Merry Christmas - Celebration of Grace

For this Christmas, I want to bring out my theology and seminary training to say something that I normally say almost every month, but I will put it in the correct theological framework that fits the specific night and day upon which we find ourselves.

On the coming days, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and there is a REASON that we celebrate the birth of Jesus in the Christian tradition.  Mankind was doomed, before Jesus came in the Christian framework.  Mankind was dead to right guilty of sin and therefore unpure to receive from God and to eventually be in the presence of God.  Scripture tells us that "there is none righteous.. no not one" and "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" .. so mankind needed a payment for their sins.  Per Christian teaching, that person was Jesus.. God, born of a virgin woman.. not just any virgin woman, though.  He was born from the people and in the place that would be least accepted and least assumed to be worthy of redemption.. let alone to provide it.

Then, what did Jesus do to gain authority?  Well.. nothing.  He pissed off the religious that were in power and called them snake and vipers.  He didn't go to the government for backing, either.  For the first 30 years, he worked as a carpenter and didn't do anything to gain power.  Then, he went out and started talking to people in fields and healing and feeding them... showing actual love for the needy that was rejected by the religious bodies and governments of the day... often doing so would make Him an outcast for choosing to love them.  When the religious bodies of the day felt threatened by the numbers of people that were following him, they would demand that the government kill Jesus.

So, it wasn't about being worshiped in a temple.  It wasn't about people thrusting praise and acceptance upon Him.  God saw to it that that would not happen.  It was God choosing to use the least worthy birth to lead to a least worthy leader to serve as payment for the least worthy people.. us.

So, as you celebrate Christmas this year, do so remembering that you are only included in being able to receive it, because God decided that your failures and sin did not disqualify you from love.  Then.. go and do likewise. 

Heartfelt

My expression has not been politically correct or comfortable for a VERY long time, but it is always heartfelt. I don't post to please anyone.  My goal has always been to be true and real and help others by presenting a real life in struggles and joys.  That has made me be rejected by both major political parties, ruffled the feathers of religions and atheists, and has lost me friends, acquaintances and more.  But, one thing that should not be said of me that I ever intentionally lie.  That runs contrary to my nature.  I would rather be judged by the world than be false or to fail to help someone in need.  And, I often AM judged by the world for speaking my thoughts that challenge groups of status quo or accepted philosophies.

When I was in high school, I hated English.  I was so tired of sentence diagrams and grammar rules.  Then, I got to the Renaissance period of literature, and my soul lit fire.  I found in the pure emotional expression of the period a home.  It was not just a period for literature but for lives that were learning to experience and learn from life, not instruction.  Later, this would be called and condemned by the religious as "humanism" and "liberal arts".. two labels I would welcome about myself.  I DO stand for humans being human.  I do stand for the conflict of ideals and free expression of thought.  I think that is the only way we grow.  I know that is the only way that I GROW... for sure.  Why would I limit my contacts to those that agree with me and expect to grow beyond myself?

So, when I say something, I have not just put my mind into it but my heart into it.  I don't just decide to do something, I choose to do something.  I believe it was John Wesley that said that there was a counterfeit for faith that existed in the church in his day.  He said that it was "mental assent" ... which said that he would believe something so long as it made sense and if it did not would be rejected.  While there is a value to putting your mind to use for what it was given to you to use, there are things of the heart that cannot be quantified or explained.  

We are entering in the period leading up to Christmas, right now.  On many of the Santa movies that are out there, there is the theme that faith is not seeing to believe but believing to see.  It is about believing that there is some good in the world, whether or not we are seeing it.  It is about BEING good in the world, even when that is not being returned to you.  It is about living HEARTFELT, and that is my personality and my curse, because I can do no other.

So, I would challenge you in this time that you would believe in good, go good, love, and be hopeful for the future, even if there is no reason to do so.  Carry forward the good memories of the past, whether they are still present.  And, care for others.  If you can improve the life of ONE PERSON this season, you would be the world to that person and give your life meaning and their life blessing.  And, that heartfelt way of living and loving is... in my opionion.. the greatest truth that God deemed for man to be. 

Love Fruit

I was in a class at my new church, today, and they were discussing a few Hebrew words for love in the Old Testament.  One prompted a deeper meaning for me, and I wanted to blog about it.

The word is Rakham or Rechem (I know from my own theological studies in the past there were no vowels in Biblical Hebrew).  It means compassion but is also a word variant of the Biblical word for womb.

What, then, transpired was my realization that love is a thing that brings forth fruit.. it CREATES life.  It creates new.

Especially right now as I'm experiencing the effects of new love, I can so clearly see this effect in operation.  As love persists and grows, it extends and nurtures an amazing new life that will result if it is given care and food.

I've struggled with examples of "religion" that we so often see in this world, and my own religious training made it hard to accept any man made form as genuine and not based in power or greed.  But... that's not love.

When LOVE exists, whether religious or family or relationship, it covers rather than pressures, heals rather than harms, and it grows into something new and amazing.  So, may you experience and give that kind of love this Christmas season for the birth of a very worthy year to come.

Balderdash

We are upon that time of the year when it's completely acceptable to pretend.  People pretend in holiday figures and stories.  For example, I shared a list of "Christmas" movies from Vogue over time to watch, and there was more emphasis on Santa Claus than religion.. Indeed, almost no holiday movie will ever mention Jesus, and that makes sense with as little historical connection to the once pagan holiday to a specific religious figure.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's great.  I'll watch holiday movies, go to holiday light displays, and I already have my tree lit.  My choosing to step away from judgmental Christianity will have no impact on me at all in celebrating a holiday more created by Coca Cola in modern society than any church. 

Society also loves to pretend all is right in the world and that they care for those that are not, despite an election long attack on the very least of these they now say are worthy of holiday donations but not tax dollars.  They pretend we get along and are unified, despite one of the most bitterly divided sets of values I've known in my entire lifetime.

But, I think it's perfectly fine to pretend.  Sometimes, a completely fictional movie or book can have more REAL impact on your life than listening to the series of doubts and fears that surround you.  Pretense can be very good, when people dress up like holiday figures as a way of loving people and themselves.  If only those same people gave people the right to dress in ways that gave them the same feeling, year round, the world would be a better place.