Christmas (TM) - James Brown

Branding has become a huge deal in the last few years. Apple computers is a prime example of a company that has created a loyal base of users, mostly because of the excellence of their products, but also because of the consumer experience and "brand identity" they create. Buying Apple products says something about a person's good aesthetics, demand for quality, and uniqueness... or at least that's what Apple's marketing tells you.

We also have a Christmas "brand" in U.S. culture. Buying into Christmas (TM) says something about our basic goodwill towards others, our thoughtfulness, and even sometimes our faithfulness. Here's the problem with branding: it's mostly about surfaces. 

What would it look like to take the "branding" out of Christmas? Stop doing the "shoulds" like parties and cookies, obligatory gifts and endless kitschy decorations.  Not only leave Santa behind, but leave behind any smug "Christian" concepts like judging the 'Christmas and Easter' church crowds or getting miffed when people don't wish you a Merry Christmas. Open ourselves to the possibility that our agendas (our "Christmas (TM) brand-identities) are helping us skate across the surface of Christmastide without really being changed.

Somehow, for observant Christians, while there's a sense that Lent and Easter should be a transformational experience in our faith lives, we think of Christmas as a mirror that reflects back to us all the things we love most about ourselves and our lives... and when the mirror doesn't work, when things don't match, or are chaotic or discordant, we get upset.

This is no way to observe the birth of the Christ child. Most of us have already moved on into the preparations for the new year. Meantime, the Christ child asks to be born anew in us, asks to be allowed to go deeper, below the glitttery branding of Christmas (TM), and into our hearts.

What would it look like to really allow Christmas to dwell into us, to mean something significant in our lives this year?

May the mirror of these post-Christmas days become a doorway into a deeper experience of dwelling with the newborn Christ in this season of renewal and transformation.

Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year - James Brown

                                                         
                                                                                                    - Anna