Jude warned us that this could happen.

My morning meditations this week focus on Jude, the brother of Jesus, who wrote a letter to Jesus’ followers urging us all to keep focused on what really matters. Jude wrote, “I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share,” but had to write about those who were corrupting the Message. Those about whom Jude warned were profaning salvation’s truth, substituting license for freedom, distracting Jesus’ disciples from loving devotion. Jude, who was privileged to observe Jesus at breakfast table and play ground, reminds us that we are called to follow his brother, Jesus. We are to show our love in obedience and deny any suggestion of self-centered, self-gratifying lust.

Like many other of Jesus’s American followers, I have grown used to the distractions of reindeer, sleighs, snow, elves and holly. They are the odds and ends of fantasy, man made things mixed in with living beings formed by the fingers of God. We are accustomed to a sky with a star in the East rating well below twelve tiny reindeer on the interest meter. I listen for the hymns of the incarnation (The truth and theology of Isaac Watt’s Joy to the World still invigorates me!), but hear syrupy ballads about snow, trees and chestnuts. Yesterday I was deeply shaken, rattled-to-the-soul, while in one of Pat’s favorite shopping venues! It took several decades to fully accomplish the dastardly deed, but someone “has secretly slipped in among us” and adulterated the Message beyond recognition.

There it was, evidence of the intruder right at the entrance of the store. A sign read, complete with holly boarder and winking Santa, “Thoughtful gift ideas for the discerning gift giver,” or something akin to that. I should have written it down, but one item in the display was even worse, a “motorized grill brush for the serious bar-b-quer!” If anyone gave me a motorized anything for the grill, I would think they had lost their discernment – and their mind! In the same display was a “car lovers gift pack” which had five different waxes, shampoos, lotions and treatments for cars – more than I use on my body! (I apparently don’t love my body as I ought.) And, a few short steps away, Major League Baseball team jerseys were selling for over $40.00 (suggested retail, $85.00). The player whose name was sewn on the back is now playing for a competitor. Discerning gift giver? Duh!

My response to all this is not to rant and rave. I’ll not be calling a radio station or writing an op ed piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Don’t look for me on a roadside with a placard reading, “Honk if you keep Christ in Christmas!” But, I have read the nativity account to four of my grandchildren and prayed with them. Before they went to sleep I reminded them that Christmas is really about God loving them enough to send Jesus to save them, and everyone else too! In every venue possible, on every occasion appropriate I will be faithful to tell the real story. Fools, that’s right, immoral, ungodly, deviously foolish men “have secretly slipped in among us.” And, our Father in heaven wants them to know the truth too! Let’s make sure our light shines brighter than the ones we have hung from the eaves of our homes!