The Holiday Scandal

Ok, so how many people were surprised by me saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" (or "Happy Christmas" as they say over here)? This simple change of phrase has caused such an amazing amout of controversy, it would be unbelieveable if it weren't for the fact that it's the same old ideological camps in the same old turf war that's been going on for almost a half-century now. Let me highlight some recent incidents:

- The city of Boston decided to change the name of its "Christmas Tree" to "Holiday Tree." The man who cut down the tree said he would have thrown it into the chipper if he knew about the change before. Jerry Falwell has called it part of "a concerted effort to steal Christmas."

- Target decided to wish its customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

- A city in Florida denied a request by Mr. Koenig to display a private nativity scene in a public park.

Literally thousands more could be mentioned, but these represent three fundamental areas of the Christmas battle: government, business, and private. What do all three have in common? Every decision mentioned above has been reversed by the tactics of the Christian Right, who feel that, in the words of John Gibson, "The war on Christmas really is a war on Christians."

Instead of rushing to join the infantry on either side, I've taken the chance to back up a few paces from the nativities and the trees and reflect on what we Christians are really fighting about...

Otherworldy beings in the sky. Philosophers basing their decisions about the future of global politics on astrology. People basing their hope on a line of kings. Messages coming in dreams and visions. Promises of a reversal of the political order, where poor people take over the world.

If this were a TV show, we might be entertained. More amusingly, many Christians would boycott it for having occult influences.

But this is no TV show. It's one more symbol that conservatives are trying to make sure remains permanently attached to "American culture." Are we for real?

Let's pretend this story is new, without the 2,000 years of cultural baggage attached. Pretend you're walking down the street, trying to convince people that this story is true. How many people would believe you? More to the point, would you walk into someone else's business and demand that it recognize your story?

During a carol service last night, in spite of the cultural security that comes with a traditional holiday, beyond the traditional language and comfy sweaters and warm conversation, it really hit me: we're completely crazy! This story makes the "X-Files" look unimaginative, and yet we insist that it's true! I wanted to laugh out loud and pretend I was Jack Nicholson in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Let's just face it, we Christians are nuts. Really. At the very least, we're strikingly un-democratic and un-patriotic, since we belive in a king who's not American, and we'll be leaving this citizenship entirely when he comes.

I, as an orthodox Christian, recognize that I am over the edge. I am not normal. No normal person would believe a story like that.

Furthermore, I'm convinced that if Christians recognized how absurd their story really is, they would stop going around demanding that the rest of the world recognize it. Our real joy would come from revelling together in our crazy story, enjoying it as only a crazy story can be enjoyed. Our Christmas services would stop pretending to be a safe cultural haven, and begin to reflect the wonderment of the insane. And strangely enough, our story might become a little more appealing when we've given up shoving it down the nation's throat and started figuring what it means to live it for ourselves. Many people who thought they believed in Christmas might realize they really don't, and many who don't might realize that they really want to.

The stated goal of cultural conservatives is to "keep the Christ in Christmas," and yet the effect of their legislative and boycotting actions is quite the opposite. An authentic Christian Christmas consists of people who believe the Christmas story getting together because of that common faith. In fact, we need to get together in order to keep the normal people's sanity from rubbing off on us. We need to keep repeating the story. But when we begin enforcing Christmas on the rest of the world (the vast majority of whom are much too rational for this sort of thing), it neccessarily becomes divorced from Christ and attached to such things as trees, presents, and other, less offensive stories. Sound familiar?

To my fellow Christians: Wake up! You're kicking the football into your own goal!

To my also-fellow non-Christians: Please excuse us Christians. I know we're crazy, but we're often quite dull as well. I sincerely hope you have a Happy (and rational) Holiday.

And lastly, to all the believers in our loony Story, and sharers in the common Faith: Merry Christmas!

coming soon...

Hey everyone, due to a busy Sunday, including singing at a carol service and picking up a borrowed cello, I don't have time to organize my thoughts completely. But I will be posting an official "Christmas post" shortly.

Until then, I just wanted to say that our Christmas in York has been delightful, and filled with mince pies and mulled wine... at a church event, too!

