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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:59 am
Hey fellow Gaians,
I know I've been away (absorbed with school and all that). I'm somewhat reemerging as I await to take my last two finals and then sleep for once. The title of this post was inspired by a retreat I went to earlier in the month about the Nativity story. Everyone here knows it, I presume. After reading it and many other scriptures (in Luke and Matthew and John) we came together at the end and discussed how this Christmas would be different for us, and I ask you the same. If you haven't thought about it, how would you want to make this Christmas different from past ones?
(For anyone curious to know, my response was that I hoped that this Christmas wouldn't be any different from any other day I've had, or rather to work towards that goal. As I go along in my journey, I measure my life less in calendar days and more in accomplishments, struggles, and lessons. As such, gift buying has become less important [because I now see it as a worldly tradition rather than a Godly one], but I still buy gifts for people--or should I say those that my mom makes me--to keep the peace, but I hope to one day remove it completely from my life and simply continue to emphasize instead the spirit of why Christ came, who humanity was before, what we hope to be. It's a challenge that will take many years, but one that to me is the next step in growing in my faith.)
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:50 am
Interesting you brought this up. My plans for the holiday is keep being charitable the best I can and to reflect on what Faith, Joy, Hope, and Christ means to me during this season.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:44 pm
Sleep. Finals were brutal to me last week and they're still brutal to me now-- and will be until Wednesday-- OTL Lord give me strength...
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:12 pm
December 25th will come and go, as always. I do not celebrate Christmas. It's a mass market commercial shame, and worst of all, it's done in the name of God. Sure, we talk about giving, about charity, but when it comes down to it, we return home and shove our fat faces with one of the biggest feasts of the year, we are hypocrites. American's spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas last year. You know what we could do with that money? Jim Wallis suggested in his article that WE COULD PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a time of arrogant and wasteful spending, and right wing idiocy regarding whether we say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, as if it actually matters. Any one who makes any statement about the holiday becomes somehow part of an imagined War On Christmas. And it's the people who are the most devote who fuel all this nonsense. But, I digress. I'll give Santa Claus the last word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTu06Wjnd_M
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:26 pm
Yeah the "War on Christmas" is a joke and most people get caught up in the commercialism and materialism that has co-opted this season.
If the "War on Christmas" is just what is being advertised then they are a tad too late since not only has Christ been taken out of Christmas, but the "defenders" caught up in a pointless culture war are the ones who took Christ out themselves and look to nothing but a corpse.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:33 am
Matt Pniewski December 25th will come and go, as always. I do not celebrate Christmas. It's a mass market commercial shame, and worst of all, it's done in the name of God. Sure, we talk about giving, about charity, but when it comes down to it, we return home and shove our fat faces with one of the biggest feasts of the year, we are hypocrites. American's spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas last year. You know what we could do with that money? Jim Wallis suggested in his article that WE COULD PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a time of arrogant and wasteful spending, and right wing idiocy regarding whether we say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, as if it actually matters. Any one who makes any statement about the holiday becomes somehow part of an imagined War On Christmas. And it's the people who are the most devote who fuel all this nonsense. But, I digress. I'll give Santa Claus the last word. ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTu06Wjnd_Mis there something wrong with donating to charities and then returning home to enjoy the food and house our hard work has gotten us? i do agree that we should spend less on gifts for one another and use more of that money for charities but i also enjoy getting things for people i love in my life.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 5:01 pm
