holiday season

today is all saints day.

it may be the beginning of a "holiday season", but it's certainly not the beginning of christmas.

well, at least, not for those who are christians.

let's get this straight:

christmas, liturgically, begins either at sundown christmas eve or christmas day itself.

and, it then continues until epiphany.

the release of the starbucks holiday cup is a soul-crushing calendar landmark, if you ask me. 

why is this something we anticipate?

what does a coffee cup have to do with celebrating holidays and the incarnation of the christ?

why do we need a multinational corporation to govern our calendars and seasons of life?

two years ago, the starbucks removed "holiday" symbols from their red holiday cups.

and, by "holiday" symbols, i mean things like snowflakes, snowmen, and santa.

people. 

freaked. 

out.

many claimed it was a 'war on christmas'.

because to many a red coffee cup that didn't have snowflakes on it is persecution of jesus christ (and guy who (probably?) didn't ever see snow) and his followers.

i hope we learned a lesson from this:

we should not allow corporations to dictate the seasons of our lives.

we should not allow things like starbucks to dictate our holidays, our days of holy and sacred worship and praise and reflection and learning and growth.

the seasons of our lives and felt and lived through the body of the church.

and, yes, the seasons of the church should part of the seasons of our lives.

just as much as the earth's season our part of our lives and births & deaths are part of our lives.

if we really are christians, we ought to have christian seasons in our lives.

what a better way to observe that than through the liturgical calendar.

so, until advent, i will continue in my after-pentecost time.

bah, humbug!

lots of love,

jo