Backyard Scene

Before I get too far into this posting, I hasten to add that this is a real deer in a real backyard, but not really our backyard. This was taken by our friend Mike Rogers, who shares his yard in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with such wild creatures. Those who know Madeira would be shocked to see snow like this lying about the streets of Funchal. Once or twice a year, the mountaintops turn white with a mixture of snow and sleet, which can accumulate to over a half meter (2 feet) in depth. There's a mad rush of cars to the mountains to see the snow and play in it, even if for a few minutes only. What usually happens is that the narrow mountain roads can't accommodate the heavy traffic, and it only takes one car getting stuck in the snow or ice to back up traffic for kilometers. The police end up blocking access to the snowy areas to be able to clear the traffic jam.

Now that I got your attention with an out-of-place photo, I will say that there are a couple of things I would like to get posted before the end of the year, and there are ideas I hope to implement in the coming year. Thank you to all who read, and especially to those who have written encouraging words regarding the blog. And of course, a special word of appreciation to all who pray for the work of the gospel on this island. May God bless each of us in the challenges we face in the coming year.

Thoughts of Christmas Past

It takes people here a bit longer to "get over" Christmas than is so often the case in America. In fact, the parties and round of visits go on until mid-January, and although businesses will be getting back to something of a normal work schedule tomorrow (that's right...Dec. 26 is also a holiday here--every year---and almost all shops are still closed on the 27th), it will take a couple of weeks of January for life to settle back down to a routine.

But routine is all what life in prison is about, I suppose. The idea behind prison is that certain people didn't know how to control their individual impulses and creative powers, using them in illegal ways, so they are now restricted in the use of those individual choices.

As an example, take the furniture in the dining room where I meet with the prisoners each week. I think it would be a source of frustration to Abbie if she were there all the time (not implying that it would be the major source of irritation to her if she were a prisoner, of course, as there are plenty of other disadvantages to being locked up). You see, every so often, Abbie's creative impulse gets the better of her, and she has an irrepressible urge to rearrange the furniture. Part of that is for thorough cleaning projects, but just as important to her is the redecoration of the living room or dining room. The room I meet in every week would not be conducive to her artistic touch. The ten tables and forty-plus chairs are made of cold, cheap aluminum, to start with. And they're all bolted to the floor. Keeps the furniture from being used as a weapon, I guess, in the event a food fight gets out of hand. I've spent so much time waiting in that room for the prisoners to be brought in over the past 6 years that I decided to sketch one of the sets of tables and chairs last week. I didn't have a sketch pad with me, so I tore a corner off a paper table covering.


On the other hand, the most significant Christmas card I got this year was a handmade card from Stefanie at the prison. She cut colored paper from a magazine, glued a blank sheet of paper on the inside and decorated it with colored pens on the outside and a poem on the inside, with the words, "Thank you for giving us a little of your time." When she gave it to me, she said by way of explanation to me and the other women there, "Well, I had the time..." In truth, "time" is the key word. She's in her early 20's and has about 6 years to go on a 9-yr. sentence.

In the church we had the Christmas cantata on the 18th, and a Christmas Eve service with a variety of hymns and carols on Christmas Eve. Through it all, Abbie and I have been battling head colds and coughs. This is the second or third bout with the same problem over the past two months. But we are blessed, all the same. We had a chance to speak with the kids and grandkids in the States, even using a web cam, so we got to see them, and they us.

While Christmas, as a day, has gone for this year, Christ has not. While no one of us knows for sure what 2006 will bring, we are certain that walking with Christ throughout the year will be an unspeakably great experience of learning more about the unsearchable riches of His grace.

The Confusion of Christmas

Are you confused about Christmas? Seems a lot of people are, and although we are geographically far removed from the melee surrounding "Merry ????", the blow-by-blow accounts come to us via Internet. The debate in the US over the offensive nature of Christmas and the need to eliminate references to Jesus' birth is an echo of what we hear and read about what has gone on in the UK. In response, it's common to hear statements about "putting Christ back in Christmas," and an article I read today used the phrase about putting "Christians" back in Christmas, a reference to the fact that some churches have cancelled services on Christmas Day.

A Brief Cultural Detour: We won't be having services on Christmas Day, either. In the 30 Christmases we've spent on Madeira, we've never had services, not even when Dec. 25 was a Sunday. This is the one day of the year when there is no public transportation, and although today the percentage of our group that has to depend on public transportation is smaller than in the early years, the Madeiran concept of how Christmas Day is to be spent is still in effect. Everyone stays home; it is as if aliens had kidnapped the island's entire population. This was especially true when we first came, as fewer people had cars and they couldn't go anywhere. So, we have a Christmas Eve service. Christmas is such a major event to Madeirans that they simply refer to it as "a Festa" = "the Feast", as if there were no others.

