Tag Archives: Christmas and holiday season

Saturday Jess

02 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by in Blogging, Faith

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20121115-180317.jpgAs usual, this week we have harrowed some ground we have plowed before. Nothing wrong with that, our forefathers have worked this ground since Christ was on earth. This week we spoke of our conception of hell, and we spoke of new beginnings. Hell has been covered in several articles this week, and what is New Years (and Christmas) about if not new beginnings? 

But the point of talking about hell is to convince people that they really don’t want to go there, however, we each see it. And so it is to help us to our salvation that we speak of the unspeakable.

But we also celebrated Jessica’s return to the lists this week, with some of her best posts ever. I had a few things to say about her on the second anniversary of AATW, which might bear repeating.

I do want to say that one of the upshots of the first couple of comments I made here was the day that I received an email from someone named Jessica Hoff, and it wasn’t terribly long before we were referring to each other as ‘dear friend’ and then in a little while more as ‘dearest friend’. I know many think it rather silly, and if I wandered in today, I probably would as well but, it is quite simply the truth. We really are. We have supported each other through all sorts of things, both with the blogs, and in our real lives as well. […]

And that simple goodness has always shown through in this blog as well, in its intelligence, its candor, its tolerance, and above all in its kindness. All of those things were instilled in all of us by Jessica, and in some measure are reserved to this blog. Most of the contributors here are, in other fora, quite hard-headed, and opinionated indeed.

That’s all still true, maybe even more true, having been tested and not found wanting. Here’s Jess

Salvation and St. Isaac

“Let us not be in doubt, O fellow humanity, concerning the hope of our salvation, seeing that the One who bore sufferings for our sakes is very concerned about our salvation; God’s mercifulness is far more extensive than we can conceive, God’s grace is greater than what we ask for.” [‘The Second Part’, XL, 17]

As we reflect on our sins and the things we have not done that we ought to have done, I find these words of St. Isaac comforting.  Some have held that they amount to him believing in ‘apocatastasis’ or universal salvation. It seems to me that is not right, but that what Isaac knew was that God’s Grace, that same Grace which led His Son to Calvary for us, was so much greater than anything we could conceive. He constantly cautions us against the grave dangers which come from the fact that we have to use our own language and concepts to describe God.

Just because (the terms) wrath, anger, hatred, and the rest are used of the Creator, we should not imagine that He (actually) does anything in anger or hatred or zeal. Many figurative terms are employed in the Scriptures of God, terms which are far removed from His (true) nature. And just as (our) rational nature has (already) become gradually more illuminated and wise in a holy understanding of the mysteries which are hidden in (Scripture’s) discourse about God – that we should not understand everything (literally) as it is written, but rather that we should see, (concealed) inside the bodily exterior of the narratives, the hidden providence and eternal knowledge which guides all – so too we shall in the future come to know and be aware of many things for which our present understanding will be seen as contrary to what it will be then; and the whole ordering of things yonder will undo any precise opinion we possess now in (our) supposition about Truth. For there are many, indeed endless, things which do not even enter our minds here, not even as promises of any kind.’ [‘The Second Part’ XXXIX, 19]

Our terms, concepts and images cannot adequately portray the reality of God, and he knew well our tendency to make God in the image we have of Him, rather than through His self-revelation:

That we should imagine that anger, wrath, jealousy or such like have anything to do with the divine Nature is something utterly abhorrent for us: no one in their right mind, no one who has any understanding (at all) can possibly come to such madness as to think anything of the sort about God. Nor again can we possibly say that He acts thus out of retribution, even though the Scriptures may on the outer surface posit this. Even to think this of God and to suppose that retribution for evil acts is to be found with Him is abominable.

That is not to say that the sheep and the goats will not be separated, but it is to say that only the most obstinate of sinners will find him or herself where they have willed. Christ died for us all – we can all, if we will, reach out and embrace Him. We can all refuse: which will we do?

Advent and Commercialization

09 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Advent, Christmas, Church/State, Faith

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Second Advent Week

Second Advent Week (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last Tuesday in his post Advent and Us, Chalcedon made this point.

Advent is a casualty of the secularisation of our society. For many people its arrival seems to have been marked by the urge to worship Mammon; at the garage this morning, paying for the petrol took longer than usual, apparently because so many people were using their debit and credit cards for ‘cyber Monday’. Already the invitations for Christmas parties are here, and the general thrust of the season seems to be towards excess and self-gratification; that may not, of course, be much more than an intensification of business as normal. So how do we retrieve Advent?

He’s correct of course. But there is also this. Advent/Christmas has been sort of a pendulum in our society. When I wrote about Thanksgiving, I was reminded that for the Separatist/Pilgrims Christmas was simply another work day, not celebrated at all. I doubt any of us really want to go back to that either.

The other point to that is that business, at its best is agnostic in regards to religion. It’s purpose is to supply the goods you want at what you consider a fair price. Yes, the owner of a business should have the option of not dealing with anyone he chooses not to. But he must understand that such a course works to his disadvantage as well as those with whom he chooses not to deal. That does not mean it is never justified.

But retail is a very strange business. the way it has developed in the US (and I suspect the UK), it has become a very large friendly dog, in a very small room, and every time it wags its tail it knocks something off the table.

Here we have a business that (if it is lucky) manages to break even in the first eleven months of the year. That means if it is to make a profit at all, it must do so in the last month, and we all know that coincides with Advent/Christmas. Christmas is, of course, a marketer’s dream: The birth of a child (and so a birthday party) combined with the major religious holiday of the dominant religion, in our countries.

And so, if you were in charge of a business like that, what would you do? I think most of us would do exactly as our retailers do, exploit it for all we are worth, after all we have employees to pay, and presumably we’d like to keep them employed for another year.

Yes, much of it is completely tasteless, occasionally degrading, and completely misses our point. And that part of it bothers me as well but, some isn’t.

And never doubt that if they could figure out a way to exploit Ramadan, they would screw that up as completely. Their job is to move product, not be be sympathetic to the religious.

Mostly, I suspect we should take this as still another reminder that while we are in this world, we are not really of this world.

And besides, a fair amount of it is kind of fun, when we put our outrage aside, isn’t it?

And personally I have always believed God has a good sense of humor, He must have, He created us, after all.