IN THEORY:Remember meaning of Christmas

With the holidays upon us, do you find yourselves getting caught up in the frenzy over shopping and gifts and all the related hustle and bustle? How do you deal with it, and do you worry that the true messages of the season get lost?

My wife and I are both pastors and we serve different churches.

That brings an added burden during the Christmas season because there are two of everything.

That’s two churches to decorate, two choir concerts, and the community outreach and mission projects to attend to as well as the regular meetings and worship preparations, both weekly and the special services to handle.

At the end of a particularly busy day we gathered our family, turned down the lights, made some tea and hot chocolate and sat for about 30 minutes, talked about our day and closed with our nightly prayers.

It was an oasis of rest in the manic preparations of the season. Those precious 30 minutes renewed and refreshed every one of us. My wife and I reconnected to one another and to each of our three boys. And, after all, reconnecting and restoring is what Jesus is all about.

GALEN GOBEN

Foothill Christian Church

La Crescenta

A quick look around the world will point to the lost message of Christmas.

It’s difficult to imagine war in Iraq, genocide in Darfur or just plain intolerance toward our neighbors if the message was taken seriously. In our own backyard, would we be consumed with petty politics rather than showing concern for the health and education of our children, if the message of Christmas was more than the decorations at the Galleria?

Yet, the fundamental message of Christmas is that of hope. It’s a trust and faith in tomorrow, beyond our understanding. That is the promise of the Christ child: that God continues to nurture and save us, despite ourselves.

At our parish, St. Peter, we challenge our congregation to celebrate the birth of Christ by giving him the gifts he requests. We find his shopping list in Luke 14:12-14: “Give to those,” Jesus says, “the poor and suffering — those who have no means of paying you back.”

It is a simple way to emphasize the message of Christmas.

We have three major programs in operation this season: food collection for the needy; toy collection for the children in shelters; knitting and sewing warm clothes for cancer patients.

Furthermore, as Armenians we celebrate the Nativity on Jan. 6. Because we have a double Christmas, we have made it a policy at our church to acknowledge and live the Christmas message all year round.

The celebration of “Love being born” is not confined to a date, but it is a way of life. We established the “In His Shoes Mission,” which provides a constant challenge for members to rise from their humanity and live the Christmas message all year long. By walking in the shoes of others, we acknowledge and realize that it is up to us to work for a better tomorrow.

Therein, we tie ourselves to the message of hope that is Christmas.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

In His Shoes Ministries

Before I write my thoughts for this space, I usually let my wife see what the issue of the week is, and then I send her what I have written. This week I did the same thing: I e-mailed her what the issue was. Almost immediately I received a telephone call from her, and in that phone call she pointed out that I don’t get frazzled because she is the one who does all the shopping.

Alas, that is true. My wife keeps the most comprehensive list of names and dates, such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries — and she has been known to spot a neat gift in July and then purchase that gift for someone she’s thinking about in order to give it to that person at Christmas. (Is my wife neat or what?)

Regarding the more serious issue of having the commercialization of the Christmas season get in the way of the true meaning of Christmas — yes, I worry about that all the time. While I don’t want merchants to go broke because of meager Christmas sales, I like the question most of us have seen before: “Whose birthday is it, anyway?” I also like the message of an Advent prayer I saw one time. It said something like, “Lord, help us to remember that it is not you who demands large, lavish celebrations and enormous strobe-lit displays of faith.”

Actually, that first Christmas in a Bethlehem stable was a pretty shabby affair, witnessed only by a few dirty shepherds and a bunch of farm animals. As we tear through the malls, we might keep that manger scene in mind.

THE REV. C. L.

“SKIP” LINDEMAN

Congregational Church

of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

With some, the true message of the season is not only lost, it wasn’t there to begin with. Like in those street interviews where people are asked to name well-known politicians or identify state capitals and they can’t, so I’ve asked people the reason for the season. Some answer, “tradition”; others say “family” and many would name off things like “decorations” or “children.”

Some have alternate observances, and there are those who’ve come up with deliberately competitive festivities, but Christmas is especially about the incarnation of God, a divinely necessary event that has historical, spiritual and social significance. The frenzy, I feel, is in providing my congregation and community with a clear reminder of that.

While I do less gift-shopping than my wife, I feel the urgent sense of making each Sunday a Christmas alert for those that attend my church. I want them to embrace the Holy Spirit at Christmas, not just some warm-fuzzy called Christmas spirit..

My struggle is in slowing down to smell the pine, and having some of my own personal Christmas quality cheer. I still haven’t got the lights up at home, and that elusive Nintendo item that stores can’t seem to keep in stock until my son’s parents get there creates some stress, but come Christmas Day we’ll all breathe a sigh of relief, enjoy some nog and look forward to it all again in 52 weeks.

Perhaps if people would affirm with the repentant Scrooge, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,” then maybe there’d be less bustle and more blessing to appreciate this 12th month.

THE REV. BRYAN GRIEM

Senior Pastor

MontroseCommunity

Church.org

According to Jewish custom, it’s important to give “Chanukah gelt” or gifts during the holiday.

Generally, this is understood as a spiritual time of year that’s made extra festive by giving presents. What is even of greater importance, though, is giving our young ones special attention during this time of year.

We must be careful not to overdo the gift-giving or let it overshadow the spiritual basis of the holiday, since that defeats the purpose. Children should understand that the gifts — while an important part of the holiday — only complement the spirituality of the season, and are not the heart of the season.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Jewish Center

Bahá’ís have a special holiday season at the end of February, which is a time of celebration, modest gift-giving and a special emphasis on charitable works.

We encourage each other to observe this season, building traditions for our families and communities. However, like members of some other faiths, many of us feel the pull of the wider culture’s traditions through social expectations and ties to our extended families. At no time is this pull more compelling than during the Christmas season, when the whole country seems consumed by anticipation of the holiday. It is easy to be drawn into the expensive, exhausting, and overly commercialized institution that the season has become. It is also tempting for members of non-Christian traditions to try to conform their faiths’ holy days to a Christmas-like observance during December, so as not to feel excluded from an iconic cultural holiday. Clearly, Christmas is intended to joyously commemorate the birth of Jesus, and hence, the birth of the Christian age. It is up to all of us, Bahá’ís, Christians and others, to guard ourselves against being seduced and intimidated into overextending our bank accounts and our endurance, and to lovingly guide our children toward an understanding of the true meanings of all religious holidays.

BARBARA CRAMER

Secretary

Local Spiritual Assembly

of the Bahá’ís

Glendale

When I think about it, it helps me to remember that even the very first Christmas happened in the context of hustle and bustle. Things obviously haven’t changed.

Everyone in Israel had something urgent to do. Caesar Augustus had ordered them all to be registered in a census, and that sent them scurrying. Has your holiday to-do list got you huffing and puffing? There was lots of traffic: “And all were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city.” Many relatives were brought together by the census in sometimes too-close quarters. Sound familiar? The “inn” in which no room was found for Mary and Joseph was probably a guest room in a family member’s house.

In the middle of my Christmas preparation frenzy I’m encouraged that God has already given us the most perfect gift, once for all time — His Son Jesus Christ. Even though most people missed the point then, as unfortunately most do today, I take comfort in the fact that through His Spirit and His word, God has revealed His Son to me, and I have asked Him into my heart.

The night of Jesus’ birth, the shepherds saw a glorious light, received an angelic message and sought and found a great King. They returned to their fields “glorifying and praising God.” That’s still the best way to have a merry and meaningful Christmas.

PASTOR JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

Burbank