Are We Still On This?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are We Still On This?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irreverin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Wathen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Wathen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/\",\"name\":\"Are We Still On This?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/d952aeacf2fb5d80629d6718167a6013\"},\"description\":\"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are We Still On This?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/\",\"name\":\"Irreverin\",\"description\":\"Seeking the sacred in family, culture, politics, and sometimes, even ministry.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/d952aeacf2fb5d80629d6718167a6013\",\"name\":\"Erin Wathen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f7ca70483103d7b13738306adccf4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f7ca70483103d7b13738306adccf4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Erin Wathen\"},\"description\":\"Rev. Erin Wathen is a published author, a Certified Nonprofit Professional, and an ordained pastor in the Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ). She lives in Louisville with her husband and two children.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/author\/erinwathen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are We Still On This?","description":"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are We Still On This?","og_description":"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/","og_site_name":"Irreverin","article_published_time":"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00","author":"Erin Wathen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erin Wathen","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/","name":"Are We Still On This?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-29T19:00:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/d952aeacf2fb5d80629d6718167a6013"},"description":"Dear Bill O'Reilly: there is no war on Christmas. It is alive and well, and 'merica spent the first $60 BILLION of it on Black Friday Weekend. (That's now","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are We Still On This?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/","name":"Irreverin","description":"Seeking the sacred in family, culture, politics, and sometimes, even ministry.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/d952aeacf2fb5d80629d6718167a6013","name":"Erin Wathen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f7ca70483103d7b13738306adccf4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f7ca70483103d7b13738306adccf4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Erin Wathen"},"description":"Rev. Erin Wathen is a published author, a Certified Nonprofit Professional, and an ordained pastor in the Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ). She lives in Louisville with her husband and two children.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/author\/erinwathen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1758,"date":"2012-11-29T19:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T19:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irreverin.com\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2012-11-29T19:00:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T19:00:08","slug":"are-we-still-on-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/11\/are-we-still-on-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Still On This?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Is our faith so tenuous that we need it to be affirmed by the retailers?\u00a0(\u2013says a wise member of my congregation) By the greeting card industry? By the person fixing our\u00a0pumpkin spice latte?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already said my peace about all the reasons we need to stop being so touchy about what other people call \u201cour holiday<\/a>.\u201d In fact, it went kind of viral over on Patheos<\/a>. Since my usual readership is about 4 people\u2013counting my mom twice\u2013i can only imagine that this post resonnated with people at a visceral level. Probably because we are all so sick of being scared\u2026 and sick of people trying to MAKE us scared, that our faith is somehow prohibited when our neighbors practice theirs differently.<\/p>\n

Enough. I\u2019m preaching from Isaiah this Advent season, and I\u2019m taking a page out of his book\u2013the 8th chapter, to be precise\u2013this week. He says:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy;<\/em><\/p>\n

do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Lord almighty is the one you are to regard as holy\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Also taking a page from Isaiah to remind us\u00a0that the coming reign of God will, in no way, look like that which we are expecting; nor will it be prevented by a \u2018season\u2019s greetings\u2019 sign at the mall; nor will it be for just \u2018us,\u2019 whoever the us might be.\u00a0 If we are truly awaiting a Messiah, then the only thing to fear is that Jesus shows up as something other than a sweet white baby, and we miss him because we are too busy hollering at each other.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, did i mention we spent $60 Billion Dollars last weekend? It will take about $45 billion to repair the damage from hurricane Sandy. Just sayin. You reckon Isaiah would see this as a problem?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"