The Spirit of Christmas

            I love the Christmas season - - there is so much joy and giving and loving everywhere you look. I love the bright and festive colors, flashing lights, and the centuries of wondrous music. It is a time of year when people act more loving. I love to buy or make presents for my friends and family. The question is why is this true? Many people's attitudes towards Christmas aren't really based upon their faith. I have Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu friends who still participate in Christmas activities. I know people who don't believe in God at all and still put up a Christmas tree and buy each other presents. Yes, I know atheists who still enjoy having a few drinks and then going Christmas Caroling. What is it about this time of year that attracts people to its festivities whether they believe in its foundation or not? A spirit of joy, giving, and altruism are infectious. We want to be a part of the smiles and laughter. We want to see the brightness in a child's eye and a smile upon their lips. We want to remember our own youth and to recover a sense of play. Christmas brings out our imagination. I always find it amusing when on Christmas morning the children set aside the toys and play with the empty boxes - - imagination. It doesn't take religious belief to imagine Santa Claus and his elves. We watch for the sleigh and listen intently for the sound of reindeer's hooves on our roof. Santa represents the spirit of giving and thus the spirit of loving. In this way Santa actually represents the gift of God's love.

            The birth of Christ was an amazing moment in history. The incarnation of God who is love came to earth. It was God's plan that Jesus would come to earth to acquaint us with God's amazing love. God loves us and wants us to have bountiful lives. God wants us to experience joy, to share in love relationships, and understand what it means to give to one another. For God is the very role model of giving and blessing. This is the root, the foundation of what the spirit of Christmas is about. God's love is the origin of Christmas. Now we know that Jesus really wasn't born on December 25. He was more likely born in the spring, for that is when the shepherds would have been sitting out with their flocks. But the church decided to transform the pagan Midwinter Festival into a Christian holiday. So they selected December 25th as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Midwinter Festival was a wonderful time, symbolically, to choose for such a celebration. December 21, the Winter Solstice, is the longest night of the year and the shortest day. In other words it is the longest period of darkness in the year and the shortest period of light. From that point forward the light increases and the darkness decreases. There can be no better symbol for what Jesus brought to the earth. For in Jesus we find God's light that cannot be overcome by the darkness. That light is gifted to us that we might experience the joy and grace of God's love. No matter what we believe we all enjoy the gift of love. We all enjoy the light overcoming the darkness, good overcoming evil. We all enjoy giving things to the people we love. Therefore, we can all enjoy the spirit of Christmas and at least catch a glimpse of how it began. Merry Christmas!  www.fcccarrollton.org

A Love Relationship

       Everyone wants a love relationship yet they are difficult to find. When we do find love it often ends up bringing more pain than good. Where can we find love that is true and honest? Where can we find love that doesn't hurt? We need love. God is love. God's love is eternal, it never fails. God does not create a 50/50 relationship - God brings 100%. Augustine said that "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."  Nothing separates us from God's love. God does not judge. God does not cause pain. God's love is a gift. If we do nothing in turn God's love is still constant. Open yourself to God and receive the fullness of God's love. You need never feel alone again; you are always loved.

         Wait, you say there is still pain in the world. People are judging people unjustly every day. People are killed, injured, hurt everyday in every way. So how does my love relationship with God exist in such a world? For there to be a true love relationship with God there has to be free will. I have to be free to say to no to God's love for it to be true love. If God forced love on me it would not be love. Because we have free will we are free to make bad choices. Because God respects our freedom of choice God allows us to experience the consequences of our actions. Since all the earth has free will we sometimes reap the consequence of another's actions, a kind of ripple effect. So we don't blame God for the world we have created. We don't blame God for our choices or the choices of others. We can begin to change the world by making good choices and let their effects ripple. Start by saying yes to God's love. Feeling loved helps us feel better and we spread that wealth of love. Make a difference. www.fcccarrollton.org

 

God in a Box

                                           God in a Box

For too long the church and many of its religious folk have tried to put God in a box. They wanted God to be in control and yet they wanted to manage God. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, “In the beginning God created us in God’s image and ever since humanity has been trying to create God in ours”. They wanted God to do what they wanted God to do and so the church created rules and regulations by which God would rule. It was the way the church controlled the people -- by saying,  “We know exactly who God is and so you have to do what we say or God will smite you.” They put God in a box to make God manageable and thus make the people manageable. God is far too large for any box; we have no control over God. One of the gifts of humanity is the ability to live in an intimate relationship with God but we do not understand God completely. God is large enough to individually tailor a relationship with each human being. There are no rules or regulations or dogma that fits every situation for every person. We are unique and by that nature so is our relationship with God. The church "without a box" can help open the door for you to relate to God. However, we cannot tell you exactly what that relationship will look like. We are neither in control of God or in God’s relationship with you. God is love and God loves you and God wants to be in relationship with you but what that relationship looks like will be dependent upon you and God. The freedom to engage in this type of open thinking is why I am a pastor at First Christian Church in Carrollton, Texas, a part of the Disciples of Christ Denomination.