Pope Francis' War on Christmas

The culture wars against Christmas rage onward.
People get upset over Starbucks cups or worked up over "Happy Holidays" vs. "Merry Christmas." 
Children are being slaughtered in Aleppo or dying from diarrhea because of drinking contaminated water. Women and young children are sold into slavery and used as sex slaves at alarming rates. Almost half of the world-almost 3 billion people-live on less than $2.50 a day. Countries treat war like a well-planned chess game instead of the horror and devastation it is for those affected by it.
Sorry, but I really don't think God cares about the stupid cultural "War on Christmas."
The real war on Christmas is indifference. The real war on Christmas is coldness of heart.
A week before Christmas I stumbled onto some strong words from the Holy Father on the charade of Christmas this year. I still find myself going back to them; wrestling and reflecting on what it means.

"It's all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is at war." Francis continued, "A war can be justified, so to speak, with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war, piecemeal though that war may be-a little here, a little there-there is no justification."
"The world continues to go to war. The world has not chosen a peaceful path. There are wars today everywhere, and hate," said Pope Francis. " We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognize the path to peace. To weep for those who live for war and have the cynicism to deny it."
"God weeps; Jesus weeps."
There is no reading between the lines here, the message is clear.  Christmas that ignores suffering is not really Christmas. 
For Francis, Christmas is less about glad tidings of comfort and joy, and more about encountering and walking with those who are greatly afflicted by pain and suffering.  It is about accompanying people through whatever mess they are facing.
I think especially in the western world, it can be so easy to domesticate and sanitize Christmas. Sometimes I miss when I am doing it; it can happen so easily.
Christmas isn't pretty, shiny, and wrapped up perfectly with a big red bow.  Christmas is about brokenness, messiness. No one expected the Messiah to be born into poverty, obscurity, and exclusion, far away from power and wealth.
At Christmas, Jesus comes all the way down into messiness of human dysfunction-the violence, the sinfulness, the hatred, the racism, and the wars. This holiday, this holy day calls us out of comfort into discomfort. And facing each of those head-on can be uncomfortable.
The world today is blinded by all kinds of hate. Blinded by finding our security in nuclear weapons and war games. Blinded by our indifference, coldness of heart, and legalism.
I know I do not understand fully what it means to be a peacemaker as Jesus spoke about during his earthly ministry. I know I do not fully understand the pain or suffering of refugees, the imprisoned, black lives, migrant lives, and LGBT lives. 
The 12 days of Christmas are upon us. It is a time of celebrating and joy. But we (I) have to make room for weeping. 
Weeping with Jesus for what we have turned his world into. 
Weeping for my own indifference, whatever it looks like.
Weeping for my cold heart.
Weeping for the sins of our world.
Yes the whole world is at war. Our future President is perhaps calling for a nuclear arms race.  But the state of the world reflects the state of our own hearts in a lot of different ways.
I need to be honest with myself, with Jesus about the state of my own heart. When I am more loving and less indifferent, I think I become a little more of the person God wants me to become.
Let's stop getting worked up about coffee cups and the cashier at Kroger wishing you "Happy Holidays."
Let's look at our hearts and see where the have grown cold or indifferent.
Because that is the real war on Christmas.

More Than a Cute, Squishy Baby

Sometimes you just read things that leave you stumped.
My friend Shannon recently wrote a really good blog post on Advent and what we're really waiting on. Stop now. Go read it.
Okay, good? Proceed onward.
What really hit me like a brick was when Shannon talked about how how easy it is to love Baby Jesus. It is ridiculously easy to love Baby Jesus. 
In her post, she quotes another great article by Fr. Richard Rohr. This guy is a spiritual genius and one of my favorite writers on life and Christian spirituality.
I was making a joke yesterday at church with a friend that sometimes I wish the six weeks of Lent could be swapped out for the four weeks of Advent. Why? Well because I do the joy thing way better than fasting and repentance. Seriously it is easy to get excited about a baby who happens to be God then getting geeked up for no meat, fasting, and strengthening my will. 
Who gets excited about that?! #nothisgirl
Aside from the joking, I think deep down there is a lot there.
Why is it so easy to love the sweet, cuddly Baby Jesus?

