Portico Church

i had questions about what christmas is really supposed to be about.  fortunately, there was a special report on tv - i think it was shrek's Christmas.  okay, i didn't really have questions, but i was intrigued at how this shrek show tried to answer the question of "what is Christmas all about?" 

then i started reflecting on several of the other "Christmas" tv shows.  are they trying, whether in plain or subtle ways, to respond to that question?  what is their answer?

it seems that Christmas is either about the receiving or receiving (yes, i know i repeated that - not much on the giving part) of toys, or simply on people being together to enjoy each other and celebrate . . . people being together . . . celebrating.  is something missing here?

shrek and fiona had an especially difficult time because they seemed to be unaware that the very name of the holiday contains an obvious clue to the answer.  3 or 4 times fiona said, in a quite uncertain voice, that Christmas is about us being together, family and friends.   US?  us . . .  as she tried to enlighten shrek, she seemed to only confuse herself, less confident with each response.

in short, they repeatedly stumbled over themselves trying to not say "Christ".  but they had nothing else to offer.

maybe it would be helpful to just rename this holiday "us-mas" and eliminate the confusion. 

or maybe they, and I, could more clearly embrace the single-focus of Christ at Christmas. 

now that's worthy of a tv special, charlie brown!

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