JOHN MARK REYNOLDS on Jollification

[NOTE: I made a terrible mistake and originally attributed the following to Mark D. Roberts. The true author is John Mark Reynolds. We apologize to John Mark for this error.]

Here's one for the pre-Christmas weekend from John Mark Reynolds at OneTrueGodBlog:

We live in a world in dire need of a good solid Narnian word: jollification. The Narnia film is cheerful, but realistic. There are real dangers in the woods . . . in a past 9/11 world we know there are real wolves in the woods. Some of our friends will sell us out to the wolves for a bit of personal peace. However, one need not despair or become intolerant. One can simply do one’s duty while enjoying a bit of Christmas. It is the totalitarians (on the right and left) who are always serious. We know how limited is our power and how little our dreams of utopia would match reality in this age! As a result, we can stop in the midst of even the most serious war and have some toast (with jam!) and wait for our gifts from Father Christmas. Our opponents on the secular lefts can never tell jokes . . . they can only deal in sarcasm and irony. They never feast for they fear too greatly dying to enjoy feast foods. Real Christianity is jolly without being unserious.

This puts me in mind of what Someone once said about how in the world we will have tribulation, but that we should be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world.