Yesterday I saw a church marquee marquee that reads, “Merry Christmas, not Merry Xmas.” Now that is by no means in the same category as this “Eat me Jesus Hater’s Trollcat (that’s seriously what the picture is called!). But I have recently noticed a bit of confusion on the origin of Xmas from a number of well meaning Christians. Or I should I write “Xians” to save space? I can.

In fact that’s what I did on my resume to save space. During one of my interviews, one woman actually asked me why I put on my resume “Xmas” instead of “Christmas” to refer to my “Xmas Outreach parties” that we hosted at our house.

Now I found it incredibly counter-intuitive (to put it nicely) to think I was embarrassed to put Jesus name when it was He who our youth would be proclaiming during the gospel presentations! Needless to say, all doubt was removed in regards to my desire to not work for this church.

I explained to her that “Xmas” saved space on a one page resume, and that “X” is the first letter in “Christ” in the Greek spelling of it. Here’s a helpful explanation by R.C. Sproul of why you may with good conscience write “Xmas” to save space on a resume or Xmas card. It is not dishonoring to Jesus in the least.

So please don’t put “Xmas” in the same category of the I-don’t-want-to-offend-anyone-“Happy Holidays”-even-when-Hanakah-is-over category.

On a side note, Good Morning America introduced the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir this morning as singing a “Holiday Medley.” The beautiful irony of it all was that “Holiday” was said not to offend anyone, yet the choir sang nothing but Xmas carols, and concluded with a singing something to effect of “I’m not ashamed to proclaim His name…Jesus, there is no other…” I love irony!

Just about every year for the past 20-25 years or so, my mother has put on a neighborhood Christmas pageant. Now my folks and I have lived in 4 different neighborhoods since the onset of the pageant, so the play has changed a bit over the years. At times, there were animals like sheep and donkeys, and at times there were professional musicians (of course no one could forget my “Silent Night” on electric guitar where I missed every other note). While the central message of the drama doesn’t change, lines have been tweaked and added/subtracted throughout its, and my lifetime (I’m only several years older than the pageant myself).

Last year Connar was baby Jesus, but this year he outgrew the part and my brother’s son Ben starred as the Savior. Having been to nearly 15-20 of them, I routinely notice line changes. The story is always first contextualized with narrators, and then the drama unfolds. And this is the part where I could tell my mother changed some lines up.

This year’s pageant began with 2 kids at the bus stop fretting over their 401 K and homeowner’s association (this one can be extremely anal and “fine happy” at times). Then it ended with the same conversation continued, where one kid said to the other, “That’s why we can have hope despite what may happen with our 401 K and association issues. But I still wouldn’t open that envelope till after Christmas if I were you!”

Everyone laughed. But it was more than funny. The gospel story was connected with real life, offering real hope, to real problems. It wouldn’t have been nearly as funny with our first neighborhood in South Tampa. Different audience with no strict HOA and different socioeconomic group.

This is a fine example of healthy contextualization. The message doesn’t change, but what parts of the gospel are emphasized (new record, new heart-in this case it was “new heart” and the ability to live at peace in an unstable world-new world, new family……) will and must change to reach different people.

My Mom will be on TV this Wed on CTN at 1 pm to discuss the neighborhood pageants and will have some pictures of the most recent one.

Here’s a challenging blog post on relating with extended family during the Christmas season. For those of you reading this blog who happen to be my extended family, please know that you’re not the reason for the post. Regardless, I found it a helpful look-at-the-plank-in-your-own-eye-first type attitude we all need to embrace when interacting with believing, unbelieving, or nominal extended family (a different dynamic than spending time with friends).

I just heard a great advent sermon while working out this week. Martin Ban, pastor of Christ Church Santa Fe, illustrates well and only preaches 25 minutes, so he’s easy to listen to on the computer or I-pod. He is mesmerized how God used those quite unqualified in constructing the Xmas story. Zechariah (unbelieving priest) Elizabeth (barren woman probably in her 50’s), John the Baptist (not yet born though rejoices over the good news), and Mary (a young unproven inexperienced girl) all make for a quite a cast. Ban is amazed by the fact that God had all this time to plan His entrance and this is what we get! It encourages us to know what kind of people God uses. Click here and listen to “Advent Series Part #3.”

Good news for Bucs fan. The only way we can get a new GM and a coach more than 6 months older than myself is for the old coach and the old GM to find new jobs. Well today, we got one out of two. Bruce Allen, signed on with the Redskins. Since he’s been a GM for Gruden’s team twice, here’s hoping we can say goodbye to Raheem the Dream Morris!

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) of NBC’s “The Office,” in a powerful soliloquy, had this to say about Christmas: “Christmas isn’t really about Santa Claus, or about Jesus….It’s about family.” Sounds a bit over the top, but at least this lovable goofball said what so many folks think. At least our actions or thoughts prove that in some way many of us believe this.

Sometimes it takes a bold statement like that to get our attention and realize that when Christmas isn’t about presents, the default mode goes to family. Christmas is about family spending time together. The number one idol of most church folk like me.

