A Christmas Eve Rant

Yesterday was our last day of standing Kettle. It is sort of sad, especially when the weather was so good for Kettle Standing this year. It does mean that I can now go back to long winded rambling blog entries because I now have the time. It also means that more work will be cone on the Judy Scarf. Most importantly it is Christmas Eve. A time for family and to reflect on the sacrifices that have been made for us.

My fellow Christians have had a great deal to get excited about in the last year. Now I am not going to debate the Biblical relevance or correctness of any of it. All I know if that the world is too complex to be summed up in a sound bite or a paragraph or two of text. Yet everything from patriotism to one’s belief in God must now be a simple yes or no.

As for myself the God thing has always been yes. And as for loving my country that has also always been yes. Still, when one brings up things like hunger, illness, poverty or anything else that makes people miserable the answer is always complex.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to visit many churches. Some large some some small, some affluent some poor. I was once in a poor town on a Sunday. I went to what looked from the outside to be a middle of the road church. It was a big old stone building with stained glass windows that looked like a church. Inside were fine furnishings, an expensive organ and more people on staff than you could shake a stick at.

I was wearing a uniform that was not cheap, but still not very expensive. Everyone else in the place was dressed a great deal better than I was. After the service everyone was very welcoming and friendly. There were questions about the uniform and I explained that it is what they wear in my church. Immediately there were questions about what it was like to work with the poor and homeless. A few said that they could not fathom having those sort of people in church on Sunday.

I never did go back to that church. Oh, everyone was very friendly there. And as long I showed up in a suit and tie there would never have been a problem. As I walked out of the front door of that church I looked across the street. On that cold winter day there were half a dozen men huddled around a burning garbage can trying to keep warm.

A conversation I often have with other Christians is why is church attendance falling. I may not be a biblical scholar, still, I spent a great deal of my life convincing people to show up somewhere. And church is just like the Circus in that regard. As a clown, I would go on radio shows and tell people that they would have a good time if they visited us. If they visited us and did not have good time they would not some back.

As a Christian when I meet someone I tell them to come to our Corps {church} and you will be loved. Will that person come back if they show up and find that they were not loved? I suppose this is a simplistic answer in a complicated world. Still, what is so complicated about it?

What do people think when they see us on television talking about who is going to burn in Hell? Would you hang out with those folks? There is taking a stand for what you believe in and then there is being a jerk.

Well I suppose I have wondered around a bit on this as usual. And I suppose it has very little to do with yarn or knitting. Still, how good can your church be if there are no people in need there on a Sunday? Oh and by the way the answer to those question about hunger and suffering are as follows for a real Christian.

If they are hungry, feed them.

If they are homeless, shelter them.

If they are naked, clothe them.

If they are unloved, love them.

Well I suppose you see where this is going. Maybe, the evils of the world are not such complicated issues. Maybe, our willingness to deal with them is.

On another subject all together different there have been two new countries that visited the old blog, Denmark and Peru. Welcome aboard and join the party.

Well I promise to have something only happy and uplifting for Christmas day. Maybe some actual knitting pictures.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.