December 18th, 2007 by The Bosphorus
While I was spreading peanut butter on one slice of bread and jelly on another for the kids lunches this morning, I kept thinking about several articles I’d read.
There’s an interview with John D. Crossan where he talks about the first Christmas.
Our conversation ranged from virgin births and Roman censuses to how you became a god in the ancient world, and why it was a bad idea to mess with shepherds.
After seeing all the plastic nativities, who’d guess that the Christmas story was all about revolution. 
The nativity story is far richer and more challenging than familiar sentimentalized versions allow. Not simply tidings of comfort and joy, the gospel stories of Jesus’ birth are also edgy visions of another way of life, confronting the status quo and demanding personal and political transformation.
There’s this article about a black guy who got bullied, shoved, cussed and generally terrified by some racist ford pickup truck driving assholes earlier in the week. He was walking home when this happened.
Then there was this article that the Oak Ridger ran about the parents of Ashley Paine. The Paines are saying the city hasn’t done near enough to make Oak Ridge streets safe. Ashley Paine was run over by a school bus earlier this fall.
Mom called yesterday and told me that my sister’s best friend from school died earlier in the week. She was at work when she collapsed. An ambulance rushed her to a hospital where the doctors couldn’t keep her heart beating. It just stopped working and that was the end.
And so it goes.
What does all this have to do with Christmas?
I don’t have a clue.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:14 am
“What does all this have to do with Christmas?”
Because Christmas is a reminder that hope can be reborn in a world of daily dispair?
December 19th, 2007 at 7:15 am
“how you became a god in the ancient world”
Details, please.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:24 am
what best friend?
December 19th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Joel, about becoming a god, Crossan says this,
“A person was never elevated into divinity, however, until, like Augustus, they had done something major for the human race. And once they had done something extraordinary, their divinity was then retrojected back into stories about their conception and birth, as well as into their genealogies and stories about their coming of age. But they are always writing backwards, after the fact.”
Bullet, my sister met her in middle school where they initially became friends. Incidentally, she was married to a friend of mine who I went to high school with. I’ve since lost touch w/ him.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:28 am
So sorry about that. That’s awful, I wasn’t trying to pry… I didn’t check to see who wrote so I wondered if it was lil sis or jenwright’s friend. Regardless, that’s awful, and I’ll pray for that family.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am
” . . . done something major for the human race.”
Dang.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
LOL! Joel,
There’s still time!!
Christmas vacation is coming up soon, right?
December 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Vacation? What’s a vacation?
December 19th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Vacation is …
that special time when you get to work on stuff that you couldn’t get to because you were at work.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
“Posted December 19, 2007 at 10:35 am | Permalink
” . . . done something major for the human race.”
Dang.”
Missed it by this much eh doc?
Don’t worry doc, daco’s got you covered.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Bos, you are very sensitive to grief, and I love you for it. None of the things you mentioned have a direct effect on you, but you are so tuned into other people that you share their pain.
And yes, you do know what it has to do with Christmas. We wouldn’t need a Christmas if it wasn’t for pain. May you and your family be especially blessed this year and always.
God rest ye!!
December 20th, 2007 at 6:47 am
“Missed it by this much eh doc?
Don’t worry doc, daco’s got you covered.”
WTF Jacket? Dude your maturity level is showing.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:35 am
“We wouldn’t need a Christmas if it wasn’t for pain.”
damama, could you explain this please?
December 20th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Another day, and another mood! What the hell was I saying last night? “We wouldn’t need a Christmas if it wasn’t for pain” How gloomy is THAT!!
Let me try again to express myself…Grief is a part of this world, but Christmas is a promise that we will be comforted. I mean that as good news, not as gloom and doom.
I wish you much good cheer, good beer and good presents!
December 20th, 2007 at 8:45 am
lol
gotcha
I was just curious. :)
cheers!!!
December 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Thanks for linking to Crossan’s interview. Facinating!
December 20th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
“Missed it by this much eh doc?
Don’t worry doc, daco’s got you covered.”
WTF Jacket? Dude your maturity level is showing.
Where?