Santa Claus Is White

Santa
It is hard to believe, but the craziness around Christmas just got crazier.
A couple days ago, Megyn Kelly, a commentator for Fox News declared that Santa Claus is white. Her comments set off a rapid response from serious to comedic. But, if I take a step back from the craziness of it all, her comments made me stop and think. Apart from the debate about the history of Santa Claus, what does it mean if Santa is always white?

To tell you the truth, until this craziness erupted, I never thought about it.
I never thought about what that meant to me.
And, even more unsettling for me, I never thought about what it might mean to a person of color. Or, a child of color.
What does it mean…
If the great gift giver;
The person who knows if you have been naughty or nice;
Is a person you can NEVER look like or be?
Does it matter?
Until now, it never occurred to me to even ask the question.
And that is the unsettling part.

At some fundamental level I think it does matter.
At least for me.
Because in the largely white, largely Caucasian culture in which I live I need to remember that the world is much larger and much more diverse than the white world in which I live. Maybe it is me who needs to begin to imagine a black Santa or an Asian Santa or an Hispanic Santa as another small step towards seeing and understanding and appreciating the world as it really is.

As God intends it to be.

Paying Attention

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Each December, when our children were young, we would gather as a family around our dining room table and talk about what organizations we would like to support financially.  Our church always came first, but we also always set aside additional money to support causes and programs that were important to us.  One year, one of our sons had been studying whales in school and so wanted to give some money to a program that supported whales.  Together we decided on the amount.  I wrote the check.  He addressed the envelope, put on the stamp and put the check in the envelope to be mailed.  As they grew older, the causes they chose were most often the ones they were involved in.  A small organization in the heart of Appalachia with whom we worked each summer to repair homes.  A program that provided food, clothing and a touch of humanity to the homeless who lived in New York City.  The organization with whom they worked when they traveled to Central America to build homes.  That mid-December conversation became a family ritual with each of us having a voice and all of us making the decisions together.

My two sons are now grown.
Young men each making a difference in his own way.
But, the tradition continues.
This evening, after dinner, my wife and I sat down and had the conversation again. What causes or programs do we want to support? Which organizations are addressing the most pressing needs which we see in our community?
With the decision made, I was left the task of writing the checks. As I did I realized that I should be paying more attention to what I was doing. That with each check I wrote I should be more mindful of the work we were doing some small part to support.  The food pantry where more people will line up tomorrow so they have the food to survive and to feed their children.  The medical clinic which provides much needed medical services to the most vulnerable in our community.  The organization which is doing fabulous work with the immigrant population in our community, not only helping them find their way in this new country and culture, but challenging the rest of us to live up the ideals of our nation.

I realized as I was writing the checks what a privilege it was to do so.
And, that I needed to pay more attention to what I was doing.

An Advent Prayer

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In these Advent days, O God, may our hearts lead the way.
Because despite all the pressure to the contrary:
The tinsel;
The glitter;
The relentless message that the meaning of Christmas is about what we find in stores and not about our spirits, our hearts long for something more.
For something deeper.
For something much more real.
For that which we often can’t quite name, but somehow we know.

And, so we pray…
Turn us around, O God and point us in the right direction.
Turn us in the direction of the One who comes to be the Prince of Peace.
Turn us in the direction of a star that still might lead the way.
Turn us in the direction of unexpected angels who meet us on the street or in the store.
Turn us, we pray, in the direction of Christmas.

Advent Pictures – The Journey Towards Christmas

Advent
It so often happens that suddenly you are at Christmas and you are not sure how you got there.
And you arrive at Christmas more exhausted than renewed.
Adapting something I saw online, the idea is to take a picture that represents the word (see below) for each day.  You don’t have to be a great photographer. This project is hopefully more about the practice of paying attention and being intentional, than it is being the best photographer [though we encourage you to be creative!]  After you have taken a picture, email it to me (paul@bedfordpreschurch.org) with or without an explanation or caption.  I will post them on our church’s Facebook page and Pinterest page.

December 1 – Watch

December 2  – Expectation

December 3 – Peace

December 4 – Time

December 5 – Vision

December 6 – Awake

December 7 – Ready

December 8 – Wisdom

December 9 – Angels

December 10 – Holy

December 11 – Steadfast/Steady

December 12 – Hope

December 13 – Fear Not

December 14 – Dream

December 15 – Rejoice

December 16 – Shepherds

December 17 – Ponder

December 18 – Journey

December 19 – Patient/Patience

December 20 – God With Us

December 21 – Wisemen/Wisewomen

December 22 – Sign

December 23 – Star

December 24 – Joy

December 25 – Light

Thinking About Thanksgiving

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The way the family story goes is the only way I passed French in high school is that my Mom promised the French teacher I would never take French again.  That high school trauma of not being able to learn French led to 30+ years of believing I could not learn another language.  That began to change when I began to lead service learning trips to Central America and wanted desperately to be able to have at least simple conversations with the new friends I was making.  Albeit slowly, little by little, I am now learning Spanish.

All of which leads to this…
The Spanish for Thanksgiving is el dia de accion de gracias.
The day of the act or action of giving thanks.
I like that.
The action of giving thanks.
More than just words.
More than just saying Thank You.
The action of thanksgiving.
If Thanksgiving was more like that what might the action of Thanksgiving look like in your life?

Winners and Losers

winners and losers

 

When I was channel surfing last night I paused for a moment on the local access station and listened to a high school coach who was being interviewed. One comment he made caught my attention. “Of course, we always want to win,” he said.

I found myself thinking about the impact of that way of thinking.
So many facets of our lives are defined by the construct of winning and losing.  Not just with sporting events, but also in our work and in our politics, and even our relationships. Did we win or have we lost? Of course, there can only be one winner, right? The rest of us or the rest of the time we are the losers. We remember and celebrate and glorify the winners. The losers – most of us – are first criticized for not trying hard enough or fighting hard enough or being good enough and then forgotten. What an awful way to live.

In the interest of honesty and full disclosure, I haven’t always thought this way.
By nature I am competitive both in the sports in which I competed and with the teams that I have helped to coach. And, competitive, too, in other areas of my life. Looking back on it now, I wish I had done it differently, especially when I was working with children and youth.

Instead of talking only about winning, I wish the coach had said something like this: “Of course we always enjoy winning, but what I stress with my team, in each game we play, is for each person to do their best.” That is the message we need to be giving to our youth.
And, to our elected officials.
And, to our co-workers.
And, to ourselves.
At least, I need to say it over and over again to myself.
In the moment we have…
For the task at hand…
Can we bring our best and do our best?
Maybe if we approached life from that vantage point we would all be just a bit healthier and happier. And, if we are able to do that much, we will have accomplished a great deal.