Glimmers of business life on Christmas

I didn't hear the bells on Christmas Day but I found a store open. Let's laud both Family Dollar and Casey's for being willing to serve the needs of customers. Casey's is where I checked first but I was too early - it didn't open until 10 a.m. It turned out that Family Dollar, a place I hadn't thought of, opened at 9.
Let's laud the individuals who were available to come to work at these places. One has to wonder: as time goes on, will we see more and more in the business world willing to keep the business wheels turning a little more? As I get older, I increasingly question the assumption that normal life has to grind to a halt on Christmas Day. Thanksgiving too.
On Thanksgiving I found Caribou Coffee at Willie's to be open in the morning, so could get some nourishment and have the satisfaction of just "getting out." Let's not underestimate the value of the latter.
I feel concern because we have an aging population in the rural heartland. Many people are not in a position to celebrate Christmas in the standard Norman Rockwell-flavored way. Death may have depleted the ranks of family. That has happened to me. The people I worry about most are those who are "on the bubble" for getting special help. They may be only marginal with their limitations or they just haven't been discovered yet. These people can become highly vulnerable. It can be life-threatening.
I could have attended the Christmas lunch at my church of First Lutheran. Increasingly it's hard to grapple with church issues and that's due to politics. My church is in a synod that is increasingly a refuge from the heavy right wing political tilt in Christianity. And that is fine. But we're losing. Not only are we losing, our adversaries in the reactionary churches - the people who thump their chest over Donald Trump - are glowering at us.
I tune in to Fox News and see Franklin Graham saying that Barack Obama "put people out of business because they were Christians." Be wary of the media: they have incentive to put provocative voices on the air. We can overlook how much competition there is for eyeballs. So we get Fox News which acts like a flamethrower with political issues all day and all night.
As a kid the totally idle nature of Christmas Day seemed natural to me. The older generation back then was temperate and restrained. Some were Republicans and some were Democrats, but there was a general sense of equilibrium. The extreme right wing was definitely out there - I'd see a ridiculous little leaflet sometimes - but it did not have a platform to get in our faces all the time. Today these voices get attention just because they are outrageous so much of the time. A "big name" like Graham goes on the air and says our last Democratic president was seeking to pick on Christians.
We have local religious zealots who would say that such statements are on the mark. They root for "religious freedom" but it's not what it seems: their freedom is the freedom to discriminate. Obama truly believed in the separation of church and state. So many of the Christian religious zealots can't get past their base emotions on such things.
You know who is paying attention to such things: the young generation. They look at Christianity and see it as not very benevolent - it seems rather the opposite. They don't wish to be so judgmental. We hear about the "nones" movement: those people who do not identify with a religious faith or with a denomination.
You can read the Bible to totally support a "progressive" viewpoint in a political sense. Try quoting that and you'll be shouted down. I think there's a reason why the "Christianity Today" piece appeared just before Christmas. Those Christians who agree with the skeptical essay toward Trump are worried. They are worried about the cost of associating Christianity with the current amoral president. And of course they get Howitzer cannons pointed at them once it's published. That underscores the problem better than anything.
The Christianity Today essay is an appeal to people like me who'd like to find reasons to cling to Christianity. Young people view the conflict in the U.S. Christian faith as reason enough to be wary of it. Life is tough for young adults today, and they are going to want to listen to people with progressive political ideas.
Frankly, maybe we have allowed the senior citizen class to get too wealthy. Just go to any church supper in the fall of the year and see all those nice older folks who don't bat an eye at paying the steadily inflating prices of the meal. No sweat. What a sea change, because in the days before Social Security, senior citizens tended to live life in fear. Something happened. And something could happen again.
The senior citizens who have decided to reject the nice mainstream churches of the ELCA should be cautious about how "in your face" they are getting with politics. Other segments of the population are going to learn how to use the political system too. In addition to the "nones," we have members of non-Christian faiths also. What are they to make of it, when they awaken on Christmas Day and wonder if there's any place open where they can do business, to get a pizza like I did? A nice basic Red Baron four-meat pizza.
I felt true Christmas joy being able to take that home and throw it in the oven. It was my only meal of the day, although I always drink a bottle or two of "Boost" nutritional supplement. I listen to some Christmas music from my laptop. I have colored lights on tree branches out in front of my place. I wish I could say "our place." But life has its phases calling for adjustment.
Merry Christmas? Not sure I'm willing to say that, really, not if Christianity was responsible for the election of our president. Just keep taking one day at a time. Again, God bless the Family Dollar store and its intrepid employee.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com