It's that time of year, again

The Church Year has run its course; the calendar year is approaching its end. And although time has passed far too quickly (at least as far as I'm concerned), we're not a bit better off than we were the last time I found myself reflecting on "the season", what it means or could mean, and why it would be to all our benefit if more people would reflect with me. Maybe it's because I'm getting older (aren't we all?) but there are times when I wonder how often you have to say something before another actually hears what you're saying.

Oh sure, most readers/listeners are well intentioned. And while I appreciate that for what it's worth, you'd think that after so many years and so much effort, you'd see a bit of a change somewhere, but there's none as far as the eye can see in any direction.

As this is a season of rejoicing, you can all rejoice that you're not going to get any uplifting or (hopefully) thought-provoking, Christmasy, or spiritual, lectures. If you're interested, there are almost 40 posts in the December blogs of the past three years where you can get your dose of that if you need it. For those of you who have read them, or most of them, or even some of them, you'll know that I don't care so much what you believe as long as you believe in something; I really don't care about what you do as long as it's not harmful or destructive; and I could care less if you are offended by others who believe differently than you. Get over it and get over yourself.

We need to face up to the fact that we use the "joy of the season" to distract us from things that matter and things that could make a difference. We who can are going to eat too much, party too much, buy too many things we don't really need with money we don't really have to impress people we probably only marginally like in the hopes of getting a bunch of useless stuff ourselves. We're going to drive more, have the lights on more and more lights on, we're going to spend a lot of time and energy trying to one-up a lot of others, and as a result, we're going to increase are carbon footprints significantly, produce tons of waste and refuse that has no where to go, pollute the steams, rivers and oceans, and ensure that we're not a bit better off than we were before the whole diversionary delusion started. Yes, we can certainly be proud of ourselves.

Meanwhile, the poor are getting poorer - around the globe; the numbers of the poor are growing too as are those of the homeless and incarcerated. The hungry are going hungry; the sick are not getting healed. The strangers are being shown no hospitality, rather are being shown the door. Although crime in general is decreasing, violence is increasing, often institutionalized and authorized violence in fact. The threat of terror and epidemics is thrown in our face every day. We are bombarded by advertising every moment of our waking lives. No, if we were to be truthful with ourselves, we'd admit that things aren't getting better, they are slowly and steadily getting worse.

But, hey, we've got a whole lot of celebrating to do. We wouldn't want to get all sad and depressed just because others don't know how to have a good time, do we? No, I suppose we don't. It's that time of year, again.