Merry Whatever

Once again, that Season is upon us when I get just a little nostalgic, not misty so much as wistful.  More and more, this time of year I find myself saying, “Gee, I miss Schottenstein’s.” I’m sure I’m not alone in mourning the store gone now from the Columbus landscape. But you don’t want to hear me pining over days gone by.  So, I’ll move on.

It is also the Season when we’re not sure how to greet one another.  I had finished the fourth or so draft of this essay when I discovered the President-elect had brought the issue up when he spoke at Liberty University in October.  That news alert got past me somehow.  Anyway, it seems to suggest the debate hasn’t gone away.

            We can’t say “Merry Christmas” because we might offend our Jewish neighbors. I get that.  But since our Jewish neighbors make up less than 3% of the U.S. population, I wonder how serious the threat is.  Still, if the guy is wearing a Yarmulke (what Sherlock Holmes would call “a hint”), I might hold off on hitting him with “Merry Christmas.” I might go away feeling good about my “bold witness” but I also might leave him with a closed mind about Christians. 

What do we say to Muslims we meet?  Now, that’s a puzzle.  Sure, they don’t worship Jesus but Islam has a high regard for Jesus.  He is considered a prophet and, though they do not believe him to have been the Son of God, some Muslims believe he was born to a virgin.  Fundamentalist Muslims forbid the faithful to say “Merry Christmas” to Christian acquaintances, though other Muslim groups disagree.  So, if I say “Merry Christmas” to a Muslim, he might consider me friendly, rude, or benighted.  On occasion, I’ve had Muslims say, “God bless you” to me; I usually repeat the benediction, assuming each of us knows what we mean when we say the words.

How about just saying, “Happy Holidays?”  Those safe, inoffensive words always make me smile.  Here’s the most unnecessary lesson in etymology you will ever receive. “Holiday” derives from “holy day.” 

It’s so obvious I imagine a scenario in which some bright youngster, having just heard mom’s neutral greeting to a store clerk, says, “You know, ‘holiday’ sounds a lot like ‘holy day.’”  Mom, preoccupied with getting her purchases into the trunk and wondering what dad is making for dinner, may inadvertently go into dictionary mode and say, “That’s because Christmas is a ‘holy day’ to religious people.”  Oops, there goes the effort to raise Sonny in a secular atmosphere.  His next words might just be, “Religious? What does Christmas have to do with religion?”  Maybe he will wonder if the explanation he’d been given for the “manger scenes” set up all around town is wrong.  Maybe they’re not just to remind us to give to poor families.  Maybe there is something about that Baby the strangely dressed men are looking at.  And, maybe those songs they’ve been playing in the store—songs about joy and peace—mean something.

Far fetched?  Sure.  But this time of year there are all kinds of clues regarding “incarnate Deity” and promises that men and women “no more may die.” The snippets from these ubiquitous carols are food for thought.  And, if you are trying to raise bright children to have a secular worldview, you had best not let them think too much. 

Rumor circulating last year suggested store managers, weary of constraining their employee’s free speech, told them to use whatever greeting they wanted to.  What could it hurt if they briefly acknowledged their faith?

Ah, that brings me back to Schottenstein’s.

If you never experienced the store, you should know it was a huge outlet for overstocked merchandise of every kind.  You could buy high-end clothing and shoes, popcorn and cokes, and many things weird and wonderful.  George Clooney and George Clinton could buy outfits there.  Suppose you wanted (for reasons best discussed with your therapist) a wallet made of Koala hide.  Though the store might prove not to have it, Schottenstein’s still would have been the first place to visit.

And during the holiday season lots of people visited Schottenstein’s.

Christmas shoppers entering the store saw a large menorah next to a poster explaining Hanukkah.  The Schottenstein family wanted non-Jewish customers to understand this holiday celebrating God’s faithfulness in restoring proper worship to Jerusalem.

