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Area pastors give 'Reason for the Season'

Area pastors give 'Reason for the Season' image
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Day
24
Month
December
Year
1988
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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RELIGION

ARBOR NEWS  SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1988 ■ A7

'People forget the daily gifts. Why, we hardly need more than the gifts God gives us day to day.'

—Rev. Emmett L Green

'God gave himself to the world in Jesus.... We all have a gift to share, and the best gift is one that flows from yourself.'

—Rev. Herbert Lowe

'I don't know of a better way to keep Christ in Christmas.. Jesus didn't give presents, he gave himself.'

—Rev. Robert Hill

'I can lift Christ up at church services, but I can't force people to keep Christ in Christmas. They have to do it themselves.'

—Rev. Howard Cole

'Christmas giving developed only because God gave first. He gave the best he had, he gave Jesus.'

—Rev. Robert Blake

'But after it's all over and you've given all the gifts, what gift did you prepare for the Lord?'

—Rev. Charles Irvin

Area pastors give 'Reason for the Season'

Some pastors who want Christ to remain at the heart of Christmas offer their reflections to help Christians keep the focus.

by HELEN RICHARDS

NEWS SPECIAL WRITER

Christmas has a literal meaning: “Christ’s mass." And every year for 2,000 years, Christians have celebrated that, the coming of their Messiah.

But Christmas has evolved and, over the years, has gained a commercial meaning. For nearly two months of the year, from the time the Halloween candy clears store shelves, most of the nation is caught up in a frenzy of shopping, buying, baking, decorating and waiting in line to give Santa their Christmas wish list. The commercial celebration of ‘X-mas’ dwindles with after-Christmas sales and gift returns. For most, a let down, or post Holiday blues, is the familiar conclusion.

So, what does Christmas mean?

Most people are probably caught somewhere between the Christian and commercial meanings.

Six local pastors who want Christ to remain at the heart of Christmas offer their reflections to help Christians keep the focus.

The Rev. Emmett Green, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Ann Ar-bor, sees the commercialization of w Christmas as a challenge to his congregation. “It’s a testing of our faith,” he believes. The test is this: “Do we as Christians trust the Lord to bring us hope, joy, and the love we need, or do we count on the world's goods?” The message of Christmas, he says, the gift of God in his Son, tells the believer he can trust God for peace and for help for the future.

To help keep Christ in Christmas, Pastor Green won't tell you what not to do. “Do,” he says. Pray more, have family meals, share gratitude for the ordinary blessings God gives. “People forget the daily gifts. Why, we hardly need more than the gifts God gives us day to day,”

If a person recognizes these, he isn’t likely to get disappointed by Christmas, Green says.

Reverend Herb Lowe offers another practical approach. Lowe, pastor at Church of the Good Shepherd, a United Church of Christ congregation, says one way to keep Christ central at Christmas is to do what God did. “God gave himself to the world in Jesus. We must follow suit. We all have a gift to share, and the best gift is one that flows from yourself."

Lowe explains that folks in his congregation don't “engage each other through money. The primary way we show love to our children isn't by spending hundreds of dollars at Toys R Us. We engage each other through sharing life.”

One way Lowe's congregation shares life is by going directly to the needy to share Christmas. "We used to give to the Salvation Army and have them give to the needy. Now we ourselves help make Christmas happen for people who can't do it themselves. They may be recovering from surgery or be alone and elderly.” Lowe's congregation now mainly offers help to people connected to the church rather than to the faceless poor.

Lowe also plays down sentimentality. “You know, the Hallmark image. .. the puff people look for.” At Christmas we face truths, he says, like who is that baby in the manger and what is God’s love really about?

Reverend Robert Hill also avoids the commercial focus at Christmas by emphasizing giving the gift of yourself. Hill is pastor of the Christian Love Fellowship of Ypsilanti, a nondenominational church.

A part of Hill's ministry is aimed at people serving time in prisons. “Christmas is about the worst time of year for those guys,” he says. Hill recommends that rather than spending every hour of the holidays focused on Christmas at home, visit a prisoner. Spend an hour “with the lost, the isolated, those without hope." There, he assures, a person will see what Jesus was all about.

“I don't know of a better way to keep Christ in Christmas,” says Hill. "Jesus didn't give presents, he gave himself.”

On Christmas Eve Hill, and members of his congregation, will spend part of the day at local correction facilities.

At the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Assistant Pastor Robert Blake says a Christian can’t and doesn't need to avoid commercial aspects of Christmas.

“My 2-year-old son noticed the man in the red suit for the first time this year. He stopped dead. ‘Dad, what’s that?’ he asked. .. .He was mesmerized." Blake’s approach to Santa is to explain him to his children but to make sure that he's not the emphasis. “I put Jesus in the forefront.”

And when it comes to gift giving, Blake makes sure his family and church know the real Giver. "Christmas giving developed only because God gave first. He gave the best he had, he gave Jesus. I don’t focus on what gift I get. I already got the best.” Blake says that a Christian's personal relationship with the Lord is what makes the biggest difference during celebration of Christmas. “If your relationship with the Lord is watered down, so will your celebration of Christmas."

Reverend Howard Cole doesn’t mind the commercial aspects of Christmas either, provided a person is aware of the more important message. Cole is pastor at Zion Lutheran Church of Ann Arbor.

What Christmas ultimately means to a person, he says, is up to the individual. “I can lift Christ up at church services, but I can't force people to keep Christ in Christmas. They have to do it themselves."

To keep Jesus central, his suggestion is simple: “Stop. Take time from all the planning and parties. Think. Read your cards, listen to the music in church, sing the carols at home... Consider your need for a Savior, the meaning of your sin and failure, of people’s suffering, of your own mortality.” In light of this, he says, look for what Jesus' coming means for you. “We have a Savior from death... If Christmas isn't this, close the church doors...”

Nor does Reverend Charlie Irvin of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church object to the time and energy put into Christmas buying and preparation.

“But after it’s all over and you’ve given all the gifts, what gift did you prepare for the Lord?" he asks. No one can merit or out-buy the gift God gave in his Son, Irvin points out. Still, God’s love requires a response.

Irvin suggests giving God this gift: “attentive presence” to another human being.

“Money is cheap,” he says. To find Christ in Christmas, Irvin offers the Christian a challenge: “Where is God? Is he remote? In a distant heaven? In Bethlehem of long ago? No, he’s right where he said he’d be: ‘I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, hungry and you fed me, lonely and you comforted me, naked and you clothed me...’ I was ignored and you paid attention to me.”

With a view from the outside, you'll probably find Christians — even pastors — engaged in much of the commercial frenzy that Christmas has become. But with a view from the inside, you’ll find a spirit of generosity that traces its source to the celebration of “Christ’s mass.”