A squabble over the Nativity Story - is it really needed?

Last Saturday, the 16th, I went to see a film with semi-extreme controversy around it - The Nativity Story.

When it was first announced that there would be a film on Christ's birth, the Christian community was suspicious but for the most part pleased. What could be better than having another Christ-centered movie hit the theaters?

But - Shizamm! The inevitable happened. Everybody suddenly got mad at each other and Scrooge-like because Keisha Castle-Hughes, the actress playing Mary, got pregnant and was unwed. Newspapers called it 'ironic', and even two months after the announcement was made, Christians are still squabbling over it. Some refuse to go see the movie and support the actress, others call down fire and brimstone. Still others could really care less about this whole fuss. And so, I bring you my opinion.

First of all - What were we expecting? Was the Christian community expecting Hollywood to actually cast a virgin as Mary? Look at the priorities there. I doubt morality is high on their list when they're looking for actors. Hollywood is part of the secular world, and it is about acting.
And what is acting? Wikepidia defines it as

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, a person in theatre, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. From the Latin word agĕre meaning "to do", this is precisely what acting is. In acting, an actor suppresses or augments aspects of their personality in order to reveal the actions and motivations of the character for particular moments in time. The actor is said to be "assuming the role" of another, usually for the benefit of an audience, but also because it can bring one a sense of artistic satisfaction.

Acting is - acting. You're expected to be someone else when you're acting - not yourself!

Now this does not excuse sin! However, I have several more points to bring up.
What do sinners do?
They sin.
How can us Christians (who are still far from perfect ourselves) expect a sinner to stop sinning? It's a sinners nature to sin.
Now I am not calling Ms. Castle-Hughes a sinner. I do not know what her spiritual life is like, and I don't have any authority to judge her, although the fruits of her life don't seem to relate to the fruit of the Spirit.
But the root of the problem is this - we're judging people we will probably never know or meet on earth, telling them they are sinners - but then telling them that they can't sin! There's something wrong with this! Of course it's bad to sin, but if God isn't in your life, it's not like you're going to do anything else but sin!

Someone could say, "Well, Keisha really was like, proud of having a baby. I just can't go see someone proud of their sin."
Hmm...show me your conversation with her. Do you really know? Of course, if it's your conviction that you should not go see the movie because she was proud, then so be it. I know news articles have made it seem like she's proud of it, but you never know - they're just the news, and you know they don't have a lot of things correct. Really, you don't know - God knows the heart.

Yes sin is bad, and is ultimatly the ruin of us if we don't turn to God and his Grace, but this is no excuse not to see a beautiful movie made on Christ's birth. It was fairly accurate, and it blessed me a lot.

Articles from which I got info:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10416708
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10404883

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

From choirs to Celine Dion, from Amy Grant to instrumentals, Christmas music has been playing in my cd player since the beginning of November. I've been singing it since September, because of choir practice for our Christmas concert.

This year has been a little different, as usual, in the Christmas season. As I've been listening to and singing this Christmas music, I have been actually paying attention to the words! What a concept.

How many of you know what the third verse of O Holy Night is about? I can tell you it's not about a cute baby in a manger.

O Holy Night

Truely He taught us to love one another;

His law is love, and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus rise we,

Let all within us praise His Holy Name!

Christ is the Lord,

Then ever, ever praise we;

His pow'r and glory ever more proclaim!

Hmm...let's rearrange our idea of Christmas...or shall I say, let's EXPAND our idea of Christmas. There's no problem with a cute baby with cute animals and a cute mom and dad. But there's something more than that. Christmas songs help us to add to our understanding of Christmas.

Let me show you another song -

Dress the House

We'll dress the house with holly bright

And sprigs of mistletoe

We'll trim the Christmas tree tonight

And set the lights aglow

We'll wrap our gifts with ribbons gay

And give them out on Christmas day

By everything we do and say

Our gladness we will show

What a cute Christmas song. But there's the inevitable third verse!

And ye who would the Christ child greet

Your heart also adorn

That it may be a dwelling meet

For Him who now is born

Let all unlovely things give place

To souls bedecked with heavn'ly grace

That ye may veiw his Holy Face

With joy on Christmas morn!

Ahhhh...The third verse comes in yet again to bumble up our Christmas ideals. This is not only talking about Christmas - this is talking about our Christian life. This is a deep verse, whether you realize it or not. There are songs, and then there are deep songs. This is a deep song.

