IT'S ALL GOOD, EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT

"Singing light songs to the heavyhearted is like pouring salt in their wounds"

(Proverbs 25:20 - The Message)

As much as I'm typically all about the positive, and about encouraging people to always believe for the best and to see the glass half-full, sometimes I think it's good to let people know that it's also OK to feel the negative and to embrace the dark side along with the Light...

"To everything there is a season...a time to laugh and a time to cry"...

Sometimes tears are appropriate...

Jesus apparently knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but still burst into tears when He saw the tomb of His beloved friend...

It's not a contradiction of faith or double-mindedness to feel a little bit of everything...feeling sad about things that happen in your life or in the world doesn't mean that you're not grateful for the good things...

Paul told the people of the Roman church to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep"...in other words, it's not always appropriate to try to cheer someone up when they're going through something...sometimes it's the right thing to just cry with them, or to even just be sad with them, and not make them feel guilty about their emotions, and just trust that they'll be OK in time...

I'm not talking about the perpetually negative people who don't try to get better and just drain you and suck all the joy out of everything all the time...there's actually little you can do for those types...they are what they are...

But you can love your life, and still feel a sense of deep loss over some things...there most definitely is "a time to mourn"...it doesn't mean that you're living in regret or living in the past or are ungrateful...

This may sound our of character for me to be talking like this, but this is where the energy is for me today, so I'm just writing it as I feel it...

I know in my own case, if I'm feeling down about something, rare as that may be, it doesn't help at all for someone to remind me of how good I have it, or to tell me about someone who has it worse...that just makes me feel crummier...

I learned some time ago that Jesus created a pattern in setting the example of predicting His own death and His own resurrection..."I will be in the heart of the earth for three days, and then I will rise again"...I have learned in my own life that there are seasons when I feel that I am in the heart of the earth, but I also know that I will rise again...I have learned to embrace the death and still prophecy the resurrection...

If you're happy and you know it, that's awesome...I'm all about the happy...love the happy...but I don't judge others who aren't there yet, or try to make them feel better about anything, necessarily...I just try to love and understand them where they are, and believe that the blues will run their course...

I might even buy them a drink (if they don't have a substance abuse problem)

"Use wine and beer only as sedatives, to kill the pain and dull the ache Of the terminally ill, for whom life is a living death."
Proverbs 31:7 - The Message)

Whatever you're feeling from the dark side today, I speak strength to you to just feel it and process it and get through it and get past it...

"Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning..."

And then when you're ready for it, I will give you this:

"Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you—rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!"

(Isaiah 60:1 - AMP)"

TODAY AT METRON - 11/15/15

"Today was light hearted and fun. 

I think we needed that. A lot of us laughing and it was good for the soul..."

-FM

Starbucks and "The Reason for the Season"

I was planning to write about this even before this latest thing about the supposed "War on Christmas" made the news again because of this year's Starbucks holiday season cup, but my original idea was to do it closer to December 25. Tonight, however, it seems that "now" is the right time for this post.

We just left our local Starbucks a little while ago, after going there for some delicious after-dinner coffee. I visit one of their stores every day for my beloved venti iced coffee fixed just the way I like it (when Ken is with me, he usually orders something different every time). 

I like to go to Starbucks with my mac and write or get caught up on social media, and since I no longer have office space, I also do a lot of my counseling appointments there. 

I love all things Starbucks.

Tonight while we were there, I noticed that they were selling both a Christmas coffee blend, and a large Advent Calendar, as they do every year. After we finished our coffee, we got in the car and I turned on sirius radio to listen to one of the two holiday channels that they have this year. I noted that Channel 13 was playing Bing Crosby's cover of 'The Little Drummer Boy', (a song about the birth of Jesus), and then I turned it over to see what they were playing on Channel 18, and heard some orchestra's rendition of 'What Child is This?' (yet another song about the birth of Jesus). Both of these Channels play at least as many songs about the Nativity, 24 hours a day, as they do songs about Santa Claus and reindeer and snow.

I suppose that we all see what we're looking for, and since I have no religious paranoia and am not constantly on the lookout for a politically correct "War on Christmas", I just don't see it. In fact, I see Christmas being observed earlier and earlier every year, and I hear songs about the birth of the Christ-child being played in every store, restaurant or mall that I patronize.

But I also hear the phrases, "Let's put Christ back in Christmas" and "Jesus is the reason for the season" quite a bit from some Christians who think that there is a grand plot to banish it, altogether, and that's what I want to address here.

First of all, "Christ" (as in Jesus Christ) wasn't initially even in what we now know as Christmas, so technically, Jesus wasn't originally the "reason for the season". 

The Christian ecclesiastical calendar contains many remnants of pre-Christian festivals that were all rooted in paganism, and were celebrated for centuries before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Church in later centuries made it a habit to "Christianize" all of the pagan holidays and festivals, which is why Christmas includes elements of the Roman feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra, and why we have christmas trees (which came from the druids), and why we have the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus.

Historians believe that Jesus was actually born the first week of April. We only celebrate Christmas on December 25 because of the Winter Solstice and the ancient pre-Christian winter festivals which took place on or around that date. That's why we sing songs like 'Jingle Bells', 'White Christmas', 'Winter Wonderland', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Let it Snow', 'Baby it's Cold Outside', 'Marshmallow World', etc, which are all about winter and snow (and have nothing to do with Jesus), only at Christmas time.

Secondly, Jesus never told His disciples or any of His followers to celebrate His birthday. I'm not saying it's not a good thing to celebrate it, just that it doesn't seem like it mattered to Him.

I could go on about Nativity scenes that don't look anything like what it actually/probably looked like when Jesus was born, and why it doesn't matter to me if they aren't put up in public places. I don't care, and furthermore, I really don't think Jesus cares, either.

Jesus isn't in competition with Santa Claus (whose myth is based on the real Bishop, Saint Nicholas), and I don't think He's worried that His "birthday" isn't all about Him. It never was, really, at least not on December 25. And I REALLY don't think that He cares about what a Starbucks cup looks like!

If your Jesus is all whiny about that kind of stuff, then more power to ya, but that's not the Jesus that I know. The Jesus I know through the Scriptures and by the Spirit has a much different set of priorities. I also don't think that He would want His "birthday" celebration crammed down the throats of people who may see Him differently.

I love all things Christmas. 

Every carol is my favorite. 

It doesn't matter to me that Jesus was actually born in April. 

It doesn't matter to me when He was born, because the Daystar has already risen in my heart, and that reality isn't limited to a day or even to a season.

I'm happy to celebrate the Incarnation whenever.

I see nothing wrong with saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", because to me it's simply a salutation that refers to all the events of December and January, including "Happy New Year".

I see nothing at all sinister or evil about an elegantly simple red coffee cup.

If there's a "War on Christmas", I just don't see it.

Maybe I've been drinking too much coffee.

TODAY AT METRON - 11/8/15

 "Yep. You are still my shepherd..."

-SS

 "I needed that word today."

 -BJB

TODAY AT METRON - 11/1/15

"Today was everything!! Love my church family!!"

-KS

"...I thank God for you and Ken and the wonderful people that make up Metron"

-RM

"...awesome word"

-FM