Thank you to everyone who sent us a card, it's nice to have a connection with people at home.

As a sneak peak to my "real" post, I'll just say...

Happy Holidays!

Random Thoughts...

Hi everyone, it is Melissa again. I feel like I have so much to say, but have no idea where to begin. So I guess I will begin with my job. I started with the York City Council 2 weeks ago and I am really liking it. The Coucil is basically the local government, made up of many different agencies. I am an administrative assistant for Family Learning, a subset of Adult Education. We provide free education and free childcare for adults that do not have the basics. We provide english, math, and parenting classes and also fun classes that help you spend more constructive time with your children. We also teach computing skills and language to English Speakers of Foreign Languages. I am learning so much about their programmes and about the Council as a whole. My main duties are just keeping the office running and providing the tutors with supplies and course forms. Because we are funded by the government we have a lot of record keeping to do and I am involved with most of that.

England is more of a socialist country than America. When I first got here I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it means that the government provides many public services. Many people reading this blog probably dislike the idea of "big government," but I am here to try to rock the boat a bit. America has so many poor and uneducated people and the Republicans don't really care about that. They are more interested in the rich staying rich, and on cutting what little social programmes America has left. Granted, England also has many that are poor and uneducated, but the government is trying to raise the nation's education level and they are planning on doing this no matter what it takes. Unfortunately, the government has cut the amount of funding to each county this year, and in response the county might have to raise their own taxes, but they are trying to cut the more frivilous things in the budget so that they won't have to.

In the three months I have been here I have experienced that a more socialist government isn't necessarily bad. The 17% tax that comes out of my paycheck pays for healthcare for both of us, and pays for free courses and childcare if I meet certain qualifications; it also pays for everything else that the city provides: fire, police, trash, waste. In America 17% only paid my standard taxes, I also had to pay extra money on top of that for healthcare which took another big chunk from my pay. I think we can learn that welfare is good as long as we are providing a service that allows the poor to get a job and to continue to learn. That is what happens here: we provide education that will help these people be better parents, workers and people and that is what matters.

On a lighter note Chris and I saw the Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Which and the Wardrobe a whole day earlier than it came out there. HA HA have to brag!! I think we both agreed that it was worth seeing and being able to experience Narnia on film was really amazing!

I have experienced this really weird phenomemon here that maybe you can relate to. Chris and I have met many people in these last three months, and some of them are like clones of people we were friends with at home. The first person is this really sweet lady from church, she has us over for lunch and tea and has really welcomed us into York. She reminds us of Chris' aunt Sally. She looks like her and has the same sort of soft sweet way about her. I thought it was weird and then it started happening all the time. My boss at work reminds me of Michele DeHaas. They don't look the same per se, but they both have blond hair and have similar complexions and the personality and the way we exist as friends/collegues is just like Michele. It is really weird. The weirdest of them all is this guy from the university who is Drew DeHaas all over. Except for one thing: he is French-Canadian-Japanese and speaks all three languages. He is Japanese by birth and culture but has lived in Canada his whole life. Now he is getting his doctorate in York. He is the same height has Drew, same voice timbre, and same body movements. When I closed my eyes it was Drew!!! It was really starting to creep me out. It is kind of cool though, people we are close to and care about can be experienced by us through these other people.

Finally the last of my ramblings - church! We have settled in at St. Oswald's in Fulford and we are really enjoying the Chirch of England Liturgy more than we expected to. We are involved in an advent house group called Promises, focusing on the promises of God in the Old Testament. We are really enjoying that as well. In January we will be doing a 9 week study on Prayer based on the teachings of Ignatious of Loyola. You can read more about that here.

That's all for now!


[Postscript from Chris]

Yeah, you knew I couldn't go a whole week without saying anything.

Melissa might have stolen my thunder a little with the Socialism bit; I'd like to return to that at some point. But if you're interested, you can start the ball rolling now by contributing your thoughts or asking questions about American-style government vs. European, or Capitalism vs. Socialism in the more general sense. What I'd like to know is, 1) How capitalist is America, and how socialist is the U.K.? 2) Is hard-core socialism really dead? and the all-important question, 3) How do the respective economic systems relate to your moral/spiritual/religious sense? i.e. is one or the other more or less "Christian" or "moral."

