Merry Christmas, Buon Natale & С Рождеством: A multicultural Christmas wish for you and yours

I live in a multi-cultural family. We celebrate Christmas today, and on January 7. This gives me plenty of time to reflect on the differences between Western and Orthodox celebrations of day of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I remember Christmas of my youth being filled with presents (US views), Christmas Eve mass and lots of spaghetti cooked by my father and lasagna by my sister (Italian), and extended family gathered together. As I grew older and had kids of my own, it always bothered me that it seemed the present count began to mean more to society than the birthday of Jesus.

My Russian (Ukrainian/Eastern European) family brought back the true meaning of Christmas for me. In Ukraine, I saw many of the traditions of old still being practiced, and my family still practices many of those traditions in the USA today.

My wife never had a Christmas tree. She would go to the tree lot where they sold trees, and she would gather evergreen branches to decorate the home. Evergreen was a symbol of life before the first Christmas. People either prayed outside among the evergreens, or they decorated their homes with evergreen branches during winter in order to celebrate life. What a fitting celebration of the birth of Christ. We do have a Christmas tree each year.

The angel on top of the tree is a must in our family. We have never used a star. For us, the angel symbolizes the significance of the angels who appeared above Bethlehem to announce Jesus' birth on the first Christmas. Russians, who tend to be a bit superstitious, use the angels to make a statement of faith.

Russians also do not have Santa Claus, rather they have Father Frost (Ded Moroz) and his beautiful Snegurochka (snow maiden granddaughter). Like Santa, he brings gifts, but not in secret - and they are brought on New Years in order to separate the more commercial aspect of gift giving from Christmas and the true meaning of Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, Russian families have a festive meal called "The Holy Supper." Family gathers at the table to honor the coming Christ Child. A white table cloth, symbolic of Christ's swaddling clothes, covers the table (we skip the hay) to remind the diners of Jesus in the manger. A tall white candle is placed in the center of the table, which symbolizes Christ as "the Light of the World." Bread is served, and symbolizes Christ as "the Bread of Life."

The meal starts with prayer, led by the father of the family. This is a prayer of thanksgiving for all the blessings of the past year, followed by prayers for the good things int he coming year. Usually, people visiting the home are greeted with "Christ is Born!" And the family responds "Glorify Him!" 

         (My wife, father, and daughter)

The mother usually blesses each person with honey in the form of a cross on each forehead, saying "In the Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, may you have sweetness and many good things in life and in the new year." This is followed by everyone partaking of the bread, dipping it first in honey and then in chopped garlic. Honey is symbolic of the sweetness of life, and garlic of the bitterness.

Dishes do not get washed until presents are opened. Presents are almost always something practical: a warm winter jacket, shoes, high heel boots for women, and non-practical gifts are saved for children. I have to admit that the Italian blood in me always sees me purchasing at least one item for my wife that is not practical (in my eyes - but totally necessary in hers).

I bring this up because our country has commercialized Christmas, and removed Jesus as the center of the holiday in the name of political correctness. I want to respect other people's beliefs, which is why I wish my Jewish friends "Happy Hanukkah," (and they always wish us "Merry Christmas.)" There are a lot of religious holidays during Winter, but December 25 and January 7 are "the day of Christ" and we keep that view always.

Final thoughts on this Christmas morning, from my family to yours:

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!" (Musical link)

Accepting of Tolerance in the holidays

I often get called out by Christians as "promoting tolerance." In reality, yes, I am a tolerant person who believes Christians need to be tolerant of the beliefs of others.

We are going to start with a semantic lesson on what tolerance is. 

Wikipedia probably has the most commonly used definition by Christians: Tolerance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own.

What most Christians get hung up on, and believe tolerance means, is in the word "permissive" - If I am tolerant of someones lifestyle, I am allowing, or encouraging, that way of living. Several dictionaries even define permissive as "being tolerant." 

I believe the word most Christians are looking for is "acceptance" - agreement with or belief in an idea, opinion, or explanation.

The actual definition of tolerance is: allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference.

Acceptance is believing in something and permitting it, while tolerance is living with it even if you disagree with it. For example, I am not accepting of my 13 year old dating. I do not permit it. But I am tolerant of my dog sitting on the sofa. Though I do not agree with it, I permit it. 

What Christians argue about in the debate on "tolerance" is all about the semantics. 

Like it or not, God is tolerant of those who do not believe in him. He is tolerant of those who have different views than Him. He is tolerant of war. He is tolerant of sin. The Bible is strewn with tolerance from cover to cover. God does not, however, accept certain things. He puts up with us sinning people, and loves us regardless of his dislike for sin (tolerance), and even allows us into His kingdom (if we are repentant). But He does not allow unrepentant sinners in His kingdom (acceptance).

Even in the Christian world, we practice tolerance and acceptance daily, all while we beat people over the head with our Bibles when they do not meet our expectations of how to live. Baptists tolerate and accept those who are not baptized in water. Evangelicals tolerate and accept those who do not speak in tongues. Protestants (often) tolerate Catholics (SDAs, Mormons), even though they do not accept their ways and beliefs. 

