Watch for Falling Turkeys!

Have a favorite pop culture Thanksgiving moment? Remember WKRP in Cincinnati's Thanksgiving show? Less: "Turkeys are falling like wet bags of cement!"

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/20/thanksgiving.tv/index.html

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1499909&fr=yvmtf

The War on Christmas and How I Spoke too Soon

There are liberals out there that make my life difficult by embarrassing me. Lowe's put out adds for Family Trees. What is a Family Tree? I thought it was a graph that traces one's family origins. Lowe's used Family Trees and Holiday Trees to describe Christmas trees and in some instances where they included an add in Spanish, used 'Navidad' to sell the same trees. Apparently you can't offend those that speak Spanish. STUPID!!!! There is no Jewish person that I know that wants us Christians to call our Christmas Trees anything but Christmas trees. It's not like a Muslim is going to stick one in his living room if Lowe's calls it a family tree. To Lowe's credit, they changed their policy after admitting their mistake. As I searched for articles on this matter, I found positive responses on Christian Websites--the kind that frighten me. The kind that promote automatic rifles and Christianity in the same breath. What was more scary? They were right on target.

Here is a Christian Conservative watchdog group's response to Lowe's change in attitude:

Christmas trees are now called just that. Lowe’s informed the American Family Association that the company took down the signs reading "holiday trees." In their place went up the signs reading "Christmas trees."
That means that every store within the chain has labeled the 49 varieties of live and artificial trees as "Christmas trees." Lowe’s in fact went further to explain that the "holiday trees" label was originally a "mistake." Lowe’s had no motive of denigrating Christmas or snubbing Christians.
Customers applaud Lowe’s not only for the name change but also for the explanation. It would help if other retailers followed through with like change.
Sears has done so. They have shipped out "Merry Christmas" signs to all their stores. The executives inform store managers to display the Christmas signs in place of "holiday greetings." Their ads also will carry the "Merry Christmas" greeting.
Target says next season Salvation Army bell ringers will return.
Walgreen’s apologized that it is too late to change their "happy holidays" banners with "Merry Christmas" but next year it will be "Merry Christmas."
Here is Lowe's statement:
Lowe's has proudly sold Christmas trees in our stores for decades, and we continue to do so this year in all of our stores nationwide. All 49 varieties of live and artificial trees at Lowe's and on our web site, Lowes.com, are labeled as Christmas trees. The product signs inside Lowe's stores have always said "Christmas trees," though an outside banner did not. To ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers, we are now referring to the trees only as "Christmas Trees." We have also removed the banner that read "holiday trees" from the front of our stores.Lowe's apologizes for any confusion the banner created. We appreciate our customers bringing the matter to our attention and giving us the opportunity to correct the error. For many retailers, including Lowe's, the holiday season encompasses all the holidays between October and early January. Thus we adopted an overall "Home for the Holidays" theme five years ago. In addition to spanning the season, we believe this theme is respectful of all our customers, regardless of which holidays they may celebrate.

Fighting the War on the War on Christmas

Forgive me for getting a little political.

With the holidays rolling around again I wonder when I'll start hearing about the War on Christmas. The artificial trees are already peering through the windows at the local Walgreen's. If you aren't familiar with this particular war, supposedly liberals and the liberal media and possibly Satan have launched an all out assault on Jesus' birthday. Here's how the claims usually pour forth from the likes of Bill O' Riley. When your local department store has Seasons Greetings painted on its windows it's because liberals have stripped the stores freedom to paint their widows with Merry Christmas. "Merry X-mas" is another hated term by those who claim they are losing this battle. Happy Holidays posted on your local hardware store door is also unacceptable. Now I'll give them this--I do have fond childhood memories of going to the mall and seeing the word "Christmas" framed in garland as far as the eye could see.

However, it wasn't for some childhood fascination or even love for Jesus. It was because I related Christmas with the receiving of toys, crisp weather, the useless hope for snow, and seeing my grandparents. All good and wonderful and my Santa Myth still lingers as a 39 year old.

Things have changed but I dare say for the better. Political correctness gets to be a burden and sometimes is just wrong, but in this case I side with the dark side. What I don't understand is why some Christians want Jesus selling perfume at JC Penny's or a Credit Card that promises to make your life worth living. Isn't the conflict blatantly obvious? Jesus was absolutely against the idea that your stuff made you and that you can buy your way into the Kingdom. The irony is poignant in that Jesus would not want anything to do with the holiday that celebrates his birth.

So Happy Holidays to all! It's catchy and actually has Christian origins. I don't see us changing anything soon. The US is a capitalist country and I'm OK with that because I don't know of a better choice. I say embrace it. Don't go into debt but feel the joy and excitement of X-mas. If you aren't Christian, come on along. Take part in the department store sales, take part in all the joyful noise, attempt like crazy to do some good. Shouldn't we, as Christians, be overjoyed that we now have a secular holiday with more sincere origins--capitalism. The spiritual/religious/Christian Christmas can be enjoyed at home. And after you are done, go blow some cash on a new I-Phone. It's a more sincere act than getting all puffed up over what signage is hanging in the mall.