Whether you know everything or nothing, post your thesis or your bewilderment as a comment and I'll try to incorporate it into a later post. C'mon, you Libertarians, I know who you are!

Bye for now...

The lesson of the Messiah

Hi everyone! Last night Melissa and I had an experience that I will cherish for a long time; hearing Handel's Messiah performed in its entirety... in the York Minster!

Now if you know me, you know that I often criticize "classical" enthusiasts for living in the past. ("Find out what good art is being made today! There's more to life than Mozart, people!") But this wasn't just a concert of classical music. As I looked at the tree-trunk sized pillars rising high above my head, and as I closed my eyes and heard the music existing and continuing through the cathedral, I came to the revelation that the building was an active participant in the experience. It was sound-in-space, it was architectural sound, a collaboration between the living performers and the long-dead builders and the inanimate rock. It was magic.

Besides the aesthetic experience, which I can only describe, there was an underlying tension that I picked up on that I wanted to share. To understand the tension, you have to be aware that the text of the Messiah is essentially a manifesto, a creed of Christian faith, from the incarnation, through death and resurrection, and into the commission of disciples. It is, in a sense, "The Bible for Dummies," firmly entrenched in a reformation mindset.

Before the concert began, a minister related this to the audience, and explained that "for some of the performers," the concert would be an offering of worship to God. With the understanding that this was an overtly Christian work, performed in a cathedral, and that the message of the music resonanted with some of the performers' own convictions, it would seem reasonable to classify it as a "Christian event," or at least I thought so.

You can imagine my surprise and intrigue, then, when I read the program notes, which informed me that, in order to understand the piece, one had to realize that there was a time in history when people actually considered the Bible to carry divine authority (imagine that!), or that the Gospels were accurate records of historical events. Apparently I needed that historical brief, because our current understanding of evolution and Newtonian physics (both of which were explicitly mentioned) have certainly made Handel's viewpoint look pretty silly by now.

Now, the program note in itself didn't bother me, or interest me; I'm used to people arguing that the law of gravity and Scriptural authority are somehow mutually exclusive. What piqued my interest was the coexistence of these two perspectives: classical faith on the one hand, scientific agnosticism on the other. Not only did they coexist, but they seemed completely unaware of the other's presence! I was left confused: is the Messiah an interesting historical artifact of an irrational religion, or is it a living confession of faith?

Maybe it's an embodiment of the current situation, that religion is allowed to exist as long as it promises not to challenge reason, and reason is allowed to remain an atheist as long is it doesn't challenge the faithful. Both camps have their proverbial heads in the sand, afraid of what might happen in the event of a confrontation.

If that's the case, I don't know what to say except that it's pretty funny. But what I really like is that both of these camps were forced to coexist for a few hours, and what brought them together was nothing other than a piece of music. What does that mean? It means that art can be a context for meaningful discussion. I've read many books, and heard many sermons and discussions about faith and religion, but hearing it in music is another thing altogether. And it's a necessary thing. It's more than "music with a message" that the modern music industry would sell to Christian youths; the music is the message. We tend to draw a sharp line between thought and feeling, art and philosophy. But the Messiah stands in the middle of the divide, reaffirming that our deepest understanding of life can't be confined to arguments or sermons, or even logic. It needs to be felt, seen and heard; and then, lived.

Scattered thoughts...

Hey everyone! The post is a little late today, because the movie "Kundun" was playing on the "tele." It's a Scorcese film, one of my favorites... yes Filo, even with the Phillip Glass soundtrack ;) The story of the Dalai Lama is very interesting. If anyone's seen it, feel free to leave your reaction.

So, I have lots of things I could talk about and I plan to talk about, but it seemed like people liked the pictures last week, and I got some more cool ones when we had a lot of fog, so I'll stick with that for now. I hope you enjoy them.

The weather here is so crazy, I think because of high-speed winds in the upper atmosphere. The other morning it was sunny and we had the window open, when all of a sudden we heard a strange noise; looking outside, we saw it was hailing! Ten minutes later it was back to sunny again. We're still waiting for snow...

