Dear Parishioners,

It seems to come earlier and earlier every year! many of us exclaim. “It” being Christmas. For example, the Hallmark channel has been running its “Countdown till Christmas” movies for at least a month. Radio stations are now playing time honored Christmas songs as well as the cultural favorites like “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.” Stores have been selling indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations since August and are now actually decorating their stores with these same trappings.

Catalogue companies are keeping the postal service busy with holiday advertising of everything from fruitcakes to furniture to the latest fashions to the most affordable (or not so affordable) motor vehicles. Invitations to Christmas parties will soon be sent followed by Greeting Cards which, by the way, seem to be losing popularity thanks to technology. Menus and guest lists are being meticulously planned for office parties, family dinners and New Year Eve blowouts. These are just some of the more salient activities that have been punctuating the days that unfold on our calendars at this time of year.

While, personally, I delight in all these sacred and secular features of the Christmas season, finding them to be both intoxicating and invigorating, I know that many people do not. This holiday time that I find to be characterized by beauty, good will and unique gladness, a significant number of other people find it characterized by regret, sadness, loneliness and financial hardship. Some individuals are appalled at, what they label, the commercialism of Christmas. Others lament the loss of a more “religious” style of Christmas and so display bumper stickers and yards signs that announce, He’s the Reason for the Season and Keep Christ in Christmas, as though Christ were always in these celebrations that occur each December. (People forget that thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, religious folk were celebrating the Winter Solstice with profound passion at this, the bleakest time of year.)

Compound all of the above long dark nights, freezing temperatures and hazardous driving conditions caused by snow, and we have a perfect storm -- all the ingredients for a nervous breakdown.

For this reason I am offering a two-part adult faith presentation called Making Christmas Merry and Bright. The presentations will be on two consecutive Mondays, December 2 and 9 from 7:00-9:00pm in the Parish Center. We will explore 5 facets or approaches to the Christmas season namely, faith, magic, connection, abundance and heritage. Each of these facets highlights a specific quality to Christmas with some Individuals or communities favoring one of them over others. All of them, nonetheless, play into the Christmas season as we know it today.

The presentations will be a combination of lecture, discussion and suggestions for personal reflection. The desired outcome is to deepen our appreciation of this multifaceted season so that we can enter into it with more joy and less stress. There is no cost for participation, but people are asked to RSVP to Barbara Banach at the Parish Office at 630-963-4500 ext. 4511. Given the “sensitive” nature of certain Christmas themes or topics, the presentations are reserved for adults.

I am very eager to offer Making Christmas Merry and Bright. I hope some of you will be eager to participate in it.

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