Us / We / Them

I have a large ash tree in my front yard. And although it saves me a considerable amount of money in air conditioning each summer, I forget its existence until autumn when it leaves its droppings on my lawn. Each spring and every fall, I wrestle with the struggle between avarice and sloth. I could hire someone but I’m reluctant to spend the cash. Yet, I don’t want to expend the energy. I hate to rake. Hell, I’ve never even been a rake. So as you’ve probably gathered, each autumn I gather the leaves myself and then I carry the bundles and I plant them on the perennials in my gardens to keep the roots warm through the winter. The task is a major undertaking yet it scatters from my mind as quickly as I place the rake back inside my garage.

As we approach the holiday seasons, the debate about public displays of religious reminders will heat up as the earth cools down. And soon a caustic climate will permeate the season like the smell of spice during the harvest at an autumnal apple farm. Christians will bemoan the lack of artifacts in the malls and the absence of seasonal jargon on their brethrens’ tongues. Atheists will renounce the lingering remembrances in public squares and the judicious will weigh each symbol on merit of exclusion and inclusion.

I don’t understand the controversy. If one believes in the concepts and considerations that Christian symbols represent, then why would he advocate making a public display of a private belief? Why take the sacred and make it commonplace by placing it in common public squares? Why would he wish the Holy to be placed as a part and not set apart? Should the sacred be set aside or set beside? All cultures cultivate the notion of sacred space. And each culture sets aside a place for worship and community. And although honor should be afforded to the honored, I think it should be set in a place not just anyplace and not just every place so that it becomes merely commonplace.

Now from a theological point of view, scripturally we know of God’s commandment to build a temple and set aside a day of the week and a place as His place. And scriptually we know of Christ’s abhorrence of having the moneychangers in His temple. So why would we casually assume He would want a place in their space? Shopping malls and business centers and courthouses and public schools are places of commerce regardless of which good (food, clothing, money, justice, education) is being exchanged. Is it good for goodness to be placed as just another good or service? And although Roman Catholics call our worship Mass, other denominations refer to their worship as a service. Yet it doesn’t service the notion of the Sacred to set the service where someone is providing a secular service. I don’t want to see a statue of Saint Joseph in McDonalds. And isn’t it just lip service to say “Merry Christmas” to make a political point instead of a religious proclamation? How can a man justify saying “Merry Christmas” with hatred in his heart as he spreads verbal violence?

Now in full disclosure I’ll reveal that I carry a rosary in my pocket. I wear a scapular around my throat. I have a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God on my dresser. And I have a Crucifix on the wall near my front door. I like religious symbols. I enjoy their reminders. I like having pictures of the ones I love near me. Yet I don’t want to set a photograph of my mother in the street so that birds can soil it or the rain can soak her picture. So I place her picture in a frame and I protect it with glass and I set it aside. Yet you mustn’t assume that I keep her memory as an aside. And this isn’t beside the point. It is the point. Manger scenes and statues are tangible representations of His Mother, His followers, and our examples.

And Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are advertising icons and are iconoclastic. I think that anyone who bans Santa Claus from a public square needs to rethink his sense of proportion and his sense of equity. Should Tony The Tiger be banned from grocery stores? Should Ronald McDonald be banned from restaurants? Of course not. We live in a capitalistic society and we accept advertising as a massive art exhibit and our televisions and our highways are commercial galleries that display that work. There is no historical evidence that Saint Nicholas was an obese philanthropist who shackled forest inhabitants to pull him as he dropped into chimneys and deposited the latest coveted. The secularization of the season chose Santa Claus as its mascot. I would think it would validate the secularist position to embrace his image. Christmas is a remembrance of the birth of Christ. It’s His birthday. I’d understand its opposition if its repudiation was supplemented by the advocacy of banning birthday candles.

The leaves fall off of the trees in autumn, yet we remember that the branches can still bear fruit even when they lack a public display. Yet when the branches are barren and the leaves are scattered all around our feet, we forget the splendor of the propagation and the blessing of the bounty. As children we press our favorite in a page to remember the beauty of our discovery. If we left the precious in a pile, we increase the difficulty of rediscovering our picked. I’m going to rake my leaves into a bag and by the time I’m finished my fatigue will render each leaf as indistinguishable from another. Yet each leaf was created individually. And individually we’re allowed to choose which leaf displays the most splendor.

If you want to remember and remind yourself of your beliefs, then do it in your space. Place as many statues and placards around you as you wish. Kneel before the God you choose. We cannot use religious symbols as theological cymbals as we batter the ears of those who consider our words merely noise. And we must not rake others over the coals because their beliefs differ from ours. Religious fanaticism is bringing the world to its knees. We must not go to the extreme on any side. I’ve yet to see more than a handful of men who can bend over so far backward and retain any sense of balance. Sure, there are a few who can. Yet we usually reward that gymnast with a medal or feature him in some sort of pornographic enterprise. Choose your god and serve it. Don’t choose any god and make others serve your vacillations.