Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Yesterday I was teasing my kids, I said, "So, how do you want to handle Christmas this year? Do you guys just want to come into my room and start jumping on the bed at five in the morning, going 'We wanna open presents! We wanna open presents!' like you usually do?" Some years we have opened one present on Christmas Eve, and then the rest on Christmas day; also, part of the question was, you guys are essentially grown up now, maybe we could wait till a little later in the morning this year ...

In hindsight, I think I should've said "seven o'clock" instead of five. They might not have been able to stay awake that long.

At five this morning I had two young adults literally jumping on my bed like it was a trampoline, begging to open their presents.

I overheard some kids talking yesterday, and the conversation was familiar: "Whatcha gettin'?" You were always told that it's not the receiving but the giving that should be the spirit of Christmas, but hearing this conversation I had to stop and think about that. For you and me, grown-ups, that's true, but we don't need to be told -- for us, it's fun to pick out gifts for children, their anticipation is fun for us. For the little ones, for kids, it really is the receiving that's fun, seeing what gifts Santa brings you. Nobody really expects little kids to give as much as they get, and nobody really minds if they're excited by the prospect of getting a whole lot of new stuff, any more than we really keep score of whether they've been good all year. For us the fun is in giving to them, and seeing how excited they are, and creating a happy fantasy world for them with reindeer and elves and tales of the faraway North Pole. It's a time we indulge them, just once, and it's fun for us as givers and for them as getters. At Christmas we adults can remember being little, the excitement of waiting for Santa, how hard it was to fall asleep, listening for those reindeer.

The spirit of Christmas is one of hope and innocence that anyone can be part of. I asked out loud a few years ago whether there would still be Christmas cards with the embarrassing slogan, "Peace on earth, goodwill to men," such an un-American thing to say! And you know what -- there still are. At Christmastime we look upon the innocence of a newborn baby, the innocence of childhood, the hope and possibilities of a new life, and we block out the cruelty of adults, we pretend it doesn't exist for one day, if we can. You don't have to subscribe to any particular religious dogma to wish for peace on earth or that the world could be refreshed with the innocence of a child. Traditions have been retrofitted to a Christian mythology, but Christmas is a secular holiday, anybody can be part of it. Call it something different: Yule works.

It happens that the innocence of children and peace on earth are themes of a holiday that coincides with the winter solstice, when the sun has reached its darkest point and is certainly going to gain in strength again; warmth will return to the world, if we just hold on and wait. As such, Christmas is a profound holiday, one whose significance transcends levels of understanding. It represents, among other things, the rebirth of innocence, the wish for worldwide harmony, the celebration of man's humble place in (and dependence on) nature and the cycle of the seasons.

This year, my wife is far away; her father, our children's grandfather, died yesterday. My children themselves are not children any more, but young adults. They want to hang with their friends these days, yes, sometimes more than family, we understand how that is, they are making the transition to adulthood, toward a time when they might start their own families. A death in the family -- that is painful at any time, but especially now, when families are huddling together praying for the light to come back into the world, and one candle has gone dark. A death brings the family closer together, those whose miss him the most can share their grief and console one another.

These are dark times for our country, when greed and fear have been allowed to make our decisions for us. Here at the solstice it is good to know that the darkness can only push so far, that the sun always comes back again. When we say "Peace on earth" we should pause and ask ourselves whether we really mean it, and if we do mean it, what would that look like, and how do we get there from here? This is a good time to make a plan, to start on a path. And then, each day through the new year we should follow up on it, measure our progress, refine our planning, take another step. You don't have to subscribe to any particular dogma to see peace for all as a worthwhile goal, and to figure out how to work toward it.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Jim,
I am sorry about your father-in-law's death, May his memory be a blessing to your family.

Andrea

December 26, 2007 11:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My thoughts are with you and your family, Jim.

December 26, 2007 10:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Christmas is a secular holiday, anybody can be part of it. Call it something different: Yule works."

There is simply no Darwinian explanation for why people would care about and seek to help those who are complete strangers. Agape most closely approximates God's love for us. God loves us for no reason other than He chose to love us. We are called to try and appoximate that love in the way we treat others. No other religion teaches Agape which is entirely an invention of Christianity. Little do secular folks realize that when they do good things that don't benefit themselves in any way, they are acting out a legacy of Christianity.

This is the love that the infant Jesus brought into the word, some two thousand years ago. Atheist pugilists like RIchard Dawkins and Sam Harris flail away at Jesus, landing on him not a single blow and revealing in the process their own surly pettiness. Yet if all people--including professed Christians--took more seriously the teachings of Christ, and sought to embody in their lives the distinctively Christian virtue of Agape, wouldn't this earth be a sweeter and lovelier place?

December 27, 2007 10:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, Red Baron...

I just wanted to thank you for giving me something to laugh about today! It's much appreciated.

