The
Christ Child
“[Jesus]
wanted us to raise up our lives a considerable notch: from unconscious,
moralistic self-interest to a highly civilized and spiritually sophisticated
life based on love and community. Unconscious living is like lettuce without oil,
plants instead of salad, cold nutrition instead of warm dining. Jesus brings
the oil of a soulful and spiritually elevated awareness to ordinary life, which
otherwise tends to be full of unnecessary prejudice and aggression.”
Thomas
Moore (The Soul of Christmas, p.20; Franciscan Media, 2016)
Good
Christmas morning to you. Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus—the anointed
one, the messiah. In churches and homes around the world, presents will be
opened, prayers of gratitude said, eggnog drunk, and toasts lifted to family
and friends. Jesus’ message of two thousand years ago has not changed—love God,
love one another. We want to follow his selfless way of life, but we fall
short. We love each other, and still engage in self-serving behaviors. We want
to be of service but find those who need our service difficult to be with, and sometimes
unappreciative. We lose our tempers, pitch fits, lay on the horn, curse—oh,
yeah, we’re not so much like sweet baby Jesus.
Being
human is not easy. Being Christian is dang-near impossible if you happen to be
human. Going through the motions, saying the right words, enacting the
traditional rituals and sacraments is not what Jesus taught. He commanded us to
love our enemy, treat our neighbor as ourselves. He taught that if someone needs
a coat, give him yours, and then take his burden and carry it an extra mile—even
if he's foreign, fallen, and of a different race. And, people, it’s cold
outside! Who’s going to give away their coat in this weather!
We are still mammals, possessing
all the traits that go with being territorial and aggressive towards outsiders.
The only way to be more like the baby whose birth we celebrate today is to
become conscious—to do what Thomas Moore suggests in the quote above: “raise
up our lives a considerable notch.”
We will not rise above our current state of “moralistic self-interest”
so long as we remain unconscious that we even have it.
Here's the deal—we’re all
imperfect, we’re selfish, we’re inclined to take care of our own. But the
Christ child knows this about us and loves us anyway. That is his example! So what
if someone says dumb stuff, love them anyway. So what is someone is snarky and
cold and hateful? You don’t have to respond in kind. Forgive them. Understand
that they are hurting inside in a way that maybe they can’t even name, and just
let it go. We’re all human. And so was Jesus, so enjoy his birthday and try to
be kind to one another. Celebrate love in all its forms and appreciate the
people who love you in spite of your flaws. Merry Christmas, y’all. Make it a
good one.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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