Listen to those words on your Christmas albums. Don't just aimlessly sing. Though singing can be fun, there is a reason we can sing. Songs such as 'Frosty the Snowman' are probably an exception, but really - think, and let God change your view of Christmas through those songs. You don't have to listen to a prophetic Christian artist for deep songs - they're right under your nose, and you didn't even notice!

An anchor won't keep you steady unless you use it

The busyness of the holiday season has already been going for quite some time. In fact, it started Thanksgiving week. There's probably some *lucky* people who are fortunate enough not to be busy every single weekend (and week) until New Years, but as for the rest of us - we're sunk!

That is - only but for one thing.
Yeah, Jesus is our anchor. It's Him that keeps us steady. But how can an anchor be useful if it isn't being used?

It's true that God will never leave us. He will hold fast to us even when we're trying to run away. But there's a certian extent that will take us to. Compare it to this - we all know that talent will only take us so far, it's the work that gets us further.

I encourage you to make God your anchor this Christmas season, in between the busy moments of your lives. And how?

The simplest way is to spend time with Him.
"But you JUST SAID that this was a busy season! I don't have time for that!"

If you have time to eat a snack, you have time to 'snack on God'. Seriously. It may be hard for all of us to spend our daily half hour with Him (or whatever you normally spend). I've found that spending time with Him in the early morning just isn't enough to keep my day going good! I've been trying to squeeze in small five minute 'breathers' where God and I just sit together a moment. You don't have to talk to Him. He doesn't have to talk to you. But just sit down with Him a moment during this hectic time of year and breathe for a minute. It will make your day worth living and easier to handle.

And by the way, this season is about Him, and it's only fair that we should spend more time with Him - instead of less.

And now I shall leave you with a few wise words from Clinton Scollard.

I who have heard the solemnities of sound -

The throbbing pulse of cities, the loud roar

Of ocean on sheer ledges of gaunt rock,

The chanting of innumerable winds

Around white peaks, the plunge of cataracts,

The whelm of avalanches, and, by night,

The thunders panic breath - have come to know

What is earth's mightiest voice - the desert's voice -

Silence, that speaks with deafening tones of God.

Clinton Scollard, The Great Voice

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

I'm going to try to get a few short thoughts about Christmas in here...well, before Christmas. But before I talk about Christmas, I need to say a few things.

First of all, my internet has died. Sadness. I don't know if it can be resurrected or not. Now I am on my mum's computer, which means less internet time. This means that I will not be emailing anybody very much, as well as very little blogging, and there will be no more pictures with my posts!
Also, I will not be updating my art website until my dad fixes my computer. But I encourage anyone who hasn't looked at my art to go see it - www.elisabethart.com. It's very impressive. (Just kidding!!!)

And now for our Feature Presentation ----------------------

Christmas is a beautiful time of year. The first thing that comes to mind is a Christmas Tree. Followed by Frosty the Snowman. And then...Scrooge.

"Bah, Humbug!"

Last year there was an uproar in the news when Walmart announced that it would no longer be useing the term 'Merry Christmas' and would replace it with 'Happy Holidays'. Conservatives raged and people got mad, refusing to say the term 'Happy Holidays'.
This year, there was a subtile notice that Wal-Mart would again be allowing it's employees to greet customers with 'Merry Christmas' and there would be an increase in merchandise labeled 'Christmas' instead of 'Holiday'.*

That's all very nice, but these secularists who push Wal-Mart and other stores to attempt to please the whole world (and don't end up pleasing anyone) - have they thought about the roots of the words, or perhaps tried to disect them at least a bit?

Who cares whether anybody says Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

The secular people will never get around it. Happy Holy Days or Merry Christ Mass. If they want to take Christ out of Christmas, then they need to cancel the holiday and call it 'Winter Special Day of the Secularists'.

I understand that one of the excuses behind all this is - 'What about Kwanzaa and Hanukkah?' It's really nice that everyone would like to include all Holidays around the Christmas seaons, but is that really what they're thinking about? Nobody wants to offend anyone and by doing so we step on everybody's toes. I don't have any statistics to defend myself from, but I'm pretty sure that most people in America celebrate Christmas, regardless of whether they are Christian or not. How are you going to know what anyone celebrates just by looking at them as a customer in your store? You can say Happy Holidays, or, as has been done for a lot of history without any wars over it [until now], you can say Merry Christmas.

*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15639425/