Well like Shannon said because a sweet little baby doesn't threaten or challenge us. We look at love itself in the manger. We let Jesus love us and we simply love Him back. Yes that is a part of our story. Yes we need to do that.
But Jesus, the holy feast of Christmas is about more than a cute, squishy baby.
At Youth Group on Sunday we talked about the Incarnation (God becoming human like us in all things except sin). This truth is perhaps the most bold claim Christianity makes, no other world religion believes God became a human like us.
I told the teens that the message of Christmas is Jesus couldn't imagine a world or eternity without each of us. He became a human so that way He could show His love for us. He became human to unite himself to the human experience complete with all its joys, sorrows, hopes, and pain. 
And right now that is what I love most about Christmas. 
That my God knows me because he knew and lived the human experience. 
He wasn't far away in a palace like a warrior king the Jews had predicted the Messiah to be. Jesus knew rejection, sadness, anger, loneliness. He knew laughter, joy, confusion, and doubt. He had to learn how to properly use silverware or how to make friends. Maybe he had an awkward crush on a girl as a teenager. Maybe he was the fastest runner in races with schoolmates.  He experienced everything, except sin.
And to a hurting, broken world this promise still makes all the difference.
The prophet Isaiah says his name shall be Emmanuel, which means "God with us." This is Christmas. God with us.  Past, present, future, always.
On Christmas Eve I will go to midnight Mass with family. I will come home and put the newborn Prince of Peace on his bed of hay in my little creche. I will sing the carols and feel the warm fuzzies that always come with a sweet new-born baby.

But the promise of "God with us" outlasts the life of a Christmas tree or those warm fuzzies.
It is something we can hold onto and remember every other day of the year. 
And that is really, really good news.

The Real Gift God Wants This Christmas

When I was little, I was known to be a snooper when it came to birthday or Christmas presents. I was just so darn excited to wait and be surprised. I had to know ahead of time, I couldn't wait for the surprise to be discovered in the fury of wrapping paper flying everywhere. Thankfully as I got older, I grew out of my impatient present loving ways.
Advent is a time and season of waiting. There are many seasons in each of our lives that require patience in the waiting. Sometimes the waiting is easy and peaceful, and sometimes it feels like an impatient toddler just wanting to find and open their presents.
And amidst the wrapping presents, cooking, shopping, and sometimes stress of the season, what God really wants from each of us is something so simple. The real gift God wants from each of us this Christmas for to be invited into the mess of our lives. That image is something I have spent a lot of quiet time just thinking and reflecting on over the past four weeks of Advent.

Think about it. What do you give to the King of Heaven who was born in barn where animal poop and smells abound? The invitation for Him to make his home in the mess of your own life. I know it sounds so simplistic and even cliche, but this Advent it has meant so much to me in a lot little ways.
Just imagine yourself leaning over the manger, looking at that cute, squishy little baby who oh by the way just happens to be God. And what do you give Him? The invitation ask Him into the broke, hurting messes that each of us carry, that many do not observe.
Invite Jesus this Christmas to make His home in the messy stuff of your life, just like His first bed was in a nasty, smelly old barn. We've all got "stuff". Whatever is abounding, invite Him into it: anger, resentment, sadness, hurt, pain, jealousy, fear, whatever it is. That's my Christmas gift to God this year, just asking Him to make His home in the messy stuff. And I think that those simple prayers and invitations into our hearts are the ones Jesus loves most. Because they are not fancy, but just raw, real prayers of the heart.
Yes finish the baking, tree trimming, wrapping of last minute presents, but sometime between now and Christmas day, take some time to be quiet and still. Invite Jesus into the mess. He can take it. No matter the mess of our hearts or lives, it is not to big for the depth of His grace and love.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel... The world is waiting.

Christmas Traditions {Past and Present}

I grew up in a family where we had traditions it seemed for every little celebration; from Friday family game night to having a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas, we knew how to celebrate life together as a family. Having special traditions was one of the unique things that made us the 'Breen family', it unified us and brought everybody together. When Jim and I got married, I was excited to make new traditions for our little family, while still treasuring the ones from my childhood.

Christmas time seems to always full to the brim of holiday memory making! And combining holiday traditions from my family of origin along with my new family has been a lot of fun to create along the way. Some of the best ones have been...

