I don’t imagine many will read this blog this night. We will all be wrapped in faith, family and friends.
There will be on this night, one of the darkest nights in the northern hemisphere, candlelight services demonstrating how the Light of heaven came to earth.
There’s a big billboard on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel entering New York City that shows the three wise men, Joseph, Mary and Jesus in silhouette against a bright blue background. Across the top in big letters are the words, “You KNOW it’s a myth,” with the tagline, “This season, celebrate REASON.”
News coverage has shown travelers giving it mixed reviews. Some want it taken down. Others feel everyone has a right to their opinions.
Do you even care what the American Atheist Association has to say about our faith? Thought so . . . me neither. Still, I like the idea of celebrating reason.
In my lifetime, I have been asked for reasons. I have been asked how there can be a loving God in heaven while people freeze to death this night. How can there be a giving, compassionate God in heaven while innocent people continue to suffer due to warfare, famine and natural disasters?
The reasoning behind such questions? God has to take care of everything for us.
The first time I was asked if I knew that December 25 is not really Jesus’ birthday, I did not know this; but that didn’t make me question my faith, either. I studied and learned how the Roman church selected the winter solstice as the time to remember the birth of our Messiah—along the way, more than a few indigenous customs (such as decorating evergreens) got appropriated and reinterpreted to enhance a limited and challenged understanding of what God-made-flesh to be killed and then resurrected could mean.
I am so grateful that God was made flesh. I don’t understand it, but I am grateful for it. It tells me something about our possibilities, particularly on this night of lights, song and sweet story. As it has also been written: If the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in you . . . Well, wow!
Merry Christmas!
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