Christ's Mass

Christmas is coming up faster than any of us would like to admit and with that comes the ever infamous debate over what Christmas is all about.

Personally, I'm sick of said debate.

We can argue for days on end over whether or not Christmas has become completely commercialized, but I, like so many others, am completely sick of the argument.  It feels like you can't follow any Christmas tradition these days without someone pointing out how commercialized the holiday has gotten.  I must admit, I've fallen prey to this trend as well.  I have, sadly, caught myself griping about the true meaning of Christmas being lost to the world, but has it?

The word Christmas quite simply comes from words meaning "Christ's Mass".  Very clever.  The Christ part is obvious.  Duh.  The mass part is pretty simple too.  It's the mass we've all heard of from the Catholic church.  In my opinion, you could even go a little more broad and say that "mass" simply refers to a group of people such as the group of people that gathered on the night of Christ's birth.  Thus, the "real meaning" of Christmas is a group of people gathering in the name of the messiah.

"For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them."  Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

Christmas has developed a large group of traditions.  These range from Christmas trees to going to church to eating Chinese food to creepy old guys watching you and sneaking into your house at night.  Not the least of these traditions is gift giving.  This is also the one that draws the most criticism.

I have been avoiding making my Christmas list for several weeks now.  I was asked for it back before Halloween and refused on principle.  I did, however, promise that I would "turn one in" before I went back to school this weekend.  The last couple of years, I've found it difficult to make a Christmas list because once I do, I realize well over half of my list is movies.  To me, that's not a bad thing.  I love movies!  However, I know I don't like buying people clothes for Christmas.  I think they're boring, and I have no fashion sense.  I'm sure there are probably other people who feel similarly about movies.

Because of this whole situation, I found myself falling back to the old standby:  Google.

You'd be amazed how many people across the Internet have asked the question, "What do I want for Christmas?"  You may be less surprised to learn that more often than not there's at least one smart alec (not my first choice of word) that pipes off some answer about being selfish and not caring about the real meaning of Christmas.  I read several of these simply because they got me annoyed (which more often than not seems to lead to some of my best blog posts).

As I was reading annoying people quoting the Bible and blubbering on and on about our self-centered society and blah blah blah, I realized that Christmas lists are not necessarily a sign of a selfish society.

What is the basis of Christmas lists?  Christmas presents.  How is giving someone a gift a sign of selfishness?  In fact, gift giving has become a major gathering point during the holiday season.

"For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them."  Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

If you've learned anything about Love Languages, you'll know that one of them is gifts.  Gifts show that you care enough to think about a person in advance and get them something.  Sometimes, people think about a person in advance and would love to get them a gift, but they don't know what to get them.  That's where Christmas lists come in.  Who knows what you want better than you do?

By giving gifts, you're showing love.  If you're gathering together to show love, is there anything closer to gathering in Christ's name?  If two people gather together to show love, are they not fully buying into the true meaning of Christmas?  Has Christmas been commercialized?  Probably, but no more than any other holiday.  Really, from what I can tell, "commercialized" to most people simply means wrapped in tradition.

Gift giving isn't commercialization.  It's gathering together in show love.  Gathering in Christ's name.  Being part of Christ's Mass.  Christmas.

You'll Be Gone and I'll Notice

Whatever part of my brain that is responsible for rational productive thinking seems to have been murdered this week by the part of my brain responsible for overthinking and complete ridiculocity.  Thankfully, I haven't had much homework to worry about.  Not so thankfully, I haven't had much homework to worry about.

I say thankfully because if I did have a ton of homework, I'm not so sure I could successfully finish it.  On the other hand, since I don't have hardly any homework, I'm left with a ton of time to indulge that murderous irrational piece of my brain that has staged one of the most successful coups in history and is in complete control.  I've tried to fill up the murder's time with story writing (as that is its typical function), but that seems unsuccessful.  The only thing that seems to keep it at bay and prevent it from going complete serial killer on my vital functions is indulging its persistent endless trains of thought.

Guess what?  Since you're reading this, you're now trapped on a high speed train with the previously mentioned serial killer.  Choo-choo!

I have thought for years that I am a heartless monster.  Those that know me best are saying, "No!  You're sweet and loving!"  While those that know me best are saying, "Yup.  That's about right."  Thanks to the seditious Overthought (which I have now decided to call him), I have decided otherwise.

My first hint that I am not a heartless monster came along with the thoughts associated with yesterday's post.  I thought for the longest time that I was a heartless monster because I couldn't write love stories, I had no heart.  When I discovered that this had nothing to do with the love involved and more to do with boredom, I was satisfied and decided that I might have a heart.

But there were other arguments involved.

Unfortunately, my body requires sleep which means that I can't stay up all night writing here.  That means that I don't have enough time to discuss all of the many reasons and examples as to my theory of heartlessness.  I do, however, have time to debunk one.