Too busy to love

"How is it my God, that you have given me this hectic life and so little time to enjoy your presence? All day, people are waiting to speak to me, and even during meals I have to keep talking to people about their concerns and needs. During sleep itself I am still dreaming about the problems that await me tomorrow. I am doing all of this for you, not for myself. My way of life is more tormenting than reward and I only that for you it is a gift of love. I know you are always beside me, yet I become so busy that I forget you and ignore you. If you want me to keep up this pace, please make me think about you and love you, even during the most hectic activity. If you do not want me to be so busy, please release me from it and teach me how others can take over some of my responsibilities."

Sister Teresa, 16th Century Carmelite Nun

The Church and Humor

Kathy Griffin, the comedian who stars in her own reality show, My Life
on the D List, that I have never seen, apparently ticked off a lot of
Christians at the Emmy's a couple of weeks ago. I have only heard parts of it. She began by saying that many people thank Jesus for winning their Emmy then continued by not thanking Jesus for her award, stating ,"No one had less to do with this award than Jesus." The big bomb was when she said that her award was her God now and that Jesus could go . . .well . . . you know.

There was a strange response from some Christians to Kathy's humor. The Catholic League was able to get the words edited from the rerun of the awards show on E! I hear an evangelical group of film makers took out a full page add in the New York Times that cost them a ton full of money. I heard from an unreliable source that the add costs $90,000.

First, I think the Church hurts itself when it throws so much energy into what a comedian says about Jesus. They only create more of an opportunity for jokes. If only the Christian film makers would have fed people or taken out a full-page add to shed light on the horrible situation in Sudan.
Secondly, I think (all but for her last statement) Kathy makes a more christian-like point than her critics. I hate when some self-absorbed movie star with her gazillions of dollars steps up to the mic and thanks Jesus for her award. Kathy is right. No one had less to do with her award than Jesus. And Yes, I think it's funny because it is true and she had the guts to make fun of her own "people."
Thirdly, I wonder if Kathy has really gone home and worshiped her Emmy. Of course not and that's also why it's funny.

The Church needs to learn to laugh at itself. It has made enough mistakes in it's life time to where we must laugh even when outsiders make the joke. Monty Python's skit about the Spanish Inquisition--Funny. Rowan Atkinson's monologue about God--Funny. Kathy Griffin-funny. We deserve it for holding so tightly to what is important to us and being so easily offended when someone goes after it. I do have my limits but come on. Lighten up or at least ignore the minor jabs by a comedian that hardly is a house hold name--until now.

Great Post By Real Live Preacher

know the feeling?

http://www.reallivepreacher.com/node/1400

On Being Non Judgemental

I assisted a family at the hospital a few nights ago. Their 20 y/o daughter had died after suffering from Sickle Cell (among other ailments.) A large family arrived to grieve their loss. Some were more demonstrative (to say the least) than others. One family member attempted to kick a doctor, twice. Another ran down the hall way smack into a stairwell door and then fell to the floor crying. Others grieved by screaming, others wept silently. After grabbing one woman by her ankles so she would stop trying to kick people, I let go of her and walked out into the hallway. From here I could get a good look at all of them. There was a dozen stories I could come up with about this family. Heck, the family had already told me a few. The deceased's mother was a no show "drugee" and the deceased's boy friend was in a custody battle with her over their 6mnth old child. He was abusive. As I was able to gain some perspective, I figured out even with that info I knew very little about these people. I didn't fully know all their hardships, what brings them joy, or who gets along with who. The family was separated into 3 groups so I assumed their was division and enough blame to go around for a few families. Then I stopped and told myself that all my inner inquiry was leading me to draw conclusions about these people-some that might be true, most not. I reentered the family room and attempted the best I could to comfort the Aunt that had practically raised the deceased as her own child. That was like trying to stop a freight train. In the middle of her 5 hours of demonstrative grieving she opened her arms up and pulled me onto my knees and gave me a big bear hug. I told her I was sorry and she said she could tell I was sorry. Especially when people are experiencing a significant loss, it behooves us to refrain from judgement. It is better that we see the suffering individual as the embodiment of Christ, no matter their shortcomings and emotional displays. It seemed to work in my favor this evening. It was one of the toughest cases I'd ever encountered. Seeing them as a child of God and as Christ embodiers, changed the way I ministered to them. They figured this out quickly and by the end of our time together there was a smidgen of something redemptive that took place in all of us. Race, culture, lies and truths alike all crossed and got mixed up for 5 hours. The gift that presented itself as a result out of this entangled mess was the truth that we are not in as much control as we pretend and that truth that God can move us to cross boundaries without much help form us at all. These are good moments. In this case, it was a good moment in the midst of a tragedy. At times I wonder if these are glimpses of the Kingdom--something larger than us and not altered by our petty hangups. Too bad we miss them most of the time.