They were not attempting to win people to their faith.  They were simply affirming their faith, just as their store being closed on the Sabbath did.

As we once again weigh the options of what to say to strangers this Advent season, maybe the Schottensteins’ example is instructive.  If the family members didn’t hesitate to affirm their faith, maybe you’re free to speak a heartfelt “Merry Christmas” to those you meet.

Nonetheless, we need to realize saying “Merry Christmas” is not an especially effective means of announcing your faith.  Anyone can say it.  Some may say it just because it makes them feel good to defy political correctness.  And, of course, saying it by no means implies commitment to the Child of Christmas.

Maybe we can learn something from the fourth-century bishop Athanasius, who was also involved in a debate over the right words to use at Christmas.  He said, “The Son of God became a man so men might become sons of God.”  Could your best witness this Christmas—and all the year—be a lifestyle demonstrating you have become a child of God?

What Is Jesus Doing For Us Now?

Have you ever found yourself thinking of Jesus in the past tense?  As we teach our children the events in the Gospels do we ever leave them with the impression that Jesus was a great hero who did marvelous things in the days when men and women dressed like they were in a Christmas pageant all the time?

After having pointed his readers to God’s activities on their behalf in the past, Paul then turns to God’s activities in the present—activities mediated through the work of Jesus Christ.

It’s important for us to understand what God in Christ is doing for us right now.

I’ve spent a lot of time studying the history of spiritual awakenings.  It’s exciting stuff.  But there’s a danger of beginning to think of these blessings as belonging to “the good old days.”  We begin to mentally limit God, thinking things were different then, those marvelous experiences couldn’t happen now. 

The God who did marvelous things in the past is doing marvelous things right now, if only we had the eyes to see.  Paul writes about this in Ephesians 1:7-10.

That vision of God at work in the now keeps us from becoming dull, boring Christians by ever reminding us that God isn’t finished with us, that he has something he wants to do in our lives right now.

We can face each day with an air of expectancy. 

So, what is Jesus Christ doing for us today?

Jesus Christ Gives Us Freedom—Today

“In him we have redemption through his blood…”

In Paul’s thought, sin is spiritual slavery.  And he assumes everyone is born a slave to sin.  As we approach the Christmas season we are sure to have an opportunity to see a rendition of Dickens’s Christmas Carol.  In one of Scrooge’s nightmares, his former business partner Jacob Marley appears wearing chains.  He explains to the startled Scrooge, “I wear the chain I forged in life! I made it link-by-link and yard-by-yard! I gartered it on of my own free will and by my own free will, I wore it!”

Dickens chained Marley to censure his greed.  Paul would insist we all wear chains, not just the greedy, not just the adulterous, not just the liar; all of us wear chains.  We may be respected by society like Hawthorne’s Reverend Dimsdale but hidden out of sight, we may be bound by our guilt and shame.

The answer to slavery is freedom, which Paul underscores in that word “redemption.”  The word hints of the slave markets. For a slave to be redeemed was to be emancipated.

For Paul our redemption is a present reality.  We are free right now.

The agency of our redemption is the death of Jesus; the idea is implied in the reference to “blood.”  No one could simply walk into a slave market and say, “I want that slave to be free.”  A price had to be paid.  Somehow the death of Christ was that price.  It was sufficient to guarantee our freedom from sin’s power.

Jesus Christ Gives Us Forgiveness—Today

“In him we have … the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us.”

We cannot be truly free until we are forgiven.  When we are forgiven nothing should be able to put us into bondage again.  As the hymn says, “He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free.”

There should be no more bondage to guilt.  The word Paul uses is literally “trespasses.”  It implies crossing a moral boundary.  We have all taken those false steps, willfully crossed the line.  Through Christ we have been pardoned; our guilt has been dismissed.

