Advent Wars?

Let's be clear and upfront. We love Advent. The mission of Occupy Advent is to help people to slow down during this season; to bring a message of anticipation and hope.

That being said, we are not interested in any sort of culture war.

I have yet to meet a single person who has come to faith because he or she has been shamed about putting up Christmas decorations, or singing Christmas songs. Not a single one. Have you?

Perhaps a distinction is in order, between to similarly named festive occasions: secular holidays and sacred Holy Days. What do I mean by those two terms? Well, holidays are often determined by the state, and tend to have either a nationalistic or commercial themes. Holy Days are determined by the church, and usually only have meaning for people of faith.

Some examples of what I mean:
Holidays: 4th of July, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Labor Day, etc.
Holy Days: Easter, Commemoration of Saints, Palm Sunday, Christmas Day, etc.

Why does the distinction matter? Because there is often some movement between the two categories; that is, a secular holiday taking on religious themes, or a religious Holy Day being secularized.

The question of nationalism and its role in the church is a topic for another day. More important for me around this time of year is people using faith as a marketing gimmick.

There are two separate celebrations around this time of year, and I think it would be helpful to keep them separate  (1) The first is the secular holiday of Christmas. This holiday begins around Halloween, and is primarily focused on gift giving and generosity and general "niceness" (and negatively on the commercialism that undergirds it all). Christmas carols (both sacred and secular) are sung starting around Thanksgiving, office holiday parties are thrown, and everyone wishes you "Seasons Greetings." There is nothing inherently wrong with this holiday, except for when it is confused with:

(2) the sacred Holy Day of Christmas. The Holy Day of Christmas is December 25th, celebrated only as early as sundown on the 24th. The sacred "Christmas season" begins on the 25th and extends through January 6th. This season is focused not on selling or on the gifts that we give, but the gift that God has gven to us: on the miracle of God made flesh in the person of Jesus. It is preceded not by "the holiday season" but by the season of Advent -- a time designated for quieting down, and watching and listening for the action of God and the arrival of God on earth.

We here at Occupy Advent celebrate both the secular holiday of Christmas, and also the holy season of Advent. You may occasionally see a snarky post about early Christmas music or when Christmas begins, but that is only because ... well ... we are snarky folks.

It is not our goal to shame anyone or be the Advent Grinch. Our goal is to lift up the positive examples of how observing the holy season of Advent can enrich your life and deepen your faith.

Do your holiday shopping, take part in the holiday festivals and celebrations. But please remember to also quiet down this Advent: watch and prepare for the unexpected miracles of God.

And a blessed Advent to all of you.

Xmas Wars!

Ah, it is that time of year again ... Time for the Christmas Wars. An amazing battle, in which it appears only one side shows up to fight with unseen, unknown opponents.
"They are taking the Christ out of Christmas!"
"Don't shop at stores that X out Christ!"
This post is not about the general culture of "culture wars" that undergirds this annual conflict. Suffice it to say that we are wishing people "Happy Holidays" -- after all, it's not Christmas until the 25th, and we are busy observing Advent.

But, on a character-limited platform like twitter and with a holiday related account, it was inevitable that someone would bring up our use of the abbreviation "Xmas." Yes, we use it. With frequency, and without apology. And, well, we're pretty sure that we are in favor of a Xmas that has something to Jesus.

Note the abbreviated captions
above this icon

In the first century world in which the Christian church emerged, literacy was not widespread in the population. Unless your vocation required it - or you came from a wealthy enough family to afford an education - chances are you would not read. And so abbreviations were quite common. We're familiar with some of these. Ever see a cross in the sanctuary with the letters INRI? Perfect example. An abbreviation for "Jesus of Nazarus, King of the Jews," the charge which Pilate had nailed above Jesus cross. Notice: this abbreviation - still common in the worship space of churches today! - uses simply the first letter of each word.

Or another: The Jesus fish. The Jesus fish was used to mark early Christian worship spaces. Why a fish? Because, by abbreviating the phrase using the first letter of each word, the fish (ἰχθύος / IXTHUS) meant "Jesus Christ: God's Son, Savior." Yup. Just the first letters. And how did they represent the word "Christ"? A great big X.

Which brings us to Xmas. The one we worship, the one whose nativity we celebrate, is Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. There it is again, that great big X. The Greek letter "chi," used for centuries to represent Christ. We are not "X-ing out Christ." We are not removing Jesus from anything. We are following a long and venerable tradition of using the letter chi to represent the title Christ.

Plus, it uses five fewer characters on twitter, so there's that.