Advent Thoughts

If Christmas is just about...
spending lavishly
on toys for the cute little ones,
or banquets dripping
with fat, all syrupy,
and covered with tinsels
and false sparklers,
then Christmas is just not worth it.

Or do we mean...
the season of "peace on earth"
at that time of the year
for families who have much,
couched snuggly 'round burning logs,
overcome with burps,
effectively shielded
from the stench of the 'have not.'

For when Christmas is all these,
and only these,
then Christmas is a fake,
a most foul mistake,
an oppressive invention
of an ungrateful creation;
a slap on the face
of the Holy gift-Giver.

Christmas is a revolution
against the lie of the ages,
for the baby in the manger
is the most powerful of rulers.

He waged war against greed.
He brought down walls and divisions.
He reclaimed what is His.
He unmasked the deceiver.

Christmas is about...
food on the table for the gatherer of scraps,
and joy without price-tags for the urchins of the slums,
and smile on the faces of the harshly oppressed,
and a God who says "ENOUGH"
to His self-destructing children.

Christmas is homecoming...
for me,
for all.
Christmas is the triumph
of the good and the small.
Christmas is the new birth
for the children of the fall.
Christmas is Christ's shoulders
upon which I stand tall!