Analyzing the confusion: As I said, I've followed the debate regarding Christmas "from afar", and at the risk of being written off as a heretic (wouldn't be the first time) or being accused of deserting to liberalism, I offer a thought or two on the subject. As I see it, this confusion over the ownership of Christmas was bound to come, sooner or later. People ask me if I celebrate Christmas, and I never know quite what to say. I celebrate the birth of Jesus, yes...but I do that all year round. Do they mean the "other" Christmas...the commercialized, over-the-top party festival with its roots in paganism? No. Abbie decorates the house with greenery and seasonal flowers; lights are pretty. I like to give presents that are thought out and meaningful...somehow in the process I get presents, too. That's OK, but it's the giving that's fun. But summing up the history of this season, since it is not Biblically ordained, nor was it practiced by the apostolic churches, I conclude that this confusion can be explained by the fact that:

A pagan party (celebrating the winter solstice) was hijacked by outsiders (Christians) for the purpose of celebrating something important to them (the birth of the Savior). Now the world wants its celebration back, but free of the contamination of Christian doctrine. (I read one article recently that pointed out the fact that an appeal by evangelicals to the principles of the Pilgrim Fathers in this particular would backfire. The Puritans, apparently, were opposed to Dec. 25 as being unscriptural. Put Christ "back" into Christmas? He wasn't part of the pagans' winter festival to begin with.)

Someone recently sent me an article written by A.W. Tozer on the meaning of Christmas. Tozer's point was that Christmas, even for evangelical Christians, is more associated with emotional and sentimental feelings (trees, decorations, foods, parties, gifts, Santa Claus, reindeer, lights) than theology (the incarnation of God, the Word that became flesh).

Is there a solution? One solution would be for Christians to give the pagans their party back, let them call it what they will, and start a new Christmas based on the theology of the Virgin Birth alone. Since no date, including Dec. 25, was set in Scripture as the day of Jesus' birth, any day of the year will do. How about a random drawing? Put 12 balls in a bag, and pick out a month; using numbered balls, choose a day of the month. It could be Sept. 2, or April 20. In the second case, you might get Christmas and Easter on the same day. Biblically, I don't have a problem with that, since you can't separate the significance of Jesus' birth from His death and ressurrection, but it would probably confuse a lot of people. In any event, if we give the pagans their party back, they would have to agree to let Christians celebrate freely the birth of Jesus. Of course, if churches were to celebrate the birth of the Lord in a strictly Biblical manner, it wouldn't be "Christmas", would it? We'd be in church, singing and praising God for the gift of His Son, like the angels and the shepherds did. All those other traditions that mean "Christmas" to us would most likely be returned to the pagans, along with their party. (By the way, I can't imagine "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" being very Christmassy to folks in Brazil or other southern hemisphere climes.) I wonder how large a following the "new Christmas" would have? My guess is that the number would be about the same as those who really know the meaning of Jesus's incarnation today, in spite of everything else that's been attached to the season.

I know no one is going to take my suggestion seriously. We who do know something of the significance of that birth in Bethlehem will have to go on doing our best to present the truth to others for whom this may be the only time of year they have even a passing interest in hearing some word from the Bible. It is a sad state of affairs when talking about the manger or referring to the Biblical narrative is considered a public offense, and the religious tradition of Christmas cannot even be mentioned in schools. Sad, yes, but not surprising. You'd be mad, too, if someone stole your party.

MORAL TO THE STORY: The church is in the world to be a witness---that's a mission; when the world gets in the church, you can expect nothing but confusion.

Interesting Statistic, Among Other Things

I have a couple of items I want to post, but I have not had the opportunity to get them ready. Not having posted for a couple of weeks, I want to let you know that we are still here and on the go. I was literally on the go last week, when I went to the embassy in Lisbon for a day and a half of meetings, including being introduced to the new U.S. ambassador to Portugal. Abbie stayed home, and I thought I might have to, as we both came down with a cough and sinus congestion over the weekend. The worst of that seems to be over, for which we thank the Lord.

Update on Jackie: blood tests for cancer in the blood came back negative, which is good. But she is still not well, so something is wrong. The doctor is convinced her problems originate in the nervous system. She and Jaime have been going through a very tough period, it's true; whether her physical problems are simply the result of a nervous condition, we don't know. One possibility is Gaucher's disease. A very rare disease, so rare that her doctor here doesn't believe it's her case. He said he would have her sent to the mainland to do the test for Gaucher's disease after the New Year, just to remove all doubt.

Interesting statistic that appeared in the paper last week:
Looking ahead to 2006, the paper reported that after allowing for weekends, vacation time (here in Portugal=one month of vacation per year), holidays, and the Fridays and Mondays that fall between the Thursday and Tuesday holidays, when it's common to take the extra-long weekend, the Portuguese worker will probably only spend about 150 days on the job in 2006. I'm not looking for 200 days off in a year, but I'd sure like to get one once in a while. All I know is that tomorrow is not going to be a day off, nor are the days following. Maybe there'll be a half hour or so for me to get the other posts ready in the next day or two.