This is Christmas?

I am going to keep this brief. Which is to say, it will be longer than I expect it to be. However, the imperfections of our expectations and the let downs of our life are uncertainties. All human beings feel cut off from one another … and … whether we like to admit it or not, we feel cut off from ourselves as well. Our society is built on some pretty shabby myths. For the most part we accept these myths because to reject them, we fear, will cut us off even further from those around us.
Recently, I have been forced to ask myself a very frightening question, namely: What is an individual? The so-called "two-Americas" have two very different views about that. Some in this country believe that the individual is the center of his or her universe. Restrictions from government or society are viewed as things worse than impositions, they are viewed as downright evil. The other extreme holds that the individual is only as strong as everyone else in the community (whatever that is). These are the people who say "it takes a village." Let me be up front, in America, both these views are inherently wrong because they have a flawed idea of "humanity."
All human beings are sinners. That is to say, we are dysfunctionally programmed from birth. This is something only one institution that I know of has had the courage to say. If something is inherently flawed, no amount of tweaking it is going to get it back to normal again because there is no "ideal system" alive in the world today. Pursuit of our own paths to an "ideal me" or an "ideal community" all end in tears and many times death. Sociopaths and lone gunmen who view their "right" as one worth killing for are just as prevalent as the ideal societies of the U.S.S.R. or Nazi Germany. A person who murders for his or her own gain is just as ideologically driven as the person who has bought into an herd mentality. Murders and cultures of murder are the order of the day, and cannot be ignored. Indeed for the survival of our species, the must not be ignored.
Into this world, we have a lot of lies. These lies are the opiates of a world bent on suicide. Whether individually or corporately we are deceive ourselves and we don't have any truth living in us. This isn't the kind of message that sells. What sells is cheap Christmas stories about Rudolf coming to the aid of his community or "brotherhood of mankind" or gifts. I have just made it through another holiday season, but I can tell you none of those things did it for me. I drove constantly to be with family and friends. It was good to be with them, but sometimes I just wanted to have some time away. Then there were the times away from others that I desperately wanted to be with people. Eventually the gift cards will be spent, the vacation from school will be over, and I will notice that all the world's problems never went away. This is the same world that we all live in.
I wonder if Mary and Joseph felt this way or the early Christians too? I would answer this question with a resounding, "yes! Of course." Any Christian who doesn't acknowledge the true hardships of the world, doesn't believe in a Messiah, because there is no need need for one. The Christian is a realist. There is real pain in the world and real suffering. It won't just go away with full bellies and kind words about "individual liberty" and "universal fraternity." Those people will be hungry and desperate tomorrow. We have kept Christ hidden in a manger and left him hanging on a cross. Angels sang to worthless nobodies and women told men with nothing to live for that Someone came to us. It wasn't an idea they wrapped in swaddling cloth and laid in a manger and it wasn't a new philosophy that was wrapped and laid in a tomb; it was the God of the Universe. It wasn't the plan for life, but the planner.
It doesn't mean anything if you don't believe. I know that. However, when I look at my life and my stuff, I can't help but wonder what the point of it is. Its easy to nod our head in agreement with Bond villains as they look for ways to destroy the world. But its tough to look at God and nod our heads in agreement that it should be saved. Jesus is the great affirmation that my life is worth saving; and your life too. If this world is a plan, then we fit into that plan, right? Somewhere in that plan, there is a place for you and me and shepherds and unwed Jewish mothers and frightened first time fathers. The point is that we can't be thinking of ourselves or our groups. The Christmas story tells us that. Mary should've been cast-out of society and Joseph should have followed his own path. But these people didn't look at themselves or the group, they couldn't help but look at God.
This is the story of Christmas. We can't help but look at the Christ child in the manger. It doesn't matter if you celebrate it on the twenty-fifth of december or the sixth of January; what matters is that you keep that image of child born to all of us to take away sin. We no longer have to be the ideal person, because the ideal person already came. He already told us we aren't good enough and didn't hold back when he said life was pretty messy. But he also said he would be with us forever and ever. He said the messiness has been pardoned. He said sin is still sin, but I am still I am. And that is very comforting news for a very uncomfortable season.