Shanna66 Matt Pniewski December 25th will come and go, as always. I do not celebrate Christmas. It's a mass market commercial shame, and worst of all, it's done in the name of God. Sure, we talk about giving, about charity, but when it comes down to it, we return home and shove our fat faces with one of the biggest feasts of the year, we are hypocrites. American's spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas last year. You know what we could do with that money? Jim Wallis suggested in his article that WE COULD PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a time of arrogant and wasteful spending, and right wing idiocy regarding whether we say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, as if it actually matters. Any one who makes any statement about the holiday becomes somehow part of an imagined War On Christmas. And it's the people who are the most devote who fuel all this nonsense. But, I digress. I'll give Santa Claus the last word. ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTu06Wjnd_Mis there something wrong with donating to charities and then returning home to enjoy the food and house our hard work has gotten us? Yes. But let me clarify- Every Christmas, we would volunteer for a few hours, and then, when we got home, we were asked to think about just how blessed we were. More less we were told "God doesn't love them as much as he loves us. And other disgusting sentiments. But hey, that's why people go, to feel good about themselves. On Christmas, shelters TURN DOWN volunteers, while they beg for them the entire rest of the year. Engaging in the gross decadence that is Christmas right after lending a few short hours to charity might as well be throwing bread crusts at a starving man, while you proceed to eat the entire sandwich.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:07 pm
Matt Pniewski Shanna66 Matt Pniewski December 25th will come and go, as always. I do not celebrate Christmas. It's a mass market commercial shame, and worst of all, it's done in the name of God. Sure, we talk about giving, about charity, but when it comes down to it, we return home and shove our fat faces with one of the biggest feasts of the year, we are hypocrites. American's spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas last year. You know what we could do with that money? Jim Wallis suggested in his article that WE COULD PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a time of arrogant and wasteful spending, and right wing idiocy regarding whether we say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, as if it actually matters. Any one who makes any statement about the holiday becomes somehow part of an imagined War On Christmas. And it's the people who are the most devote who fuel all this nonsense. But, I digress. I'll give Santa Claus the last word. ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTu06Wjnd_Mis there something wrong with donating to charities and then returning home to enjoy the food and house our hard work has gotten us? Yes. But let me clarify- Every Christmas, we would volunteer for a few hours, and then, when we got home, we were asked to think about just how blessed we were. More less we were told "God doesn't love them as much as he loves us. And other disgusting sentiments. But hey, that's why people go, to feel good about themselves. On Christmas, shelters TURN DOWN volunteers, while they beg for them the entire rest of the year. Engaging in the gross decadence that is Christmas right after lending a few short hours to charity might as well be throwing bread crusts at a starving man, while you proceed to eat the entire sandwich.That's what I thought you were talking about, the festivities. To each their own I guess. I do agree that people go overboard with the festivities. I think it has more to do with more people treating Christmas as a secular holiday rather than a religious holiday and justifying secular extravegance as being somehow part of Christianity. There's nothing wrong with giving thanks and celebrating, but again one doesn't have to celebrate as if they were some "sweet 16 spoiled prince/ess".
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:05 am
Matt Pniewski Shanna66 Matt Pniewski December 25th will come and go, as always. I do not celebrate Christmas. It's a mass market commercial shame, and worst of all, it's done in the name of God. Sure, we talk about giving, about charity, but when it comes down to it, we return home and shove our fat faces with one of the biggest feasts of the year, we are hypocrites. American's spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas last year. You know what we could do with that money? Jim Wallis suggested in his article that WE COULD PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a time of arrogant and wasteful spending, and right wing idiocy regarding whether we say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, as if it actually matters. Any one who makes any statement about the holiday becomes somehow part of an imagined War On Christmas. And it's the people who are the most devote who fuel all this nonsense. But, I digress. I'll give Santa Claus the last word. ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTu06Wjnd_Mis there something wrong with donating to charities and then returning home to enjoy the food and house our hard work has gotten us? Yes. But let me clarify- Every Christmas, we would volunteer for a few hours, and then, when we got home, we were asked to think about just how blessed we were. More less we were told "God doesn't love them as much as he loves us. And other disgusting sentiments. But hey, that's why people go, to feel good about themselves. On Christmas, shelters TURN DOWN volunteers, while they beg for them the entire rest of the year. Engaging in the gross decadence that is Christmas right after lending a few short hours to charity might as well be throwing bread crusts at a starving man, while you proceed to eat the entire sandwich. ive never seen the point in only vonlunteering or giving to charities around just one time of year. besides giving some loose change to the salvation army i dont really do anything i wouldnt normally do any other day of the year
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