There should be no more bondage to shame.  Guilt reflects our status in the eyes of God; shame reflects our status in our own eyes.  It may either make us cower, unable to seize any opportunity to serve God or it may make us hide behind a blustering self-righteousness as we disparately attempt to prove to the watching world how good we are.  Forgiveness robs shame of its power because to embrace God’s forgiveness is to acknowledge not only that I am a sinner but also to acknowledge that God accepts me “just as I am.”

There should be no more bondage to fear.  The Message paraphrase puts it this way: “Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!”

A recent news story reports that Pope Francis has indefinitely extended the power of the parish priest to forgive the sin of abortion.  Formerly this privilege belonged only to a bishop.  As a Protestant, I find this notion a little unfamiliar but I recognize the pope’s desire to show the breadth of God’s grace.  Sometimes women have sought abortions to save their own lives, often so they might continue to care for other children.  Sometimes women have sought abortions because of economic circumstances I cannot full appreciate.  And, sometimes women have sought abortions out of self-centered selfishness. 

None of these women are beyond the great grace of God.  Indeed, none of us are beyond “the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” through Jesus Christ.  Thank God we can know that grace today because we so often need it today.

Jesus Christ Gives Us Foresight—Today

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Paul introduces the Ephesians to the notion of God’s great purpose, reminding them that history is not going in circles.  It is moving in toward a goal.  Arthur Ainger wrote, “God is working out his purpose as year succeeds to year…” Ainger may have been thinking in terms of the Second Coming; Paul saw God’s purposes being worked out in the first century.

In some way, God’s purpose involves the whole of the Cosmos.  That is hinted at in Romans 8:18-22.  God’s redemptive activity impacts the whole universe.

J. B. Lightfoot says Paul “…implies the entire harmony of the universe, which shall no longer contain alien and discordant elements, but shall find their centre and bond in Christ.  Sin and death, sorrow and failure and suffering shall cease.” 

This great future will be brought about because of what Christ has done. 

So, God has opened up the great mystery of history, answered the question, “Where are we going?”  This foresight is summed up in two words, “wisdom and insight.”  By these we are able to perceive something of what God is doing in the world and see how we may align ourselves with his plan.

Though we may not have all the details we may wish, it means we may rest assured that history is not running out of control.  It means one election cannot derail God’s plan.  It means that even though we don’t know what tomorrow, next month, or next year may bring; we do know what the end of the calendar will bring. 

What does this mean for us?

Here’s how the New Living Translation treats these verses: “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.”

Elsewhere, writing to another church in Asia Minor, Paul speaks of God’s intention for Christ: 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The words speak to both the present and the future. 

Paul was in prison because of his faith.  Some Christians had already been imprisoned for their faith; a few had been executed.  Many Christians may have sensed a greater time of persecution lay ahead.  In fact, Asia Minor would become the focal point of some of the most intense trials Christians would face.  These words assured believers they would be vindicated.  They were not fools for following Christ.

While Paul’s words envision a time when all will bow to Christ’s rule, they also speak to his followers today. 

They remind us of the significance we must put on Jesus Christ in our message and teaching. 

On the one hand, this is easy to do.  Presenting the story of Jesus—as the Gospels present it—allows us to talk about one of the most admired men in all of history.  When we really tell his story, we will tell of one who cared for the lonely, the broken, the outcasts, the hurting of the world.  We will tell of one who lived and died as no one else ever lived or died. 

At the same time, if we tell the story of Jesus we will face a challenge.

The early Christians faced death for saying, “Jesus is Lord.”  In some places, in today’s world, Christians face the same threat.  In our own culture, we may not face death for using those words, but we do face reproof and scorn.  To even suggest the day might come when “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” is to open ourselves to charges of narrow-mindedness and bigotry. 

While we may certainly speak respectfully of the founders of other religions, we cannot imply there is no difference between Jesus and those leaders.  We cannot allow ourselves to forget Jesus’ words John recorded in his Gospel, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Those words mean we cannot claim all religions are really the same.  If we fail to place Christ as the centerpiece of our message, we fail to proclaim the gospel.

