Michael Scott (Steve Carell) of NBC's "The Office," in a powerful soliloquy, had this to say about Christmas: "Christmas isn't really about Santa Claus, or about Jesus....It's about family." Sounds a bit over the top, but at least this lovable goofball said what so many folks think. At least our actions or thoughts prove that in some way many of us believe this. Sometimes it takes a bold statement like that to get our attention and realize that when Christmas isn't about presents, the default mode goes to family. Christmas is about family spending time together. The number one idol of most church folk like me.
This was a good reminder to be thankful for family, but to find refuge and celebration in the Savior who will return one day to finish what he started. Celebrating Advent, regular scripture readings, pageants, manger scenes, and even birthday cakes for Jesus (Amy saw one today that was amazing!) are all tools which can help us avoid substituting family for Jesus.
5 comments:
It was SUCH a funny episode, don't you think? I appreciated the fact that, when taking about the fact that the office needed resurrecting, Michael knew Jesus needed to be the one to do that. :-)
Staci
Yep, I thought it was hilarious. Not as funny as the Yankee Swap Xmas, but it was definitely solid.
Good point about Jesus being the one that had to do the resurrecting. Michael was on to something!
If you want steam to come out of your ears,watch any of the soppy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. It's all about angels restoring the Christmas spirit to an individual, angels reuniting people, family, showing them that Santa is a real, honest-to-goodness person that the characters should believe in.....
One movie really creeped me out. Gabriel, the angel, who looked like Robert Mitchum in "The Night of the Hunter." (Scariest movie ever.)shows up and talks to a little girl. He admonishes her not to tell her mother she talked to an angel and at one point appears in her room. As we were reminded at our Community group last night, Christmas is for us, those who have put their faith and trust in Christ. Christmas is for those who He redeemed before the foundation of the world. And so,we rejoice at this time of year. G
"Sometimes it takes a bold statement like that to get our attention and realize that when Christmas isn't about presents, the default mode goes to family. Christmas is about family spending time together. The number one idol of most church folk like me."
Not just for "most church folk". . . Our last ThinkTank discussion was about Christmas and Consumerism -- and the key theme that most people returned to was "Christmas is about family. . ."
And. . . it is. . . and isn't. . But interesting to a similar theme in various contexts.
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