Ann heard that Thanksgiving was this week, and suggested we have a big turkey dinner together. Unfortunately, she didn't come home as early as she expected, and so it was too late to cook a whole bird. But she did have some turkey pieces, and we made mashed potatoes and stuffing and squash, so it was a good meal. Ann insulted my "mass catering" skills, but I'm over that now... besides my hurt ego, it was nice.

Melissa starts her job tomorrow! She's very nervous. Maybe she'll give you an update after the first few days.

I have to go for now, we're making an apple crumble! Yum. Enjoy the pictures, keep commenting (there's been some good discussion, so keep reading the comments too). It's good to know I have an audience to write home to at the end of every week. So, Thanks!

Changing Seasons...

Well, it's the end of November, and we're finally starting to feel the chill. The locals say that it doesn't usually get this cold this fast, but it doesn't feel too different from Pennsylvania.

The strangest thing is the path of the sun. Today it rose 20 minutes before eight, thanks to daylight savings, but it set one minute after 4! Having only 8 hours of daylight is kind of a shock, and we're not at the bottom yet. The sun stays so low that I'm surprised it's not colder than it is. We're reading Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," and we can appreciate the setting. :)

On the positive side, it's been sunny for over a week, and might stay that way for a few days more.

For your enjoyment, I took a few pictures outside our place. I hope you enjoy them.

The Big M

No, it's not MacDonald's, although there are plenty of them here as well. It's the Minster!


We got a good look at it from the outside when we first got here, but we finally shelled out the pounds to see the inside of this amazing building.











There's so much history in this place that it's hard to know where to begin! But I'll try to summarize the main idea, interspersed wih pictures that may or may not have any relevance...






It all started out with a Roman structure that dates back to who-knows-when. Like most Roman buildings, it was square and practical. Parts of a wall from that building still exist, and it shows paintings of a mediterranian scene, perhaps to make them feel better in the cold north. Unfortunately, it's in the basement/crypt where pictures aren't allowed.







After the Romans, York was Christianized and populated by the Normans and the Saxons and whoever else, during which the Minster was built. One interesting bit: while the Roman structure was built according to the lay of the land, the custom of Cathedrals is to go long-ways from East to West. So the Roman ruins intersect the Minster, but they're oriented 45 degrees apart.




Every couple hundred years, the people decided that their cathedral wasn't as good as the Jones's next door, and so over the centuries, it kept getting bigger and bigger! In a pre-modern mindset, this was tangible evidence of God's providence in the city... amazingly similar to the ancient Jewish connection to the glory of the Temple. In the absence of any tangible relation between Biblical Jews and European Christians, it seems that mentality must be a basic part of human nature. I wonder what today's post-christian, post-modern counterparts would be? Hm...





They still hold services in the Minster; Anglican, of course. Another interesting bit, the church next door (which is like an extension of the Minster) hosts an Alpha program. If you're not familiar, it's an informal social get-together/Bible study that tries to introduce people to the ideas of the Bible without the cultural trappings of "church." The contrast between the deep, rich cultural tradition of the Anglican church and their apparent willingness to step outside that tradition in order to relate to a post-christian world is very striking.



Honey Lou, if you're reading, this last picture is for you!




I've only said a little bit, but hopefully enough for you to see how amazing the Minster is. Leave a post if you feel so inclined (and sign it if you want us to know who you are!) And, as always... thanks for reading!

November 5th and the Problem of Religion

There exists a very interesting holiday here in England on the 5th of November called Guy Fawkes Night that commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

If you want more information you can read this, but here's a short summary. King James I was the Protestant King of England, and Catholics felt that they were being treated unfairly. A group of extremists planned to rectify the situation by exploding 2.5 tons of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, killing everyone in the immediate vicinity. This was intended to ignite (no pun intended) a revolt in the Midlands.

No one knows exactly how the Protestants discovered the plot, but they arrested Guy Fawkes, who was acting as the suicide bomber, in the early morning of the fateful day. After lengthy torture he revealed the names of his co-conspirators, all of whom were hanged, drawn and quartered; a process which is so gruesome I'm not going to describe it here.