December 27, 2007 11:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrea- anon
Gee, red moron- I am Jewish and my acts of charity and social action have nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity. Sorry, we were here first and we will be here always.

December 27, 2007 3:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrea

I didn't know you were Jewish. Who can keep track? I thought you were an elder in some liberal Protestant congregation.

No matter. Christianity and Judaism are the same. Jesus was Jewish and everything he said was built on the same scripture used in synagogues today.

December 27, 2007 4:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"my acts of charity and social action"

BTW, could you tell us more about your acts of charity?

December 27, 2007 4:31 PM  
Blogger Dana Beyer, M.D. said...

Stop trying to conflate Christianity with Judaism. You don't mean what you say, and you use it simply to provide cover. There is very little in your type of Christianity that bears any resemblance to today's Judaism, or even the Judaism of 2000 years ago.

December 27, 2007 8:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Stop trying to conflate Christianity with Judaism. You don't mean what you say, and you use it simply to provide cover. There is very little in your type of Christianity that bears any resemblance to today's Judaism, or even the Judaism of 2000 years ago."

And what type would that be, our omniscient friend? Cover for what? How in the world do you think Judaism and Christianity differ?

Jesus explained the scripture read in the temple in Jerusalem when he twelve-year-old boy. It's the same scripture read in synagogues today. He fulfilled the prophecies and there is no shortage of Jews who realize that. The very location of the Christmas story just remembered was foretold hundreds of years prior to its actual occurence by the prophet Micah.

Truth is, the most influential man in history was a Jew. He taught Jewish scripture. Go ahead and celebrate.

December 27, 2007 11:01 PM  
Blogger Dana Beyer, M.D. said...

I'm so happy you're currently living in the little town of Bethlehem, conveniently ignoring two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism, from the Popes to Martin Luther on down.

Keep repeating your nonsense, because the only Jews who might -- unlikely, though they might -- agree with you would be the most radical, extremist, ultra-orthodox elements within Judaism. Oh, the rest of us just love it when your fellows are ardently pro-Israel, just to hasten armageddon and rapture. We're delighted!

We all know quite well, since it is pointed out by so many Christians these days who have finally found the spine to retake their faith from literalist lunatics, that your brand of Christianity, founded on hate and denigration, has nothing to do with either Jesus or the Jewish teachings of his day. Just keep right on quoting one sentence from the Torah while you blithely ignore the rest, and show us what great Biblical scholars you are.
Happy New Year!

December 28, 2007 9:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I'm so happy you're currently living in the little town of Bethlehem, conveniently ignoring two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism, from the Popes to Martin Luther on down.

Keep repeating your nonsense, because the only Jews who might -- unlikely, though they might -- agree with you would be the most radical, extremist, ultra-orthodox elements within Judaism."

There are plenty of Messianic congregation about whom your characterization is inaccurate. Remember Jesus, and later his followers who wrote the New Testament, argued everything they said by reference to the scriptures of their time. Disagree with their interpretation if you want, that's your loss, there is still no denying that it is Jewish.

"Oh, the rest of us just love it when your fellows are ardently pro-Israel, just to hasten armageddon and rapture. We're delighted!"

Well, glad to hear it, because some have not been. The groups who you refer to are not so much trying to hasten Armeggedon as recognizing the promises of God to Abraham. If you'll read the Book of Romans, you'll find that the orthodox Christian position is that gentile believers in Christ have been grafted on to the tree of Israel. (This is metaphorical, btw.)

"We all know quite well, since it is pointed out by so many Christians these days who have finally found the spine to retake their faith from literalist lunatics, that your brand of Christianity, founded on hate and denigration, has nothing to do with either Jesus or the Jewish teachings of his day."

I don't think any literalists ever had control of Christianity. I know I'm not one. I think your mistake is to assume anyone who believes in a real God who is capable of intervening in human affairs is a literalist. It's an inaccurate term. Everyone, even non-Christians, believe there are some parts of scripture that are literally true and some that are meant to be taken metaphorically. The question is which parts fit into which category.

What's this hate and denigration you're talking about?

"Just keep right on quoting one sentence from the Torah while you blithely ignore the rest, and show us what great Biblical scholars you are."

I don't what verse you are talking about but, I certainly, and all evangelicals I know take the entire counsel of scripture seriously. Indeed, I'd agree with you if you said that any theology that is based on only one verse is likely to be bad theology.

"Happy New Year!"

I'm celebrating the Jewish New Year this time. That secular one is so decadent.

December 28, 2007 10:50 AM  
Blogger Dana Beyer, M.D. said...

Stop fooling yourself and others into believing that you take the Bible seriously. You're a hatemonger.

The literalists and dominionists control the Republican Party.

No Jew thinks the Messianic Jews are Jews.

You know full well to which sentence I'm referring.

I don't read the Book of Romans, thank you very much.

December 28, 2007 4:29 PM  

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