Of course, while standing by this truth, we need to be wise in how we present it.  Jesus’ claim to be “the way” to the Father was hard to hear in the first century; it is certainly hard to hear today.  Drop the claim into the opening moments of an evangelistic opportunity and the opportunity will likely be lost.  Reflecting on the context of John 14:6, I think we can make this observation.  Jesus made this claim to his closest associates, to those who knew him.  Indeed, Jesus made the claim only after his disciples had spent time with him, seeing the signs and hearing the words that would substantiate the claim.  Perhaps we should avoid making the claim during our initial efforts to present the gospel.   Instead, let us focus on presenting evidence for who Jesus is and how he changes lives; then, should we cite this claim those hearing it will be more likely weigh its validity. 

At the same time, all who claim to be part of God’s people should submit to his rule today.

This means we need to examine ourselves.  Are we fitting into God’s program?  Have we enthroned Jesus or are we attempting to dethrone him?  In building our society, are we simply ignoring his lordship?  How can I help all of God’s people—whatever church they may belong to—acknowledge the lordship of Christ and do his work?

Jesus is eternally contemporary.  He did a great work for us in the past; he does a great work for us now.  He will do a great work for us in the future

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

A Book for Children?

Adultery, murder, treason, rape, and theft—would you give a book containing stories of such behavior to your child or grandchild?  Every year millions of Americans do. 

Many parents and grandparents will give Bibles, perhaps as “stocking stuffers,” this Christmas.  They will hope that as the excitement of new video games and R/C vehicles wanes, children and grandchildren will pick up their new book and begin to read.  But reading the Bible is not like reading the Harry Potter books or How to Train Your Dragon.  At some point, the child must be told, “The Bible is real.”  And, for the modern child, that will birth a whole raft of questions.

How do we help our children understand the strange and sometimes violent world of the Bible?

Attempting to introduce a child to theories of inspiration and inerrancy may confuse the issue.  Seasoned evangelicals have a hard time articulating those concepts and agreeing on their meaning.  Eventually, every reader should attempt to resolve what it means to describe the Bible as “God’s Word;” but it may be too much to assign the task to a child or teen.  Of course, you might simply encourage a youngster to read the Bible by saying, “This Book is important because in it God speaks to you.”  While true, many a candid pre-adolescent might say, “Maybe, but I’m not sure what God is saying.”

This is not the place for even a cursory review of the principles of interpretation as they apply to the Bible.  Two good books for non-specialists are:

R. C. Sproul’s Knowing Scripture from Inter-Varsity Press and

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth from Zondervan.   Fee and Stuart’s book is available on Kindle.

Keeping such a young person in mind, I am going to offer some maxims to help you help your child or grandchild have a fruitful experience reading the Bible.  As that child’s parent or grandparent, you are best suited to translate these maxims into terms appropriate to the child you have gifted with a Book you do not want to be lost in the back of the closet.

Children need to know the Bible approaches human behavior with realism.

In the early twentieth century, heroes in books intended for children and adolescents were often flawless characters; you would be pleased to have Tom Swift or Nancy Drew living in your neighborhood.  Not so, modern heroes.  The latest incarnations of the Marvel or DC cast of heroes have wounded psyches manifested in sometimes disturbing behavior.  We have recently learned both Captain America and Batman have serious trust issues, Batman’s bordering on xenophobia.  The Punisher’s revenge-obsessed behavior makes the Hulk’s antics seem like a kindergartner’s tantrum.   If arrogance were a super-power, Tony Stark (aka Ironman) would possess it in excess.  While comic book writers took a while to discover the best of us have dark sides, the millennia-old Bible presents most of its heroes as flawed. 

Abraham, famed for admirable faith, could demonstrate reprehensible cowardice. David’s songs still influence our hymnody but he plotted the murder of a military hero so he could take his wife.

