So, This is Christmas ...

... and what have you done?

John Lennon had some really good thoughts. I am sure that politically and religiously he and I are quite different. Pretty much know that for a fact. Yet here is a point on which we agree: it's Christmas; what have you done?

Everyone who reads my blog (both of you? if that many) knows that I stand for, primarily, two things:

1. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8, Authorized [King James] Version). And,
2. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. (James 1:27, The Message)

That being said, I always enjoy the 3rd day of the month because I read Proverbs 3 and get to read some of Sol Davidson's best work:

Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.

Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil!

Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.

Yep, those words, too, come from The Message. I have just recently been parallel reading The Message with my New American Standard Bible and English Standard Version, and while yes, it is a paraphrase and represents someone's interpretation of God's true word, like I care? All scripture is profitable, good or bad (yep, long discussion there, skip it for some other time) and while some versions offer what are respected as more literal translations, others proffer the guts of the Word.

Paul brings us these thoughts in Philippians 1:

15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;

16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;

17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

21 ¶ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

(New American Standard Bible). Or, if you wish:

The Message

15 It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world.

16 One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help.

17 The others, now that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them.

18 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going

19 because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done.

20 I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit!

21 ¶ Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

But, I digress, sort of. The point is that we are really best served, as I read it, by thinking about good things and by doing good things for those in need while shielding folks from the slings and arrows of this outrageous world. I don't mean you have to go out and wash the faces of occupy protesters who have been pepper sprayed; hey, myself I would follow up the pepper spray with CS gas and a high-pressure fire hose like I've seen them on the news doing in Japan. But,

when you have an opportunity to do what you believe Jesus would do, you ought to do it

As my son-in-law was very recently discussing, this falls in the category of orthopraxy, if you are so disposed in vocabulary. You do what you think Jesus (or God) is telling you to do. This gets to be really obvious in the actions of most organized religion at this time of year as food banks finally get above the meager level of donations and as homeless shelters and charities find coffers with contents for a change. I think if you are gonna do what John and I are thinking, though, you need to come into the zone of what has, since the 70's, been called performing random acts of kindness all year long.

I went to the dentist for my checkup. When I inquired, she grabbed a case of Colgate toothpaste and gave it to me to take to the homeless shelter.

I have a friend at HyVee who stocks the personal hygiene shelves. When I was there the other day, she was stocking toothbrushes and gave me a handful of Oral-B's to take with the Colgate.

I found a dozen good-sized packages of dental floss on eBay for $5.00 including shipping. That was almost a no-brainer.

Again on eBay, I found a new-old-stock box of 1/2 gross (that would be 72) disposable razors, mixed men's and women's (like your hairs know the difference anyway) for $12 including shipping. I thought about saving them for myself.

w00t! had Snuglis for $3 each, $5 total shipping. Limit 3 as usual. As nice as they look in the recliners on TV, I bet they will be worth more in the shanties down by the river.

These people did not become poor and homeless by choice. They may have become as they are due to choices they made - but, like don't we all make bad choices in our lives? They string some together, they fail to learn from them, they do not, as we see it, follow the Word (yet who are we to know if they have even heard the Word, and, no, giving them a pocket Bible is not what I am talking about here). But, unless they are mentally questionable I do not believe they willfully look to wearing castoffs from Goodwill living in shacks made of scrap metal and cardboard in the bushes by the river when the temperature is -5 Fahrenheit.

Widows do not become so by killing their husbands (well, in most cases, and if they do that is another set of questions). Orphans do not choose, likewise, to lose their parents. My Bible tells me that God gave the earth to Satan as a playground to roam in, and God, while not punishing people through His actions, allows Satan to do bad things to good people for reasons I do not understand but I do accept. Likewise he allows ostensibly good things to happen to people, as I believe it, so that the good may be shared with those who need good to offset the bad in their lives.

So, here is my bottom line. Do something good. If you are fresh out of ideas and don't want to carry that can of pickled beets that you know you'll never eat to the donation bin at church, if you want to do something more, consider these:

1. End Human Trafficking - target of Natalie Grant, so you get to look at her beautiful face and hear her phenomenal music when you check the website at The Home Foundation and move on to Abolition International.
2. Give away water - if you had to walk for an hour to get your daily water out of a high-turbidity river of questionable fecal content you might be quite willing to donate to and through charity: water. They have some great pictures of clean water, a new picture every day. Make clean water a reality, not just a picture.
3. Fight Group B Strep - There is a vaccine that is in trials. I lived in the days of polio and my brother was a Polio Pioneer. Those days are almost forgotten and are happily forgettable. But, this spring I followed as a good friend's 3-month-old daughter succumbed to Group B Strep. I cannot imagine how it felt to watch progressive MRI's as a normal baby's brain was, bit by bit, literally eaten away by bacteria. Flesh-eating bacteria taking an arm or a leg would be welcome by comparison. [I believe there is a special place in heaven for these sufferers, children and parents, and a special reason God chose them for the role. That does not make it any easier to watch].

There are many other worthwhile organizations and causes out there. Hey, there are even several more that I actively advocate and support. But, for this year, when the question comes out "So, what have you done?" these are what I answer. I probably will continue to advocate them for next year and maybe longer - I will go where God leads me.

Will you?