Does everyone talk about these things?

At dinner tonight, I overhead a heated conversation between a married couple. She was complaining about his brother's wife. This woman was a complete dissapointment. She was lazy. She couldn't even keep a job answering the phone at an Episcopal Church. She wasted money that they didn't have. She had trouble paying the bills, but continued to ordered expensive take out. All the while the wife complained, the husband listened patiently until a smirk crossed his face and suddenly ended the conversation. The funny thing about families is that all of us, who have been married for sometime, have experienced these kinds of conversations.

I wonder if Joseph's family members had similar conversations with their spouses. While we'll never know, I have to think they did; it's just too common. So let's assume that a conversation like the one I heard happened between one of Joseph's siblings and his or her spouse. It might have been very similar: "Can you believe she's pregnant? I don't understand your brother. How could he stay engaged to her? What is he thinking? I think she's crazy, all caught up with that talk of the Holy Spirit causing it. Thank God, they had the sense to leave town. Your poor mother..."

If your are having trouble with your family at Christmas time, think of Mary and Joseph. They were the first one's to have holiday famliy trouble.

The Date of Christmas

Once you've been in church long enough you start to hear things. These things come from the doubters. These people seem nice enough; they come to church religously, but their heart is not into church. Now mind you, they are not melicious. Unbenounce to these people, however, they say things that undermine the budding faith of many people. I ran into one of these people once, many years ago, and this person said to me, "You know, the date of Christmas is wrong." He was right, but not totally.

Early Christians weren't hung up on when Jesus came to save us. What was most important was that Jesus came.

It took several hundred years for the date of Christmas to land on December 25th. Here is what the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says: Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215 A.D.) suggested May 2oth. The first evidence showing December 25th as the date for Jesus' birth was the year 336. The date of the 25th gained more usage and prominence once Constantine became Emperor. So for almost 1700 years, Christmas has been celebrated on the 25th and the benefit of this date is simply this: During the darkest time of the year, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, the light of the world brings light and joy to our souls.

The Three Christmas Gifts

When we uncouple Christmas gift-giving from the love of our family and friends, we can tie it to God's profound, radical, unique, special divine love. In seeing that our gifts are simply tangible, material symbols of God's love for us, a natural rethinking of gift-giving occurs.

A significant question arises: How many gifts do I give my children? We can seek out the Bible for an answer. The Scriptures gives us a simple answer. The wise men bring three gifts to Jesus.

In our affluent society, especially in times of economic troubles, three gifts to our children gives gift-giving biblical proportion. It is generous, yet not so generous as to spoil.

Our family has found that once the myth of Santa has been debunked, on the school bus or the lunch room, the "wise guys" keep the fun alive, all the while remaining a means to teach.