There are thirteen Thanksgivings in the calendar year of the Narragansett people. Seems other Americans in our day only got 7.7% of the lesson, even though the Pilgrim’s own Bible said to always be thankful.
The very same sentence tells us to rejoice always. Notice it is a verb: something you do, as opposed to a feeling. Christmas is a time for rejoicing in memory of the arrival by birth of Jesus. We are joyous because Jesus rescued us, and we have nothing to fear, not even death itself. Consider the season practice for the rest of the year, like holding a pencil in your mouth to make you feel happier. The pencil works because it trains your smile muscles, and your smile muscles report to your brain, which controls the release of happy chemicals. Don’t try it with a lead pencil please. Christmas works because Jesus is real, and is in relationship with us today.
They put Christmas near the shortest day of the year, and not just to have more time to enjoy Christmas lights. Sunshine causes natural brain chemicals that help us feel delight. It takes more practice to harness joy in the dark. If we can do it in the dark, we can do it in other times of bad circumstance. Christmas is a catalyst, a tool in the kit, to help fill us with joy at this time of year. I hope you didn’t think it was because Jesus was born this time of year — I don’t think we know that!
Roger Williams said he could not be an effective witness about Jesus to the Algonquian in part because of language and cultural barriers. He said we had to fix the church first. As we approach Christmas, it is a good time to think about what he meant.
So much of the Algonquian language has been lost, brought through English by force and translated back generations later. To get a feel consider this exchange: Englishman: Where do your people come from? Algonquian (puzzled): From a deer? And 400 years later there is a legend of humans coming from deer.
Venison was a staple in the diet, so much of one that when disease wiped out most of the indigenous population the deer overpopulated. Maybe the Algonquian was saying we are what we eat, and no more. Many reported conversations seem literal. That does not mean there weren’t other types of conversations, it means Roger and peers didn’t learn the language of very many of them — possibly they were not conversations had in his presence.
Today we might call that a worldview difference. Today, in this age, with what seems like a common language, we have a very difficult time communicating respectfully between world views. In fact, Paul implies we shouldn’t force an individual to conform to the rules of an alternate worldview (he called the views Gentile and Jew), we should share the gospel and let God work in their lives. Of course that is very hard to do when actively committing atrocities against people. That was Roger’s other point. The English spoiled their own witness. The consequences were tragic.
The key is respect for alternative world views. Respect enables sharing. We all fail at being perfectly moral, on scales large and small. That’s why we needed something injected into the system to repair it. God’s son Jesus was introduced into this world from outside the system to save us from the consequences of our failures. No matter who we are, if we turn and follow him, he sets us free. Now, there is a reason to joyful.
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