When I was a kid we had a beat up old upright piano in our basement play room. I think it came from somewhere on my mother’s side of the family. One of my sisters, when she was quite young, got it into her head one day to pop off the ivories from a bunch of the keys, so it got even more beat up in appearance. But it played – all the keys worked – and it was relatively in tune. My mother plays a little bit. She had had lessons at kid. So when I was five, it was decided that I too should start piano lessons. It just so happened that the music teacher at the Lutheran high school where my dad also taught lived two houses away from us, so he was enlisted to be my teacher. I don’t remember how long I took lessons. Maybe a year? I can still remember some of the exercises. But I do remember this: I hated to practice. And so I didn’t – at least whenever I could get away with it. And when I did practice, I did so grudgingly, without any enthusiasm and without seeing the point. At some point (again, I don’t remember the exact timeline) my parents gave up, and I stopped having lessons. As a result, I am not able to play the piano today – not for lack of ability and not for lack of talent, but for lack of discipline and motivation. It was not a total loss, though. I learned to read music. And that helped me later when I took up the cello in the fourth grade and trombone in the sixth. I continued to play cello through high school and college. But I never liked practicing, and so my playing didn’t develop as well as it might have.
     Ash Wednesday falls on February 14 this year and begins the 40 days of Lent. At the Ash Wednesday service, we are invited into the discipline of Lent, the traditional practices of the church in this penitential season. As stated in our liturgy, the Lenten discipline involves self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love. In my experience, the church has tended to leave this up to each individual, without much guidance. At Grace we provide Lenten devotional booklets for use at home. There have been a lot left over in the past couple of years. I know some people take them and use them, but many of us do not. At the same time, I think many of us like the idea of daily devotions – daily reflection on our faith and the words of Scripture – but we’re not sure how to do it, or where to find the time. It’s kind of like my relationship with exercise. I like the idea of it. I know I should do it. And I want to do it. Really. But when it comes down to it, I can easily find excuses for not doing it – even though I know it’s good for me.
     What helps me with exercise is having someone to exercise with. Helen and I have a gym membership and we usually go together. We make a plan, we set aside time, and we hold each other accountable. This helps me with playing my cello too. Once a week I meet with two other people from Grace to play music for an hour. I’ve played my cello more in the past year than I have since my college days. And I’m getting more out of it in terms of enjoyment and satisfaction than I ever have. And this motivates me to – guess what – practice! Last week I spent more than an hour hammering out the famous prelude to Bach’s first cello suite, a piece I learned back in high school but never mastered. There’s not going to be a public performance, but I am nevertheless determined now to master that piece. And maybe the rest of the suite. We’ll see.
     What is true for exercise and music is also true of our faith. Practicing our faith develops our faith. It’s no accident that people speak of “practicing” Christians – those who not only identify themselves as Christian but who exercise their faith on a regular basis. The more you pray, the better you pray. The more you worship, the better you worship. The more you practice your faith, the more it informs your daily life and your relationship with God and those around you. This is so important that we set aside an hour a week to practice together, because it’s so much better that way. And during Lent we set aside even more time – an hour or so for soup and prayer, singing and refection the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for us and for our salvation. Consider joining us for all of these opportunities to practice our faith together this Lent. You might even find yourself taking one of those devotional booklets home and praying on your own. You never know.
+ Pastor Repp

            On Christmas Day I got an email from one of my favorite businesses, a New York camera store that I have patronized for nearly 30 years now. I keep coming back because of their competitive prices and excellent customer service. They’re always trying to sell me something, and I am often interested in what they’re offering, even if I am not really in the market for new camera or telescope equipment at the moment. That’s the reason I haven’t unsubscribed or marked them as spam. I like getting their e-mails. And I’m used to the sales pitches. But this one got me. The opening message was (remember, on Christmas Day): “The holidays are over. Now what?” Then it continued, “You’ve gathered together with family and friends and celebrated the traditions that bring you closer. Now’s the time to print the moments you captured from this holiday season and bring them to life.” Good idea. I don’t print enough pictures these days. Everything’s digital – on my phone or my computer, or my Flickr page online when I get to it…

            Wait… Did you say, “The holidays are over?” On Christmas Day?? No! The Christmas holiday has only just started! It’s the first day of Christmas! The first of twelve!

            I grew up in a household that observed Advent in the days leading up to Christmas, complete with and advent wreath. Some years we even had Advent calendars. Then on December 23, and not a day before, we put up our Christmas tree. My parents’ living room has a 16 foot ceiling, so we always had a 13-15 foot tree. And trees that big take a while to decorate, especially when your parents insist on putting on icicle tinsel one strand at a time. We would spend the better part of an afternoon and into the evening decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music (and singing along), which always included the first part of Handel’s Messiah. Then it was Christmas for 12 days, and the tree didn’t come down until January 5, the last day of Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at my father’s parents’ house when I was growing up. Dinner was first, then opening presents, and then going to church at 10:30 or so. Then it was up the next morning to go to church again and then we spent Christmas Day with my mother’s parents and other extended family on that side, with more presents and a sausage dinner. Sausage is still what we have every year, with mashed potatoes and sour kraut. Wouldn’t be Christmas without it.

