Thursday, December 16, 2004

CC dashes off some blog reviews on the way to the mall one last time

by Chalicechick

Chris is right. Gregory’s blog on his experiences in Iraq is really good reading. He says when he comes back, he would like to be a minister. Makes a girl wonder about blogging as training for the ministry. One of my minister friends, a Presbyterian, (CC is the sort of person who befriends ministers) described the process of pulling together a sermon, and it sounded a lot like the process of pulling together a blog.

I’d be interested to hear about the similarities and differences between blog writing and sermon writing if one of our ministers wanted to cover that.


I hate Christmas. But Adam gives me reasons to think better things about it in Unity’s account of Christmas in Adam’s church. Those Bay Staters always seem to know how to do things just right.


It being Thursday means I missed Ember Wednesday. Having read about it in Measured Extravagance, I’m sorry I did.

Ok, this was really barely discussed, and it’s not even a blog, but I thought it was interesting so I report it here. Somebody on the CFUU board provided a link here. It’s a profile of UUism on the site of a Christian group who clearly finds us lacking the salvation department. But in doing so, they give a summary of UUism better than most I’ve seen coming from actual UUs. Makes you think.

Posted by Chalicechick, December 16, 2004 02:54 PM
Comments:

Paul says:

December 16, 2004 03:00 PM | Permalink for this comment

"Hate Christmas"? I am a Unitarian and I don't hate Christmas;howevrr,some aspects of it I would find objectionable IF I were a Christian. :)

Chalicechick says:

December 16, 2004 03:02 PM | Permalink for this comment

As far as I can tell, whether or not you love Christmas has more to do with how close your family is than your religion.

Mine isn't very close.

CC

Peg says:

December 16, 2004 03:05 PM | Permalink for this comment

Thank you for the rec! And it's not too late for the shrimp tempura -- Ember Friday and Ember Saturday are this weekend...

Chris Walton says:

December 16, 2004 03:26 PM | Permalink for this comment

"CFUU," incidentally, stands for the Conservative Forum for Unitarian Universalists.

Sean Dennison says:

December 18, 2004 10:50 AM | Permalink for this comment

I responded over at my blog. Don't know why it didn't track back.

allpoints23 says:

December 20, 2004 01:15 PM | Permalink for this comment

I think it is important to note that Christmas was outalwed in Puritan New England (or at least frowned upon as pagan and Popish) and that it was the Unitarians who revivied it as a largely secular holiday. (This was when we were liberal Christians.

It is possible to argue that the aspects of Christmas that we find unsavory are a natural consequence of the Unitarian appraoch to religion.

Matthew Gatheringwater says:

December 21, 2004 04:20 PM | Permalink for this comment

allpoints:

It is true that Universalists and then Unitarians led the way to reclaim Christmas as a public holiday, but they were also early critics of it's commercialization. Unitarians were calling for the public observance of Christmas by around 1800. By 1806, the earliest known advertisement for Christmas presents was published. Soon, people became overwhelmed by the expectation to buy and the bewildering array of choices. One of the earliest ads offered 450 kinds of presents!

By 1834, the following lament was published in a Unitarian magazine:

"All the children are expecting presents, and all aunts and cousins to say nothing of near relatives, are considering what they shall bestow upon the earnest expectants...I observe that the shops are preparing themselves with all sorts of things to suit all sorts of tastes; and am amazed at the cunning skill with which the most worthless as well as most valuable articles are set forth to tempt and decoy the bewildered purchaser."

The author went on to went on to advise shoppers to choose "what is useful and what may do good" while avoiding "empty trifles." Sounds familiar!

I learned this history from a fascinating book by Stephen Nissenbaum: "The Battle for Christmas" and I highly recommend it.

allpoints23 says:

December 21, 2004 08:15 PM | Permalink for this comment

Matthew,
I stand corrected. I remember flipping through the book at Myopic Books in Wicker Park. It was gone when I came back to buy it.
Were you the one who got that copy? If so, I am glad it fell into good hands. (Maybe if I had read it, my take wouldn't have been so skewed.)