There's a strong push here to undergo willful amnesia about the origin of this "celebration," to rename it as "Fireworks Night" and reduce it to an excuse to satiate our collective pyromania. But I want to go the other direction: not to reduce it, but to enlarge it, and to reflect on it as an example of a more general phenomenon.

"By this sign, conquer." And ever since, people have been using the power of the cross to establish the power of Rome. Not that the problem is unique to Christianity of course. Islam has proven a fertile ground, and Judaism has been on both sides of the phenomenon more times than anyone can count. Hopefully the critique of my own tradition is enough to acquit me of insensitivity towards any other in this area.

Secularists have picked up on this phenomenon, of course, and they like to call it The Problem of Religion. The Problem, they say, is that when people become really convinced of spiritual principles, they can be motivated to commit acts that the rest of the non-fanatical world can easily recognize as immoral and unjust. The Solution, then, is straightforward: if you have religious beliefs, keep them to yourself. You can think whatever you want, as long as you promise not to let your thoughts influence your actions. The intended result of this Solution is that society will be guided by Reason instead of Religion, or more precisely, Human Thought instead of Divine Revelation. Surely, they say, it is religion which convinces people to commit these acts, and if they were left to their own devices, they would recognize how wrong they were! Interestingly enough, this attitude is also adopted by Christians in light of modern terrorism. Surely, they say, Islam is the problem.

Are they right? Is religion the culprit that turns ordinary people into perpetrators of heinous acts? I'm not so sure.

First, Secularism itself is not exempt from the Problem. If the French Revolution teaches us anything, it's that Reason produces its own fanaticism. Consider also the Nazi Regime. It would appear that a Darwinian philosophy is as dangerous as any religion.

It seems then that religion is not the source of the problem.

This is a very freeing realization: Muslims do not have to be condemned for belonging to a "violent religion," because adherents of all religions are violent. Christians do not have to be ashamed of their faith in secular societies, because Secularism is no more likely to lead to a less fanatical society. And atheists and agnostics can stop being afraid of their religious neighbors, because it is not religion that makes people violent.

It is also an extremely disconcerting realization: If not religion, then what? Religion, like any institution, is easy to blame, because it is easy to label. It seems that any system of thought or philosophy one could choose to subscribe to has been used to justify evil. Is there any escape? Wherever we go, we will find ourselves sharing our bed with a villain.

If we can't find the solution in external factors, we must conclude that evil comes from within.

There is substantial evidence to support this claim. In the right context, most "normal" people will participate in persecution and genocide - without religion, without any philosophical manifesto. Nothing but the right opportunity.

What lessons can we take from this example of 400-year old "Christian" terrorism? Only that evil doesn't operate according to our labels and generalizations. Evil does not reside in the Middle East, and so it can't be conquered by Western democracy. It doesn't reside in Hollywood, and so it can't be conquered by the Bible Belt. It doesn't reside in Religion, and so it can't be overcome by Secularism. It resides in the individual, and therefore it can only be conquered by the individual. Let's stop rooting out extremism in other people, and start rooting it out of ourselves.


Comments? Extensions? Contradictions? Post it as a comment...

Good News!!!

Hi everyone it's Melissa, a few people said that I should make a post to the blog, so I decided I would. Life has been pretty good, but I have been very bored without a job. I turned in many applications but alas no interviews. So this one job I applied for was a part-time temporary job for 6 months. I said well its better than nothing. I applied and they sent me the normal "sorry you suck" letter. But on Monday night I got a phone call from this lady saying they had to redo the application process and even though we sent you the "you suck" letter we changed our mind and we want you in for an interview. I said what the heck, I have nothing else. My interview was today and I thought it went well. They gave me a computer test which was pretty easy. They said they would contact me by the end of the day. Soooooooooo at 5:30pm I got a phone call saying "Mrs. Bryan I am calling to offer you the job." Hallelujah I got the job!! Of course I took it. I am not sure when I start, they have to do all the paperwork junk, but I am very pleased.