            My family still gets together for Christmas every year, either at my parents’ in St. Louis (still in the same house) or my sister’s in Florida. But we never have our big celebration on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day anymore because we can never all be together then. Nowadays we have our big Christmas dinner and gift exchange around December 27 or December 28 – whenever we can get everyone under the same roof, and we typically are together through at least January 1. I love that. I love that Christmas really is so long, and that we feel free to keep celebrating it.

            I give that New York camera shop a pass on not quite getting their Christmas greeting right. They are Jewish after all – closed for all of the Jewish holidays. But we Christians should maybe know better. Or to say it in a way that sounds a little less “judgy,” we Christians should feel free to celebrate and make a big deal out of the whole Christmas season. And 5 of the 12 days of Christmas are in January. You can keep your tree up for all of those days. You can spread your gift giving out. You can even send your Christmas cards out on the 2^nd or 3^rd of January, and they’ll still probably get to their destinations during Christmas!

            If you’re reading this at the beginning of January, then it is still Christmas. So Merry Christmas! Christ is born! God has come among us as one of us to give us peace, joy, and hope. That’s truly something to celebrate. Let’s make the most of it!

+ Pastor Repp

            There’s no typo in that title. It’s a play on the effort by some Christians to fight the secularization of the winter holiday season in the broader culture, and particularly their slogan, “Let’s put ‘Christ’ back in Christmas.” And I totally stole that title, though I can’t figure out the original source.

            It seems like every year in recent memory when we come around to this time of year, some new ‘scandal’ erupts as further evidence for some supposed insidious and ongoing “War on Christmas.” Recently it has been Starbucks that has faced the ire of the culture warriors. Last year people were outraged that the coffee chain chose plain red cups for the holiday season where previously they had had a Christmas tree. And the controversy is back again this year: a pair of cartoon hands holding each other on the holiday edition cup is seen as clear evidence by some as part of Starbucks’ “gay agenda,” (?) and yet another chance to become indignant and alarmist about how badly Christians are being treated these days. A survey from last February revealed that a certain sub-group of Christians, white evangelicals, believe that Christians face greater discrimination in the United States these days than do Muslims. Fifty seven percent of them thought so, as compared with an overall average of 2 to 1 (67%) in the general population believing Muslims face more discrimination than Christians. This distinct subset of the population seems to long for the days when “Merry Christmas” was the only greeting people shared at this time of year, and Christianity was the assumed religion of the “ordinary” American and our leaders. When Christianity, in other words, was just a regular, default part of the culture. And now that Christianity is becoming just one alternative among many, including no religion at all, equality feels like oppression to those who are accustomed to privilege. (Another quote I stole!)

            It just so happens that in the past couple of days I have been reviewing the controversy around the release of Monty Python’s Life of Brian, a movie set at the time of the New Testament that spoofed the behavior and attitudes of religious people. I was a high school student at the time, and already a fan of the (mostly) British comedy team, and particularly their previous film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a spoof of the legend of King Arthur. When Life of Brian came out there was a wave of protest by conservative Christian type, both in the U.K. and the U.S., who considered any humorous treatment of biblical subject matter to be blasphemous. I went to and opening night screening with my father, a Lutheran pastor and high school religion teacher, and we were met by protestors who tried to discourage us from seeing the movie. “Have you seen it?” my dad asked them. They admitted that they hadn’t. “We’ll make up our own minds,” he told them. This experience, and the film itself, led to good conversations with my father about the nature of the Christian faith. He was able to articulate that Life of Brian did indeed make fun of Christians, but who says Christians can’t be made fun of – especially when they’re being sanctimonious and hypocritical? But at the same time, from his point of view there was nothing blasphemous at all in the movie. Jesus himself appears only at the very beginning, and he is played in a completely conventional way, in the style of any number of Christian movies of the time. To this day this film remains one of my favorites, and the controversy around it continues to be a good conversation starter for the relationship of Christianity and culture.

            Has Christianity lost some of its cultural influence in recent decades? Some, to be sure. Does admitting to being a Christian elicit suspicion and even hostility in some circles? No doubt about it. Has Christian behavior in the public arena honored Christ and Christian principles? I’d say it’s been a mixed bag, but the loudest and most visible part in the mix in recent times has, in my opinion, been a negative witness to the faith that is ostensibly being defended.

            What is to be our public witness? Have a look at Acts 17:16-34 for a good example set by Paul. And then read Paul’s letter to the Philippians, particularly this famous section:

            “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

            It’s that Christ that needs to be put back in Christians, not an assertion of our rights and privileges in the cultural marketplace. That won’t make us immune from persecution, but at least then we’d be persecuted for our actual faith. The real Christ of Christmas came among us as one of us, to share our nature and our lot, and to usher in the Reign of God not by coercion, but by humility and love. Let’s be those kinds of Christians this Christmas, and throughout the years to come.

+ Pastor Repp