Raise the Mark

Set the sights high, cause like the old wise men always said:  "Aim at nothing and you'll hit it every time!"

My favorite "box" stores are already into Christmas decorations.  Get your ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, one puffy Santa, a couple of plastic reindeer, and you got Christmas ready!  Nope!

I become more and more convinced that if others want to talk about Santa, I guess they will, and I won't.  Not much point in challenging, anyway.  The only real Santa problem, for me, is that if we tell children for the first 7 years of their life that Santa is real, and then say:  "O.K., never mind, Santa is only a symbol of a generous heart. It's JESUS who is real."  Now, are we preparing them to believe us about Jesus?

But, for me, I like the grand announcements:

http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=1

The blessing worth celebrating:  Psalm 122.

Not make-believe, or symbolic, but the wonder of God grappling with human nature, doing battle with death, and turning the chaos into blessing.  You can reference Genesis 1, and the grand poetry of the end of Revelation, and then spin it back to the miracle in the manger.

What a season for those of us called and privileged to proclaim!  And, you know, that means EVERY Christian, one way or another.