Exposure to this realism can help older children prepare for life.  You can advise them to admire heroic behavior while accepting but not emulating less-heroic behavior.

Reckoning with this realism may help a child realize we all need God’s grace, the same grace in evidence as God uses imperfect servants to advance the Kingdom.

Then, too, facing this reality may prepare your children or grandchildren for their eventual, inevitable, discovery of your imperfections.

Finally, the Bible’s realism prepares us to introduce the children we care about to the One who never betrayed his integrity, who exhibited no flaws in his character.  

Children should know the Bible emphasizes the consequences of human behavior.

From the Bible’s opening pages, with its story of Adam and Eve, we see the consequences of bad behavior; indeed, this partaking of “forbidden fruit” and the subsequent expulsion from Paradise became a paradigm of the pain, loss, and chaos caused by humanity’s ongoing rebellion against God.

With the occasional exception of characters on crime dramas, movie and TV characters of all ages can hook-up or sleep around with few repercussions.  Albeit entire episodes of both comedies and dramas can be built around the poor soul who believes a one-night stand promises commitment, most characters have a more mature, modern perspective. Divorce, unwanted pregnancies, and STDs are seldom consequences of such behavior in the world of situation comedies, no matter how common they may be in the real world.  Yet, as I write, the Center for Disease Control is reporting an increase of sexually transmitted diseases across the nation.  How interesting that Paul (I Cor. 6:18) suggests there may be self-destructive consequences to sexual sin; although The Message makes it clear Paul is discussing consequences beyond the physical: “There is more to sex than mere skin on skin….  We must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever.”

Of course, the Bible also speaks of the soul-numbing consequences of resentment, materialism, hatred, bitterness, and selfishness, to mention only a few of the vices portrayed in its pages.

In reading about the consequences of sin, the sensitive child might be troubled by the image of a God who brings judgment down on peoples and nations.  While almost any book on apologetics should address the issue, Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Baker) deals with the matter at length. It might not be a book to give your child or grandchild but it might help you answer their questions.

But it would be imbalanced to suggest the Bible only revels in the consequences of sinful behavior.  You can help your child or grandchild see how loyalty, friendship, generosity, and selflessness make our world better.  You may point to Joseph to show the consequences of forgiveness, to Ruth to show the consequences of hard work, to Esther to show the consequences of courage, to Daniel to show the consequences of integrity, and to many other individuals whose behavior is worthy of admiration. 

Children—and not a few adults—need to understand the difference between “the descriptive” and “the prescriptive” in the Bible.

The Bible describes some behavior in the lives of individuals and nations to help us understand what these people and nations were like.  We are not intended to copy such behavior, even if it is worthy of admiration; though we are especially to avoid it if the behavior reflects an individual’s estrangement from God.  Despite his celebrated wisdom, Solomon took many wives, clearly unwise behavior and clearly behavior we should not copy.  (Of course, the Bible shows the consequences of his behavior.)

In Acts, Barnabus sold all his property to support the infant church.  Such generosity is praiseworthy but it does not demand we divest ourselves of homes and cars to give to the church.  His behavior is exceptional, not normative. 

The Bible also prescribes behavior intended to mark us as Christians.  Commands like “Love one another” are incumbent upon each of us; Barnabus his love in one way, we will likely find another. 

Discerning the descriptive and the prescriptive is not always easy; your child or grandchild may need wise counsel to make that distinction.

A directive given to an individual might not be intended as a universal instruction intended for all persons.  Though it may have valuable implications.

Paul instructed Timothy, “Drink a little wine for your stomach’s sake.”  That instruction to Paul’s protégé implies neither that wine is the best remedy for all digestive ailments nor that we should turn to wine when Pepcid AC is available.  Perhaps the instruction reminds Christians they should look after their health, while also reminding us the mentoring relationship ought to include concern for every aspect of our mentee’s life.

Children, like all of us, benefit from studying their Bibles with others.

