Christmas is upon us once again. Day in and day out we feel the unbearable weight of it all. There is a tension in this season unlike any other time of year a dark and cruel undertone behind the veneer of holiday platitudes about "peace" and "happiness." We are told that people behave better, have some common kindness, and a spirit of joy permeates us at this time of year. If this is the case than may I say two very important things. First, if humans are capable of such sentiment for a period of less than one month, why are they incapable of it for the rest of year? Secondly, they are incapable of such a sentiment for a period of less than one month.
I have driven on roads and been cut off by cars that any other time of the year would have yielded to me out of common kindness. Now that natural inclination to kindness is supplanted by the Macy's Christmas special homing patterns. I have seen people not tip or thank or return the greetings of lowly retail peons, because they were too busy trying to purchase the requisite presents for friends and family. I have even seen good people* get shunned when people talk of Christmas plans with other friends when this lonely soul is in their midst. In fact it is striking how many times it is the non-Christian's "merry Christmas" is heard as opposed to the Christian's.
All the time Christians "fight for their rights." "Keep Christ in Christmas" we say, or "Those atheists are trying to remove this or that from our town's Christmas." Yet, Christmas is not so much about what is done, but rather it is about what has been done for us. All our secularization of the holiday hasn't been able to remove the common theme: God loved the world and he sent his Son. No one brought God any gifts that he used to win our salvation. No one deserved to have God move into the neighborhood. And no certainly showed the holy family any kindness or gave them any tips or invited them to stay with them or even let them merge into traffic. The Gospels don't tell us of any human providing them with anything of use at all, and yet everything turned out okay.
And the gifts provided by the wise astrologers and songs of praise given by the shepherds all disappeared under the vast waves of history; but what remained was one gift, not earned by the laws of "naughty or nice" and not just given to the people who let people merge into busy intersections on Black Friday. The gift of peace on earth and unending happiness and reunion with God was given to the harried Christmas shopper who forgets the meaning of Christmas while at Wal-Mart or forgets to invite a friend to a holiday party. God, you see, has a way of reaching us even in the midst of Christmas.
* Not that ascribed moral worth should in any way dictate the benevolence that we should show to our fellow human beings.
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1 comment:
I hope you had a great Christmas, Phil. It's good to see your blog output up for this month. Maybe this trend will continue?
you've been very receptive & thoughtful towards me in the past few weeks, and I appreciate it very much. It may seem like a little thing to you, but every act of kindness builds upon every other, and sometimes the results can be sparkling.
God bless.
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