This was a good reminder to be thankful for family, but to find refuge and celebration in the Savior who will return one day to finish what he started. Celebrating Advent, regular scripture readings, pageants, manger scenes, and even birthday cakes for Jesus (Amy saw one today that was amazing!) are all tools which can help us avoid substituting family for Jesus.

I’ve been very uninspired to write lately. Perhaps my muse was assassinated last month. Perhaps getting the house ready to sell and trying to figure out what life will look like in WV has left me “speechless.” Perhaps it’s due to being a laid-off pastor and I don’t think cyber-pastorally much anymore. Whatever it is, it took Jon Gruden to get me back on track.

While watching Monday Night Football, Jon Gruden, former Bucs Coach and now Monday Night Football commentator, spoke about the difficulty of coaching in the NFL. He noted that you can’t simply be up in the standings with 4 games to go and relax. “We were 9-3 and we were coasting. Then we lost the last 4 games and I lost my job.”

And he said it with a smile on his face. I think the other two guys in the booth were taken by surprise. Jon wasn’t afraid to talk about his failures.

Largely blasted for his super-sized ego and alleged mistreatment of players through dishonesty and deception, he showed some real maturity. Maturity in the form of humility.

The ability to admit and even laugh about your failures is something that ought to characterize the life of the Christian. The security found in the gospel-that we are loved and provided for despite our sins and failures-allows us to regularly admit our failures to friend and foe. And yes, at times, even to a national audience.

Jon, if you’re reading this, thanks for the reminder of how Christians should live if we truly believe the gospel.

You may have heard of Tiger Woods traffic violation heard ’round the world. If not, click here. His crash cost him a fine of 165 dollars. My going 30 mph in a 20 mph school zone Tuesday on the way to fish will set me back 156 dollars! Only 9 dollars difference for those keeping score at home. Doesn’t seem to add up if you ask me. But I’ll take the fine over speculations (actually recorded voicemails) of infidelity and getting beaten by your spouse!

Are such things true about Tiger Woods? Possibly, but no one knows. No one really knows Tiger, since he has done a nearly impeccable job of staying out of the public when not on the PGA Tour. He’s definitely no Kardashian.

Now there’s no escaping the media. He’s probably fortunate to escape more than scrutiny, as the investigation has ended and no medical records of what really happened will surface.

This incident reminds me of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Luke 12, when he warns us against hypocrisy. The private life will not always be so private and one day all will be disclosed. Whether its dirt on Tiger, you, or me, all will eventually come out. A sobering thought which makes me run to Jesus, hold on to him, allow Him to be the judge, and trust that my dirt leaves no stains, nor does it disqualify me from a big old hug one day.

Last year before the national championship game I blogged about Tim Tebow’s eye black scripture verses, and how I wasn’t really a fan of Phil 4:13 due to its chronic mis-intrepretation. Now my blog readership is quite small, but that post did actually get me interviewed by a big time newspaper writer for the Kansas City Star. Unfortunately I wasn’t quoted.

While I may not have been a fan of the use of Phil 4:13, I am a huge fan of Tebow’s scriptural accouterments. Each time he plays, thousands of people google those things-and I’m assuming these are people who don’t have bibles or who don’t use them regularly.

Anyhow, during the blowout win against FSU, the CBS announcer actually read the scripture verse Hebrews 12:12. It actually seemed to go well with Tebow’s fumble. The only problem was that Tebow had “Hebrews 12:1-2.” Some 10 minutes later, the CBS announcer apologized and read Hebrews 12:1 to all the viewers! Now he skipped verse 2, which mentions Jesus by name, but hey, not bad. All because of his eye black.

I’m not a Gator fan to put it mildly, but at least I heard God’s Word read while I watched a terrible FSU beat down. Could have been worse I guess….

Once again, another Thanksgiving. And once again much to be thankful for. And once again, one thing NOT to be thankful for. The now surging 2-8 Detroit Lions, coming off A victory in which they lost their starting QB and WR, will probably once again grace America’s living rooms with another terrible Turkey Day football game.

The Lion’s players don’t like playing on Thanksgiving (though their owner does); America doesn’t like seeing them play, so why this match from Hades? The answer can be summed up and read, or sung, with one word: “tradition.” That’s it.

Sometimes traditions can be quite helpful and bring people together. I’ll always fondly remember our family Xmas tradition of going to get a Xmas tree and then going to eat at the same Steak-N-Shake where my mom met my dad when she was on a date and the dude ran over his foot.

But sometimes traditions need to be changed (I love our fake tree and I think my parents love their fake tree now as well), and this is one of them. When a tradition’s sole reason for existence is simply that it is a tradition, it might be a good time to tweak it or scrap it and start another.

I’m looking forward to starting some family traditions with Connar and Amy. However when a tradition outlives its usefulness, I hope that I don’t give the same answer to Connar that America gets when we ask why we get stuck with watching another terrible Lions game: “because it’s tradition.”