Given the low literacy rate in the first-century world, not to mention the high cost of producing manuscripts, “Bible reading” was usually a community activity.  We have long imagined Christians gathered to hear Paul’s letters to their churches but, doubtless, Christians gathered to hear Mark, Matthew, or the other gospels read as they became available.  Christians eagerly listened as a literate fellow believer read the story of Jesus.  It seems likely these sessions included opportunities for questions and discussion.

Puritans, believing the ideal Christian family to be “a little church,” spent time each week reading the Bible together and discussing its meaning; as well as exploring the implications of the previous Sunday’s sermon.  Indeed, Puritan fathers in New England could be fined for not leading their families in this activity.

Members of evangelical families in Victorian England gathered, often with their servants, for daily Bible reading and prayers.  Of course our culture is different, not better, not worse, just different.  Schedules might not allow today’s families to gather every day.  Our less patriarchal culture will allow and, likely, expect mothers and children of both genders to have input in discussions.  And, of course, we should, especially as children grow older, allow respectful differences of opinion.  (We can hardly imagine a nineteenth-century Baptist footman to have been free to offer his opinion during a session led by his Anglican master.)

Whether or not you initiate such regular times for family Bible reading, you should assure your child or grandchild that no question about the Bible is off limits.  That being said, you might wish to purchase a reliable one-volume Bible commentary, one that honestly deals with puzzling passages and the questions raised by them.

The key point is: we should not expect children to get a crucial grasp of the Bible on their own.  Sunday school can help, though lessons are not intended to be deep.  The “community” which leads them into the Bible may include the church but certainly should include the home.  If you are known to study the Bible, your child or grandchild will be more likely to come to you with questions.  In doing so they will reflect the spirit of the Ethiopian Bible reader who admitted, “How can I understand unless someone helps me?”

******

Before I conclude, let me speak of a few practical matters.

There are many “Children’s Bibles” available.  They often have colorful covers and lots of pictures.  Though younger children might find them appealing, I suspect older youngsters find them childish, even embarrassing.  For a pre-adolescent, go for a more subdued format.

The market is flooded with study Bibles of all sorts.  Some aim to simply explain the Bible, some reflect a denominational perspective, some are based on the teaching of popular preachers; and some are thematic and specialized, like study Bibles for nurses or study Bibles prepared to help defend the faith.  You may be tempted to buy one.  But, I am not sure newcomers to the Bible should start their reading experience with a study Bible.  Yes, study Bibles can be useful tools.  Their comments and outlines often enhance our understanding, as long as we do not confuse the editor’s notes with the Scripture itself.  A child might find it hard to make that distinction.  Just a simple Bible, perhaps with a dictionary, might be the best gift for a child.

But what translation?  Years ago, when I first became a pastor, a dear Sunday school teacher in my church advised parents to buy their children the King James Version of the Bible.  Why?  The teacher and others like her argued the Authorized Version, to give it its proper name, was the version children would hear read from the pulpit, the version used in most Sunday school literature, and the best version for memorizing.  The first two reasons are no longer valid and the third is purely a matter of opinion. 

Many fine translations are available.  All attempt to be as faithful in communicating the message of the Bible as the translators of the Authorized Version were.  All acknowledge English has changed in four hundred years. The New American Standard Bible and the Holman Christian Standard Bible have a more “traditional” sound.  The New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version are widely available and represent a middle ground.  The New Living Bible and the New Century Version have a more “contemporary” sound.  Begin your shopping for a Bible by looking at these.  A paraphrase like The Message is fun to read but probably is not the first Bible a child should be given.

I deal with translations at greater length in my June 2016 post, "Verily, Verily," or Should I Say, "Truly, Truly."  The post includes some elementary observations on translation philosophy.

If you are among the many parents and grandparents planning to give a Bible this Christmas, you are part of a grand tradition.  You will be giving a child you care about a book with stories of love, forgiveness, hope, grace; and, most important, Jesus.