Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1-20

The Birth of Jesus 1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels 8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The Religion Of Homer Simpson. Prayer And Magic.

taken from The Gospel According To The Simpsons by Mark I. Pinsky

"In Homer, we find still another form of Protestant Christianity. He is one of the best examples of what sociologists call folk religion. He is the kind of religious person who goes to church regularly, but is in reality more into a religio-magic belief system than anything that resembles biblical Christianity.

For Homer, God is like a parachute that he hopes he never has to use, but He wants God to be there, just in case. When Homer is in deep trouble he turns to God and begs for miracles, but when miracles do happen, they do not make him into a man of faith or deep moral convictions. Once a crisis has passed, Homer's thinking about God is over. God, for him, is somebody you bargain with in times of trouble, making all kinds of promises to change which are never lived out, if God will just deliver on a needed miracle.

The anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, in his book Magic, Religion, and Science, explains some key differences between religion and magic. Magic, he says, is an attempt to manipulate spiritual forces so that the supplicant gets what he or she wants, whereas in pure religion the individual surrenders to spiritual forces so that those forces [God] can do through him or her what those forces desire. Given these definitions, Homer is certainly into magic rather than religion.

Do not go too hard on Homer Simpson because more people in our churches are where he is than any of us in the mainline denominations want to acknowledge. If you ask probing questions, you will quickly learn that most church members are into some form of religio-magic Christianity. For instance, I remember my Sunday School teacher telling me that when I was a boy that, if I wanted my prayers to be answered, I had to be sure that I ended them with the right words - "In Jesus' name, Amen." Without that magic formula I was told I would be unlikely to get my desired results. My teacher led me to believe in a petty God who could look down on people begging for help and say, "I really would love to meet your needs but you didn't give the proper ending." God, for Homer, is a great Santa Claus in the sky who gives people what they want if they just remember to state things with the proper incantation.

Prayer, for Homer, is not a time of intimate communication with God. Instead, it is something you do when you can't get what you want on your own.

Church, for Homer, has nothing to do with worship. Its value lies in the fact that it teaches moral lessons to his children. Homer wants his children in church every Sunday, not so much to express gratitude to God for the blessings of life, but to receive lectures on what is right and wrong. He believes, as do most people who are into the folk religion of our society, that those who learn from these moral lectures and do what is right will go to heaven, and that those others who on Judgement Day discover that the bad they have done outweighs the good, will go to hell."




I have 2 thoughts:

1. Homer Simpson is ridiculous
2. I am too much like Homer Simpson