So, if you haven’t noticed..there’s a youtube video out that shares the story of Christmas through facebook. It’s all the rage.
Okay, so I really want to share what goes through my head every time I’ve watched this. (I’ve only watched it 1 and 1/2 times. The first time, I turned it off halfway through because I was just so bored out of my mind and amazed that someone did this. Then, I saw how everyone was sharing it on their wall…so I thought to myself, “maybe something really cool happens at the end”. So, I watched it all the way through and you know what?? Absolutely nothing cool happened at the end.
Here are my thoughts on this year’s popular new youtube video:
a) my favorite part is… “IT’S A BOY! He’s asleep in a manger… it’s all we could find.”
There are several things wrong with this. IT’S A BOY! As if she would’ve been SHOCKED? The angel TOLD her it would be a boy… I mean come on, she obviously had a miraculous conception like the angel said, why wouldn’t she have believed it was a boy? OF COURSE MARY KNEW IT WOULD BE A BOY. Sheesh. THEN…here’s a baby sleeping in a manger…it’s all they could find. BUT they could find a place with wi-fi to update their facebook status. The savior of the world is lying in my arms… DANG, I need to update my status about this one!
b) Jospeh’s status about “Mary is indeed with child..an angel revealed it to me..” He goes on later to tell the world that the child is conceived of the Holy Spirit. I love the response of his friend. “That’s convenient”. I feel like all of this was a sacred thing… these two kids are being told in this unbelievable spiritual moments about how a miraculous baby is going to be born and change the world. I think it’s a little crazy to portray that they are just announcing it to the world like it’s just “whatevs” and gonna be accepted and “liked” by their friends (pun intended). I think this was a fragile event. I think this was a sacred occurence. I don’t think they were running through the town and yelling about it. They were preparing for the biggest moment of their lives.
c) I love the updating of the maps to show where they’re going. Kind of the point of the traveling during this was so that Herod wouldn’t know where they are. He was attempting to kill Jesus. I don’t think they’d be showing MAPS of where they’re going. I don’t think they’d be updating their status saying, “I’ve got the baby that Herod wants to kill chillin in my arms as I ride my donkey back to the mainland.”
Okay, so maybe I’m harsh. I understand the point of this video is not to portray that they had facebook back in the day. It does kind of make it look like “this is what they would’ve done IF they would’ve had facebook” which…is not what would’ve happened. I don’t know if that was the purpose of the video.. but it looks like it. I know this is supposed to be “cool” and reaching out to the youngins and telling us the miraculous, sacred, precious story of Jesus through modern technology… but it makes me shake my head. Parent’s won’t have to sit down with the written word of God and read the story to them…nope, just share this video on their wall and hope that it has the same kind of anointing. I do think it’s interesting to see the reactions of the “friends” on facebook… but I feel like if that’s the purpose, they didn’t focus in on that and they didn’t portray how harsh it really was for them. It wasn’t as minute as someone defriending them on facebook… it was being made a mockery in front of their friends and family… it was that gosh awful feeling of walking down the street and watching as people who “love” you point at you and whisper what a disappointment and scandal you are. It was heartbreaking. Much more heartbreaking than someone de-friending you on facebook.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just too fundamentalist in this one area. Maybe I just see a sacredness to the story of Jesus being born. I picture it as difficult, hard, terribly frightening, a secret, a journey that none of us can imagine. I don’t want to try to put it modern terms.. I want it to be in the terms it was in. Life wasn’t easy. Things weren’t convenient. Facebook wasn’t there to update and say “HEY ..THE SAVIOR IS HERE”. No, God sent a star…sent wise men.. he led people there by divine appointment. He had a hedge of protection over Jesus. It wasn’t a nonchalant thing. It wasn’t easy and modern. They weren’t chillin in a barn that looked like the Best Western with wi-fi at their fingertips. It was a precious, Holy occurence.. and it somewhat just bothers me that it’s been taken so lightly.
ASHLIN BOYLES 