The blog “Messy Jesus Business” has a post on Advent and our Christmas habits called the disturbing, poor baby Jesus by Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA (Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration). Here is an excerpt:

I am even more disturbed when I read the Christmas story in the bible and let it challenge me.  It seems like if we really take this gospel seriously, we have a lot of culture changing to do.  How can we change our habits from shopping and partying to being and praying? During advent, how can enter into the cheer of the season and go to parties, but yet fast in preparation?  I don’t know, but I know that every year I wrestle with my holiday habits.  I usually end up making a few crafts, giving a few donations, and then buying simple gifts for my immediate family. It never feels like it’s quite right, but it probably is okay.

It is a challenge to our celebrations of Christmas, which I would prefer not to think about too much frankly, but I think it is important. Check out the rest of the post, including a short video at http://messyjesusbusiness.wordpress.com/.

Hat Tip to Sr. Sarah Hennessey for linking to this on Facebook.

John W. Martens

Follow me on Twitter @johnwmartens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.