the word becomes flesh. . .

Greetings. . .

It's the time of year when--like it or not--I find myself thinking of Christmas. There's a part of me that would very much like to talk about commercialism, marketing, and general aggravation. However, recent conversations have got my mind moving in a different direction.

Whether you celebrate Ede, Channukah, Kwanza, Christmas, or the Solstice, it's a powerful time of the year. At this point in the year, the darkness that has marked much of our day begins to recede. The implications of it all are getting harder and harder--for even this self labelled curmudgeon--to ignore. Being a self proclaimed atheist, it might be surprising to many that I choose to focus on the image of Christ to frame my thinking, but I can't think of a more fitting image.

In the Gospel according to Luke an angel appears before an assembly of shepherds. The angel proclaims, ". . . be not afraid, I bring you glad tidings. . . a child is born today. . . " In that beautiful literary moment, tragedy and pathos, humanity and frailty, tragedy and potential are all married in the person of the Christ child. If there's a twist to the story; it's that the Christ child is fated to be a redeemer, a sufferer, a rejoicer, and ultimately a sacrifice.

Does the Christ child have a peculiar patent on suffering, redemption, joy, and death? No.

As the sun returns to the Earth and darkness recedes from our day, I offer you my glad tidings. Our own births are as sacred as our own suffering, joy, and death.

Sacredness demands reverence. . .

We all have the seed of redemption within us. Thus, along with the joy of a newborn day. . . I offer you my reverence. . . My offer, however, contains a challenge. That we all become more mindful of the sacredness of our own lives; including our suffering, our joy, our mortality, and our redemption. My hope is that I can become more mindful of the sacredness that resides in all of you.


--peace