IT’S THE END OF DECEMBER

Every year I hear people expressing concern about not being able to put up manger scenes on public property, never hearing Christmas carols in the malls anymore, and not being allowed to wish people a “Merry Christmas”. And every year I see manger scenes on public property, hear Christmas carols in the malls, and find people wishing others a “Merry Christmas” everywhere I go. So, what’s up?

1. · Maybe it’s all a clever campaign by “secular humanists” to create the impression that Christians are just a bunch of annoying whiners.
2. · Perhaps it’s all being imported from places like Tennessee and the Isle of Man, where Christmas really has been outlawed. I checked this out on Snopes and it really is true. Trust me.
3. · Possibly it’s all just a subtle Christian campaign to prevent these things from actually happening; what the American military calls “anticipatory retaliation”. – Our side has never actually “started” a war you know. We have initiated a few that the other side started, of course, but only just before they started it.
4. · Maybe all of the above.

But, whatever’s going on, it seems to be working, so...

write letters to the editor!

Email your MP and MLA!

call all the talk shows, and let everyone know...

“We’re not going to take it anymore!!!”

Ahhh... remember the good old days when we could just hold an Inquisition. Or, better yet, hire the Spanish to hold one.

But, then again... could it be the six litres of egg-nog, three bushels of Poppy Cock, and four kilograms of Christmas baking we’ve consumed over the past ten days? Or maybe these Santa hats are just a little too tight.

Anyway... drop me a note in the New Year and let me know how the campaign turned out. I’m going back to bed.

See you in 2011.

CHRISTMAS – IT JUST IS

In 1697 the philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, raised an interesting question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” He didn’t invent the question, of course. It’s the most intuitive of all questions. But he did manage to word it in an obvious and memorable way.

I don’t know if anyone will ever think up a very good answer, but the question itself is worth thinking about. It implies that nothingness is intuitive and, therefore, that the universe and all of our experience, is counter-intuitive. And, since there is, in fact, something rather than nothing, this implies that intuition is a most unreliable guide.

I love Christmas precisely because there’s something so delightfully, and relentlessly, counter-intuitive about it.

• The king of the universe is born in a stable.
• The stable is in a little town on the backside of nowhere.
• His mother is a young peasant girl, the wife of a simple carpenter.
• Shepherds are invited immediately, and they come.
• The king is invited, but his invitation seems to be an afterthought, perhaps even a mistake. At first he doesn’t come. Then he sends people to spoil the fun.
• This “newborn King of Israel” finds himself a refugee, in Egypt of all places.
• The people who should get it (the priests and teachers in Jerusalem) don’t seem to have a clue.
• And the people who don’t seem to have a clue (shepherds and peasant folk) get it immediately.

I hear people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens expressing frustration that so many people persist in believing something as unbelievable as The Christmas Story, and sometimes my heart goes out to them. After all their hard work this must be very difficult, and I’d love to have something encouraging to share with them, especially at Christmas time. But I really have no good answer.

Why do people, including me, come back to this story again and again? Perhaps its just dogged tradition, or foolish ignorance, or a stubborn streak. But, then again, maybe it just reminds us of the counter-intuitive way things really are.

IMMANUEL (John 1:1-14)

Now we come to Christmas...

In the prologue to his Gospel, John speaks of the “Word” and the “true light”, as essentially the same thing. He declares, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:9) But then, speaking of Jesus, he says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It is significant that, in Christian understanding, Jesus is not an enlightened one, but the “true light” that enlightens everyone. He is not one visited by the Word, but the Word visiting us. Jesus is a teacher and a prophet to be sure, but immeasurably more. He is Immanuel (God with us). For John, the “true light” is a universal reality, giving light to everyone, but now coming into the world in Jesus. He is the One behind every true experience of God, always and everywhere.

If this sounds arrogant or ridiculous, ‘twas ever thus. Paul observed that the claims about Jesus are, “...a stumbling block (scandal) to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,..” (1 Cor 1:23) These claims are audacious and outrageous, but they’re not narrow or exclusive. They do not mean that only Christians have true encounters with God, but simply that the One behind all true encounters is the One who comes to us in Jesus.

“Intimations of the Divine” have always happened, and are still happening everywhere. They’re not western or eastern, exotic or mundane, Buddhist or Christian, but simply human; part of the human heritage of serendipitous discernment. And when these experiences happen, as in the case of the event John McCutcheon sings about, (see Dec. 21, Christmas in the Trenches) they typically have a dramatic effect, producing a sense of inter-connectedness, and the conviction that, regardless how fractured our world may appear, we are somehow part of one vast reality.

These experiences always result in compassion and love, but they are, as we have noted, ambiguous. We are broken, hostile creatures, in a broken, hostile world, so these experiences often become mired in the division, conflict and violence of our lives. But, if Jesus is the one behind all true encounters, then all encounters, whether Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Moslem, Atheist, Christian or whatever, are true only to the extent that they make people more selfless, loving and compassionate, i.e., more like Jesus.

Now, a word of caution...

I refer to this season as “Christmas”, not because I’m angry about losing anything, or on a campaign to preserve anything, but simply in the interest of full disclosure. Many are attracted by the innocuous glitz and glitter of the season, and fail to realize that there’s a baby concealed in the wrappings. And this is not some harmless infant, but the one of whom it was said, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel,... so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)

If you should happen to run across the infant Jesus, proceed with caution. You could be in danger of a genuine encounter with God which will lead to many things: love and mercy, selflessness, humility, compassion, a heart that is broken by the things that break God’s heart, and all the things that go with all these things. He is the light of the world, but if you get too close, or perhaps just close enough, you could get burned. Is this what you really want?

Burning Ember by Steve Bell