This summer I revealed to a group of people just how heartless of a monster I am by pointing out that other than my family, I had only ever missed four people.  You may now fight amongst yourselves as to who those people are.  When you're done trying to figure out if you're one of those special few, I'll continue and make the world make sense again.  No, no.  It's ok.  Take your time.

 . . .

 . . .

Are you done crying yet?  Thank goodness.  I don't really feel like dealing with that while talking about how I'm not a heartless monster.  That's just too much work.

I only just recently realized why "I don't miss people" while other people do.  It's really a very simple solution.  Other people don't miss people either!  I'll now give you some time to have your little hissy fit about how so-and-so does too miss you and how you really miss so-and-so.  Go on.  Have your tantrum.

 . . .

 . . .

Finished?  Great.

My firm belief is that people don't know what it means to miss someone.  No one has ever, in my opinion, explained society's view of the phrase "I'm going to miss you" better than The Big Bang Theory.  If you've never seen The Big Bang Theory, you should immediately stop reading, go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye and inform your brain that you have been depriving it, return to your computer and Google it.  You will eventually discover more than one website where you can watch full episodes online.  Come back when you're done.

In one episode (the season two finale if I recall correctly (which I normally do)), Leonard goes to tell Penny that he will be taking a trip to the North Pole for a scientific expedition.  When he tells her, one of her responses is "Oh, I'm gonna miss you."  Later in the episode, Leonard returns to ask Penny what she meant by that.  Her response was "I don't know.  You'll be gone and I'll notice."

That about sums up what I can only figure is most people's view of the phrase "I miss you."  To most people most of the time it means "I noticed you weren't around."  In all actuality, they're perfectly accurate with the definition:

"To discover or regret the loss or absence of," World English Dictionary

The "miss" in "I miss you" is, most of the time, "to discover the absence of."  In that respect, I miss my million dollars.  I miss my wings.  I miss my nine-foot-tall labradoodle, Crackers.

I, having a brain that doesn't exactly work in the same way as most people, tend to reserve the word "miss" for the definition "to regret the loss of."  When I say "I miss so-and-so" I am taking note of a legitimate feeling of loss in my life.  I legitimately feel like something important is missing when that person is not around.  Those four people that I said earlier I missed were people that at various times were crucial pillars of my emotional stability for one reason or another, and, without them, I felt like something deep inside me was not being properly supported.

Suddenly the word "miss" is a little less frivolous.  Don't you think?

There's a reason why I say I don't miss people.  I used to think that other people understood "miss" the same way I did.  It was not until very recently that I realized I'm not a heartless monster.  It's not that I miss people less than others.  It's simply that I put a lot more value on the word.  Do I notice people's absence?  Yes.  Does my mind immediately jump to "I miss that person"?  No.

Now, as usual, it's time to turn this train around a little bit.  You've ridden this long with Overthought and now it's time to turn the reins over to you.  (Don't ask why the train has reins)  Who in your life do you really miss?  I'm not talking about "discover the absence of".  I'm talking about "regret the loss of".

Who are those people in your life that, when they aren't around, leave a gaping human-shaped hole in your life that it seems only they can fill?

Love in Literature

This week, my brain's been in overdrive.  I can't yet give you a reason as to why, though spend enough time thinking about why you're thinking and you'll come to some interesting conclusions.

My brain forcing me to spend unhealthy amounts of time thinking about everything in my life wouldn't be such a bad thing if it were letting me follow these extremely long trains of thought to something that I can actually post here.  Unfortunately, my brain is train hopping.  Before it gets to a depot, it hops onto a passing train and heads off in a different direction.  It's very disorienting.

One of the things my brain finally settled on was an unfortunate almost promise I made to someone this summer.  I said that I would attempt to write a love story.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It should not be this difficult!  Unfortunately, love itself has basically become a cliche in our society and is so expected in stories that I can't abide it.  When we meet a guy and a girl in a story, we immediately start trying to figure out how they're going to end up together.  You can try to subvert expectations in so many ways, but love in literature is as disgustingly predictable as a dog peeing on a fire hydrant.  It's just what you expect.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Some people have very unpredictable lives and need escape from that in the stability of a cliched story line with stock characters you already know.  This is why there is a genre of movies called the chick flick and a genre of literature known as "the marriage plot" which, unfortunately, I took an entire semester studying.  Trust me.  It's cliched and boring.

Before you scream at your computer screen and say that just because something is cliched doesn't mean it's boring, I completely agree with you.  I am not suggesting causation, merely correlation.  In this case, romance stories are not only cliched and not only boring, but cliched AND boring.

I finally came to the realization today that this is exactly why I have so much trouble writing love stories.  They're predictable.  I don't like writing predictable.  I have been desperately working today to try and find a way to make the story unpredictable (particularly the ending) but as soon as I introduce a guy and a girl, the first thought of everyone who read love stories is, "O-M-G!  They would be SOOOOO cute together!"  (Insert wrist flick here.)  I honestly thought for a while about doing a guy-guy or girl-girl love story for the pure unpredictability of it, but I just couldn't bring myself to write it.

