the life of this pretender to the throne.\u00a0As Mark Shea wryly points out, \u201cYour average Best Christmas Pageant Ever doesn\u2019t tend to include a scene where a bunch of kids in plastic armor march on stage and then begin to methodically dismember a clutch of baby dolls.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he is right.\u00a0 The Christmas story, the real one, is filled with ups and downs that eventually lead to the greatest up of all, our salvation.\u00a0 Too often we pay lip service at best, which can cause us to forget that if we are in a funk now, it\u2019s so that someday we will be lifted up \u2013 even if we can\u2019t see how at the time.\u00a0 Read more of Mark\u2019s excellent post<\/a> on how fear and scary stories are integral to getting Christmas right.\u00a0 And remember that when it comes to Christmas, those scary ghost stories we sing about are in many ways more appropriate than the warmest, coziest Hallmark moment.\u00a0 Both can have their place of course, but only when they are both included.\u00a0 That way Christmas becomes what it is, a telling of the story of our salvation, one that promises us no matter how bad things may seem, someday they will achieve their ultimate good.<\/p>\n

\u2018For I know the plans that I have for you,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"