Making a birthday cake for Baby Jesus
Yup we were that family. Oh and did I forget to mention we also sang happy birthday and even had a chair set aside just for the birthday boy? I remember on one particular Christmas thinking how cool it was we got to have cake at breakfast on Christmas. Though I am quite sure my siblings and I probably teased my Mom for doing it, looking back I think how those actions helped remind us kids of what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time tomorrow to make a birthday cake, but we'll definitely bust out some chords of happy birthday.

Watching the wise men travel to Bethlehem
One of the most loved things for us kids to do was move the three wise guys around the living room/kitchen symbolizing their journey to see the newborn King. We took this job very seriously, especially when we were little. Somehow the wise men safely arrived every Epiphany, amid the dangerous twists and turns through the living room bookshelves...I guess I'm actually better at directions than I thought. Currently our three wise guys have left the bookshelf and are slowly making their way through couch terrain.

Breakfast feast for Christmas Eve dinner
On Christmas Eve my Dad would make smoked salmon on cedar log planks, it was amazing! When we got married, I knew I wasn't even about to try and do justice to my Dad's mad cooking skills. A fun tradition we began since year one of marriage is having breakfast food for dinner on Christmas Eve. No it is not just your typical bowl of cereal and yes we do it up all fancy like. The menu for this year? homemade hot chocolate, feta spinach quiche, and chocolate chip orange ricotta pancakes. Oh and bacon...because well, its bacon!

Christmas ornaments from traveling adventures
When my parents first got married they began to collect Christmas ornaments from all the places they traveled together. It was so cool growing up to look at our tree and see a story played out of all of Mom and Dad's fun times together. I always knew as I got older and hopefully traveled to do the same.
Its amazing to look at the tree in our apartment now and see ornaments from all the places I have traveled before I knew Jim. We've carried on this tradition too, and came home with plenty of ornaments from when we went to Alaska and Seattle for our honeymoon. I love to look at our tree and be reminded of shared memories and adventures together. Its crazy because already we have a tree pretty full of ornaments...give it a few more years and we may need a second tree!

Giving presents to Baby Jesus
In the kitchen hutch during Advent, my Mom kept a small bag of hay. Every night after before dinner, she asked us if we had anything to give Jesus that day (kind action, sharing with a sibling, helping Dad out, etc.). If we said yes, she gave us a small piece of hay to put in the empty manger so that way when Jesus was born he would have a nice warm bed to sleep in. So simple, but so sweet.


What are some of your family traditions this time of year? Share away! :)

Christmas is not about a birthday, its about a wedding.

Often when Jim and I go to church I bring a little notebook in my purse to take notes on the homily. It helps me to jot down the thoughts and ideas that inspire and challenge as I strive to live the coming week intentionally.

Yesterday I was cleaning out my mess of a purse and came across the little journal I have been taking to church on Sunday for the last year. It is cool to look back at the things that struck me and how God used them to get my attention.

One particular page that caught my eye was what I jotted down from midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in 2013. What was so striking to me was the theme the priest used to speak about the glory of this holy night: Christmas is not about a birthday, its about a wedding. Okay technically yes it is the birth of our Savior. We hear about Joseph and Mary looking for an inn in Bethlehem and how she eventually gave birth and laid her baby boy in a feeding trough for animals. But there is something deeper here if we take time to look.

At Christmas, God and humanity become one. The two becoming one and united?...that's a marriage.

Christmas is really about desire...God's passionate desire for each one of us. Jesus wants us. God desires each of us so deeply that He entered our fallen, sinful world to take on human flesh to come be with us. Jesus came to earth to rescue us, to die for us...and ultimately to save us from ourselves. The message of Christmas? You are insanely loved. You are passionately loved. You are ridiculously loved. You are recklessly loved.

What does love want? Love wants union!! Love wants a total and complete union. God is love and He wants to be in union with us. The prophet Isaiah sums it up perfectly: "For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you" (Isaiah 62:5). Just as the man who waits at the end of the aisle on his wedding day for his bride, Jesus waits for each one of us.

What happens at Christmas is that God is proposing to each of us...He is ultimately popping the question. And the question? ... 

Will you be Mine?

So you see, Christmas really is ultimately about a wedding; the union of God with humankind. How each of us responds to that question from Jesus has potential to change the rest of our lives, just as a marriage proposal is life changing.

Jesus is on bended knee waiting...what will your response be?