The job is with the York City Council Family Learning Center. Basically I will be an admin support type role and help keep the office organized and running. I think it is right up my alley. Thanks for all your prayers. God really answers prayers in mysterious ways sometime huh? Anyway I was feeling kind of depressed earlier in the week so Chris bought me a new suit for my interview. Don't I look cute?














So the weather here is so weird. I think it is warmer here than in PA. We have had nothing but sunny warm days for the past week and a half. Of course after I told Michele that it is never sunny here we get like 4 days in a row :) Oh well, I think it is getting a bit colder now. On Sunday it started raining halfway to church (we were cycling of course) and we were soaked by the time we got there. After church this really nice lady invited us to her house to wait out the rain. We had nice conversation and she told us to "come round" for tea whenever we wanted. We have been blessed by nice people. So by the time we left her house it was sunny and beautiful and you would have never known it rained.

Ever since we got here, I have been looking for iced tea. I really miss my mother-in-law's home made tea :) Apparently England doesn't have Iced Tea. No restaurants have it on the menu, I can't find it at grocery stores or in gas stations. It is so bizarre. Last week Chris and I were having lunch in a cute tea room and they had iced tea on the menu. So I ordered it. I took a picture of it because I was totaly baffled at what I got......


I don't know if you can tell what it is, but it is a cardboard container of tea. They didn't serve it with ice and the container wasn't even that cold! It was really weird. Have any of you seen anything like this before?

I don't think I have anything else to say right now, so thanks for reading and talk to you soon

Melissa

Better Late than Never...

Hello everyone,

I apologize to anyone who was expecting the usual Sunday afternoon post. The reason for the delay was a coincidence of several different events, which I will detail for you. (Is "detail" a verb??)

One was my computer dieing. Again. It might have been a result of my previous experience with 240v sockets, I don't know. But the good news is, I'm up-and-running again.

The second event/excuse was that Melissa thought she might be posting to say that she had a job. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. We do still have a couple leads, which I won't say anything more about, for fear of making too much of something that hasn't materialized yet. She'll be posting if something does work out, so be listening!

I have more interesting topics for posts, but it's coming up on midnight here, so I'll save them for a better time. Stay tuned for more info on the wacky weather, a praise of my theological hero, Bishop Tom Wright, some audio samples of what I've been up to, and of course, updates of Melissa's job. But for now, Goodnight.


p.s. Regarding Erin's question, the box in the shower controls water temperature. British bathrooms are weird. For instance, they insist on having pull-cords instead of light switches. Switches are fine everywhere else, why not in the bathroom?? Anyway, there is a switch on the box that says "power," but it doesn't seem to do anything.

More Pictures, and a Mobile...

Hello and welcome to the third weekly weekend post! There are several topics to mention...

First, Melissa thought you might be interested in the interior of our humble abode. If you're interested in our bathroom and living space, here they are...





Next up, we went yesterday to a place called "Nunnington Hall," which is just an old estate. There are hundreds of historical sites like this all over the place, and with a £17.50 membership, you can see them all for free. Anyway, some pictures of the outside... as always, you can double-click for a larger image.





A family tree...when it says "No cameras," it really means "No flash," right? The lack of pictures from the inside can be attributed to Melissa's incessant repetition, "You're gonna get in trouble!"



In these old buildings, "square" isn't a term with much meaning...












Some pictures of the outside, which was beautiful.





And some trees I really liked.





The obligatory group photo, and a sneak shot of Melissa. In the group shot, the older couple is Melissa's Aunt Helen and Uncle Dennis, who took us out. The other person is their son and Melissa's cousin, Mark. Mark lives in Leeds, about 30 minutes from York, but Dennis and Helen live in Leamington Spa, which is roughly 3 hours south, so it's nice when they visit. We invited ourselves over for Christmas!




We discovered a museum in York, but we didn't have time to visit it yesterday. There's an interesting half-head outside, which could just as easily be an ancient ruin as a postmodern sculpture if you didn't know.








Finally, a strange sight in the city. I wasn't dropping acid, really. It's on film.





We have a mobile phone now, so if you have an urge to call us in the UK, go for it! To dial from the US, it's:

01144 79 474 38114


Thanks to everyone for wishing me a happy birthday. And, as always, thanks for reading. Until next time...