Thanks be to (the Father of Jesus)

So, I was reading the newspaper today. Normally we do not get the paper on Thursdays, but I think we got this one due to all the ads. Anyway, so I'm reading the Op/Ed and there are a lot today all circling around Harrisburg's doomed incinerator, the upcoming election, or Thanksgiving. One really caught my eye. Written by Christine Conrad Shultz, it does an excellent job pointing out our forefather's commitment to faith in a deity. But that is as far as it goes.

Maybe that's ok, though. Because maybe the article was not really supposed to point out the Christian faith from amongst the other religions who have gods. In fact, i know it isn't. Her point is that the forefathers were not ashamed to mix their faith with the everyday.

I don't know that our current administration is ashamed of that, though. Pres Bush rides the Christian ticket pretty well. Most of the conservatives running for office have made it a point to outline their faiths, and there is that rumour that Obama is a closet Muslim. And then we have the Mormon, and the woman who married an adulterer ( a label that really only exists because of the Judeo-Christian expectation for men and women to be faithful to one spouse).

What I would like to see is less "Oh let's say Merry Christmas because we're not allowed to because it will offend someone", but more of the realization that when we say Merry Christmas, we're talking evangelism. Let's get away form the neutered god and refer to the one we mean. Let's say, "Merry Christmas, the day when Jesus of Nazareth was born". Or, Let's stop just giving thanks to God, but be more specific. Let's say, Thank you God, Father of Jesus of Nazareth and Giver of His Spirit".

'Cause, let's face it, when we say "God" they could be translating it into any number of things, which could possibly include themselves.