Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas In Abbotsford I

I worked until around 3pm today, before I finally took off and went home. There's something deeply wrong with working on Christmas Eve.

I got home tired, and decided not to go to church in Abbotsford with family. By the sounds of it, I missed a very good Christmas program. But I knew that the next 1.5 days would be busy and hectic, so I decided to sleep at home until 6 instead, before heading out to the Valley.

Once at home, the usual Christmas Feast - Feast here is the appropriate word - was served by mom. Afterwards we sat around the table and conversed, before heading to the living room and made ourselves comfortable. Around 10pm we began what for most people is the highlight of the evening, but what for me is increasingly becoming a burden: the opening of presents, and all the hoopla that goes along with that.

There's no simplicity left in Christmas. The simple manger of the baby Jesus has become the glitz of coloured wrapping paper and bows. The month-long Advent season - the season we prepare for the Son of God becoming the Son of Man, has become the month-long season of shopping. The worst of it is that the Church has bought right into this farce.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us.

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