Why celebrate Christmas?

Like many modern Christians, I no longer believe that the historical Jesus was born of a virgin birth, nor that three wise men followed a special star to come and worship a baby born in a manger, etc. I do believe, however, in the idea of incarnation. That God dwells in each of us - without exception, and that for me is a miracle. That you and I, and our most annoying companions on this journey of life, we all have both good and evil in us.

That is why the story of Christmas is resonating with me this year. I can celebrate the story, not because it really happened in history, but because it points to a concept that amazes me.

Harold Clinehens, Jr., says, "The miracle of the Incarnation is not that Jesus comes to the rescue when violence or catatastrophe threatens to overpower us; it is that it is made complete in our transformation. When people like you and I begin to find the will to make deep changes in our lives to fulfill the longing for peace and simplicity and holiness, that is Jesus' life lived in us."

And this passage from Tom Erlich:
" I imagine God as a keeper of to-do lists. Probably several of them. In all likelihood, God's attention wanders over a vast landscape. I don't see God's to-do lists as plans -- activities that must occur and outcomes that must be achieved -- but as desires that engage creation in a dialectic. ...
What was Mary, then? The very center of creation, the pivot on which all history turned, a lens into the entirety of divine history, as an ambitious Church would assert? Or was Mary an item on God's to-do list? "Who will bear this child? Ah, a young girl in Galilee said Yes. Her partner agreed. Now, to whom shall my angels announce this birth?"
The point of such an imagined to-do list isn't to minimize God's intentions, but to get ourselves off the pedestal. God's intentions are so much larger and deeper than anything we can imagine. An entire creation is at stake, not just a small tribe of Hebrews or latter-day Christians.
Rather than rob the Incarnation of its power by portraying it as small enough for us to schedule, ritualize and dogmatize, maybe we should rejoice that we exist on God's to-do list, be glad for those who say Yes to God, and imagine what else is on God's lists."
Back to the dream idea of previous posts....
Merry Christmas!

Dreams

A while ago one of my posts consisted of asking myself, "What is my dream?" I probably didn't explain myself well -why concern myself with my dream? Well, Tom Ehrich states it well in his medication of today. He says, "For it is dreams that truly compel us. Not rules, not laws, not the serene certainties of religion, not work assignments, not contracts, and certainly not compulsion by threat, reward or grim necessity. It is dreams that get us out of bed and into the world, out of isolation and into relationships, out of selfishness and into kindness, and out of despair and into faith. The most wonderful thing a parent can do for a child, or a partner for a loved one, or a manager for an employee, or a friend for a friend, is to encourage dreaming. The unkindest cut is to stifle another's dreams by ignoring or dismissing them."

San Xavier Mission

This is one of Richard's best photos yet!