Commercialized Jesus

My wife and I were able to spend a quick day and a half in Springfield, IL, home and final resting place of Abraham Lincoln. I would recommend the trip if any of you are interested in Honest Abe. There are truly some remarkable things to see. I, of course, encourage you to see the Lincoln home, the Lincoln Library and museum, and the Lincoln Tomb.
But what was interesting to me was the commercializing of Lincoln. You could buy a Pez type thing with the likeness of Lincoln with a gaping mouth. There were a number of students putting on Lincoln masks and Lincoln top hats and getting their pictures made. There were Lincoln chocolate bars, Lincoln pens and pencils, and you could even get a Lincoln penny pressed with the image of Lincoln on it. (Why in the world would you do that when the penny already has Lincoln's image on it????)
After hearing all of the talks about the Lincolns' foibles, their little idiosyncrasies, and habits, kind of as a side bar the tour guides would say something like this, "But as you leave today, make sure you think about the changes Mr. Lincoln made to the society he lived in." It was more like, "Spend all the money you can--and by the way, he lived an incredible life."
I wonder if we do this to Jesus? We commercialize His life, we try to cash in on the Jesus market, and we do what we can to show the "human" side of Jesus, but we forget what an impact...what an impact He had not only on our lives, but the world. Our very date, June 26, 2006 A.D. Anno Domini--in the year of our Lord. Our lives have been transformed. Yet, so many times we want to commercialize Jesus. The word I have been reading lately has been "transcendence." Christ coming to us. Being involved in our lives. Being a part of who we are, where we are. Not just a passing fancy or movie star, but Immanuel...God with us. May Jesus be personal, real in your life today. Have a great day. JW