So why do we treat non-Christians differently than we treat our own? 

Keep in mind that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and all sin is equal in God's eyes (James 2:10). The earthly consequences of our acts vary greatly, and although some sins are greater than others, any sin will prevent us from going to heaven without the saving grace and sacrifice of Jesus.

Essentially, any one sin is sufficient to keep us from God.

So why do I bring this up today, on Christmas Eve?

Because God sent Jesus to the world in order to forgive our sins. Jesus tolerated sinners to bring people to acceptance of His ways. He used a gentle and loving hand (in most cases) to win people from their sins and bring them into His kingdom.  God wants us to do the same as He did. Discern right from wrong. Know when to be loving of others, even if their lifestyle is not "acceptable" to us.  Apply a loving hand versus turning over the tables.

It is time to tolerate some views that are different than mainstream Christian beliefs if we want to win people to Christ. That does not mean we have to be accepting of those ways. It simply means we need to love others as God loves us. God sent his Son to us, to be sacrificed for us.

Give the world a Christmas present this year. Live a loving life as God wants you to, and do not try to impose your personal views on everyone else. Share the Gospel. Don't beat people with it.

After all, Jesus saved sinners with views that were different from His. He did not save Christians.

Think first and show respect to all

Ok. I spent a good part of last night listening to God speak to me about my offending a friend by re-posting this Matt Walsh blog. I apologize profusely to my friend. I was disrespectful by not thinking of what consequences my actions would have.

My friend is a member of the LGBTQ community, and it was not my intention to offend her. But it is an example of how people rarely think before they speak or act regarding sensitive subjects. But what God said to me what that we, as a people, need to start respecting each other in all things.

As I said to my friend, I see arguments on both sides that are valid. In fact, God showed me that there are many such dilemmas where a valid argument can be made on both sides of a sensitive situation.

Matt is not necessarily against the LGBTQ community, rather he is against applying freedom restrictions unfairly. He was correct in his statements about freedom of association and expression, but he neglected to remember that respect would say we should not refuse service to reasonable people, despite our personal views.

My friend also had a valid viewpoint that refusing to serve a member of the LGBTQ community is akin to refusing to serve an African-American or a Jew. That situation would surely cause lawsuits, and be supported by even Christians nation-wide. But these lawsuits and arrests simply polarize the sides.

Our country is divided enough already.

What happened to treating all people with respect? Is suing and having a judge force a baker to cater a gay couple's wedding really respecting his religious views? And if you were this gay couple, would you really want this baker making YOUR cake? Just go find another baker. Or look at the t-shirt company that referred a gay pride parade to another printer that could print for them, because of his religious beliefs? The t-shirt company was being respectful of the gay's right to march, so would it have hurt to show respect for the t-shirt company's right to their religious beliefs? Or was it better to sue?

People used to vote with their feet, much like was done to the florist in Washington. People simply quit going there. They patronized other businesses, and the florist went out of business very quickly.

Businesses are said to have the right to refuse service to anyone. It is obvious that is not true. If it was, businesses could refuse service to African Americans, or Catholics, or gun owners, or women.

Yes, I snuck gun free zones in there. It is not the same thing, you say? What about "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service?" Or "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service for Any Reason?" How about a handicapped person bringing a dog to a restaurant? Believe me, I have done that with my Service Animal, and you might be surprised how many people (including business owners) think that is "unreasonable" and hassle me.

Where do we draw the line? Who gets their rights and beliefs respected, and who does not?

We have double standards in our country.

An example: My wife worked in a retail environment for a while. One of the employees she worked with came from a country where the women were not allowed to view a man in underwear. As such, she could not put packages of underwear on the shelves. The (considerable) extra work fell to my wife, who did it quietly. Could we say my wife respected the rights of this co-worker? Could we also say that the co-worker was disrespectful, by taking a job where stocking shelves was a job requirement (and the job description called out stocking shelves) and refusing to do it?

How about another example? Two people were working at a nursing home, where the job requirement was to do ADLs (activities of daily living) with seniors, including helping them bathe. But one employee called out "religious beliefs" as a reason not to help seniors bathe. Instead of having to bathe 7 seniors a shift, the other employee was left to bathe 14 people. I'm curious how somebody gets offered and accepts a job at a retirement home and then refuses to do a major part of the work. Never mind this same person would smoke, and drink at bars, both of which were against this persons religion. Respectful?

The country seems to have gotten into the realm of Lil Kim in the song "Money, Power, Respect," where she says first comes money, then power, then people respect you. It is time to let go of the power we desire over others, and go straight to respect.

I guess my point is that we as a people need to learn to respect others in all we do.

Shop where people treat you well. Sell to anyone who can afford your product. Remember that others may be having a bad day. Treat all people the same. Respect cultural differences (yes, not everyone is American, nor understands our culture). Ignore other people's sexual preference. Keep your sexual preferences to yourself. It is a two way street in everything.

Mostly, think.

Let's get back to being united, and working together.