Giving up on the possibility of being unpredictable, I went for intentionally cliched.  That ended up not being much better.  I got so bored with it that my narrator ended up doing a linguistic commentary on the phrase "once upon a time" which, despite being very interesting, did nothing to move the story along and was really rather boring and pointless when I reread it.

I haven't given up yet.  I still think it's possible for me to write a love story, it'll just take some time and lots of tries.  To the person that I said would get it as a birthday present:  Sorry.  I know I missed it a while ago, but you're going to have to wait for Christmas . . . possibly Christmas NEXT year!

I'm open to suggestions on a way to go about ways to make a romance unpredictable.  If I ever come up with a love story that I'm happy with, my readers here will be among the first to know.

In the interest of leaving you with something other than my frustrations (and instead leaving you with frustrations of you own), ask yourself this:  Is there something in your life that has become so predictable it's boring?  Are you ok with that?  Can you change it?  Should you change it?







P.S.  I got an email today from my Cyberstalker that had an attachment on it with the first submissions for the challenge I submitted a little while ago.  For those of you that forgot, I'm looking for writings about writer's block.  It can be poems, stories, prose, or anything else you can think of.  I'm working on a page for my website on which I intend to include any and all submissions I get.  It's not too late to submit (especially seeing as how I only just got my first submissions).

Illuminating the Path

I was listening to a radio show this evening.  I know.  Try not to die of shock.  Anyway, the host ended up somehow on a tangent talking about how the Bible is like a GPS.  He was saying that you need to know where you're going before it'll work for you and that most people don't really know where they're going.  I thought this was an incredibly weak and obvious point.  BO-RING!  I instead got caught up on his opening line for this analogy.

He started by talking about using a GPS to get somewhere.  One of the first things he said was that you had to look up from the GPS every now and then, because if you got too into the GPS you would run off the road.  He said it as a joke and not as a point.  However, when he started comparing the Bible to a GPS, I made a connection back to that earlier comment that he never touched (and frankly is much more interesting than his intended point).

Let's combine the two.  The Bible is like a GPS.  You have to look up occasionally from the GPS to make sure you don't drive off the road.  Anyone made the connection yet?  You have to get out of the word occasionally!

I've noticed that a lot of the people who yell about God on street corners know their Bible very well.  However, I can't help but wonder if they know anything about any of the people they're trying to influence.  I then have to wonder if they're doing any good.  (For further thoughts on this, see The Jesus Scepter.)  Basically, they have their noses so far into the Bible, they can't see the world around them and they lose sight of their path.  They run off the road.

If you don't like this analogy, fine.  I have several problems with it to.  No parable is perfect.  I'm not sure that a GPS is really a good analogy for the Bible in the first place (even if it did make a good point).  For the best analogy for the Bible as far as I'm concerned, we must look in the Bible itself:

"Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path."  Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

For those of you concerned, feel free to look at the context; I just don't feel like writing it all out.  Did you know Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible?  Neither did I.  I'm not even entirely sure if that's true, but it's certainly interesting.

Notice that the verse says that God's word is a lamp for your feet.  It's a light.  It's not a map and its definitely the path itself.  A light is very unlike a map in that a light only shows you a small portion of the path.  You don't get the full picture or even directions.  You just get a little illumination for when you really need it.  Still, the point from the GPS analogy has some validity in this new perspective.

Have you ever stared into a lamp for a long time?  Try it right now if you haven't.  Look at a lamp or some bright light for a couple of seconds.  Now try to read.  It's not so easy to do with the dark blob in the middle of your vision.  Looking directly at it and only it doesn't really do you much good.  Staring at a lamp won't show you the path and may in fact hide the path from your vision.  On the other hand if you allow the lamp to reflect off of the world around you, you find that you can suddenly see better than ever before.

God's word can be the same way.  So often, people get bogged down in trying to "decode" the Bible.  They sit there and get so far into it that they are blind to the world around them, much like paying attention to the GPS.  Instead, we should let the lamp shine on the world around us.  Use that lamp to see the world anew and suddenly it has a real function.  Suddenly you can find your way.

At the same time, however, you don't really want to go walking around at night without a lamp, do you?  While it may seem pointless in the light, once it gets dark, you need something to shine so that you can know where you're going.  In the same way (I just used a Jesus line!) God's word may seem pointless when the path is laid out plain before you.  You may find that it a little distracting even.  However, when your life is cast into shadows, you're going to want you lamp back.  When you can't see your path, God's word can shed enough light on the situation to keep you moving.

So are you too busy staring at the light to see your way?  Are the dark blobs preventing you from seeing the world around you?  Or are you letting the light do its job by illuminating your path?