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What kind of delusional idiot would say ‘amen’ to a post such as this on Christmas Day?!
I’m guessing the same sort of delusional, idiotic person who, in the name of religion and all that is holy, would forbid others to celebrate this day to begin with!
I’ll explain…
This post is for a good friend I’ll simply call “Shore Leave.” Love you bro!
This is probably the first Christmas in the last several years that SL will be celebrating. You see, SL has just been booted from a religious group who, in the name of Jesus, chooses not only ‘not’ to celebrate Christmas but also to abstain from celebrating any holiday… including one’s own birthday.
I’m not totally unfamiliar with this sort of reasoning as there are actually parts of my own family tree (which, in places, doesn’t fork) who feel this way. They reason from the same Scripture I use to celebrate the birth of Jesus (even if he was really born in April, not December, blah, blah, blah) to argue against celebrating the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
And God help you if you dare think about putting a wreath on the front door of the Church building… that little thing about Luther and his ‘95 Thesis’ is child’s-play compared to a Christmas wreath! And as for a Christmas tree in a church building? Are you kidding me?! Absolutely heretical to the highest degree!
I’m talking ‘Old-lady-passing-out pornographic’ heretical!
Now, while I’m usually a fairly strong proponent of trying to find things to celebrate in all faiths, no matter how oddly disparate from my own, I’m invoking an exception today and claiming it as a Christmas gift to myself to write this somewhat, as some will see it, offensive and intolerant piece on a certain segment of religion.
So ‘Merry Christmas’ to me… and to Shore Leave.
Shore Leave made a grievous error and has and continues to pay for it greatly. Like the kid in Christmas Story who breaks etiquette by skipping ‘double-dog-dare-ya,’ going straight to ‘triple-dog-dare-ya,’ SL blew religious etiquette by asking too many questions too persistently. He found holes in their story, history and interpretation of a book they said they followed to ‘the letter of the law.’ And he wanted to know ‘why’?
But asking religion ‘why’ is like challenging the proverbial ‘because I said so!’ of our parents – you’ll be sorry you did and most likely won’t like what comes next. And for SL, what came next was not only losing his spiritual family and fellowship, but losing some of his related family as well – even to the extent of being divorced by his wife – and that can make for a not-so-wonderful religious experience.
SL is trying to move on and my guess is that he will do just that – in ways greater than any of us can imagine today. He’s moved to a new city and taken on a new job. He’s making new friends and more than ever embracing the family he has remaining as a great gift from the divine. He’s exchanged a toxic religion for the embrace of a healing Creator.
And he’s still asking questions, just this time of people who love mystery as much or more than the answers they’re seeking – people who embrace that which is not known while investing time in the genuine praise of doubt – people who love spirituality more than religious (expletive deleted).
In some circles ‘True Believers’ don’t celebrate Halloween. Nor Christmas. Nor, thankfully, the G-D I know!
To Walmart with them on a day before a holiday!
(That was the worst thing I could think to wish upon such people. I wanted to say ‘go to hell’ but I don’t believe in one and my mother reads this blog.)
So, Shore Leave…
Celebrate.
Rejoice.
Embrace the freedom.
And most of all, on this very special day, know that YOU are LOVED!!
Merry Christmas, SL… from all of us, Merry Christmas!
10 comments to “True Believers Don’t Celebrate Halloween!”
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Merry Christmas Shore Leave!
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Well, I can say a hearty amen to this post of yours and, I share your obvious anger for those who try to limit and inhibit the freedom that the saints have in Christ Jesus!
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To SL and SL’s Mom…May the Presence of God-Love bring a special healing to your hearts.
We want to celebrate every day!…and some days with a little more festivity than the others…for this is “to pray without ceasing”. peace, love, and blessings to you all!
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I used to NOT celebrate Christmas. Last year was the first year in 5 years we did so. Wow! This is also my story from last year! Call me Shore Leave. LOL! Yes indeed, life under the New Covenant is sweet! Merry Christmas!
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with eyes full of tears, all i can say is thank you…
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Welcome to the party Shore Leave!
There are dear members of my family that insist on keeping Christ out of Christmas. Yet another hill to die on for the faithful few. That thinking is so exhausting. I am thankful for what they I have learned from them, I am thankful for asking questions. Asking too many questions, too persistently gets you marked a troublemaker. I too am a troublemaker and better for it.
Merry Christmas! -
I have a whole family of Shore Leave girls (sisters) two of whom unfriended me on FB (one has since refriended me). It has been a tough year for me in heresy, full of new riches and happinesses of my own, and full of the greatest sympathy and peace about the pain and extended journeys for all those I am missing sharing in the joy of this beautiful earth shattering New Covenant.
What a great holiday it has been, and the greatest present for me is not worrying about anybody going to hell, even if they disagree with me or promote war.
There’s hush all over the world tonight. Peace is the undercurrent and the overlay. And my happiness is to suddenly be aware of it, to know it’s mine and yours and all of ours. The hallelujah of my heart.
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Thanks Tim. Your story resonates with a post I just added to a niece’s wall. The topic is the movie Avatar. The question is about the heroes journey. A google of “joseph campbell hero’s journey” returned an interesting link that breaks down the phases and movements of this spiritual journey. It looks to me like Shore Leave may be on such a journey. Godspeed SL.
Today is bittersweet. The son we missed so much at all the holiday celebrations is ‘home’…and yet we’d give our own beating hearts to have him somewhere celebrating “anything” with the girl he still loves…..and who still loves him. But the years of brainwashing forced her to choose the bondage of a heartless God over him.
So we opened the presents and the stockings, ate until we couldn’t take another bite, played a fun game with each other, laughed till we almost cried, sat in a room filled with so much love and still…there was the obvious ‘empty chair’ of a girl we still love and a hole in the heart of my son that no amount of Christmas cheer could fill. But make no mistake – we had FUN!! And I know (from much personal experience) that the healing has begun and that his ‘questioning’ is revealing answers that allow for ‘unconditional celebration’ of every day.
Thanks for sharing this. Much love back at ya!