December 2004
If you are reading this page you obviously are connected to the Internet. And, if you are connected to the Internet, you obviously can go “on line” and find out more than you ever wanted to know about the origins and rituals of Christmas: historical, traditional, biblical, cultural, commercial! So, I will not repeat any of that here, except to mention that Christmas was first celebrated as a holy day (holiday) around the year 354 C.E.
What I want to explore here, for myself and for anybody who cares to read it, is my “take” on this special day. Most specifically, I want to address my perception that over the past 25 years or so, there has been a conscious effort to make Christmas less Christian and more universal. It is my perception that it is celebrated more as a day dedicated to “Peace On Earth and Harmony for All” than to the birth of Jesus. Even Hallmark expresses this with a wide range of cards that are politically correct… for everybody!
Whether this comes from a collective desire to create more shopping or a desire to celebrate unity in a world of diversity, it appears to be true. And, do you know what? I’m basically OK with this. I’m basically OK with anything that promotes oneness as opposed to separation. We have only to look at the news to see a world of suffering. And, to those of us who look at things through a metaphysical lens, we recognize the cause of suffering as a belief in separation. So, what’s wrong with this inclusive approach to Christmas? Nothing at all… except…
It does not change or do away with the fundamental purpose of the day. The cards that say, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” are telling the truth. And celebrating in a secular or even a universal fashion does not change this. On some level, any celebration of Christmas means making a decision about Jesus. For some the decision is to ignore him. For some it is to adore him. For the rest, the decision runs the gamut of everything that lies in between: he was a teacher who may or may not have lived; he was a teacher who said some good things; he was one of the world’s Master Teachers; he was the Great Exception, God’s only Son, sent to save a sinful world; he was the Great Example of what all humankind can become; he was the Christ, who came to show us the way to be saved from ignorance and suffering, and to come into a full expression of our own Christ Self; he is with us today, continuing to lift us through the activity of the Holy Spirit. As Charles Fillmore liked to say: Jesus Christ is here now, raising us to his consciousness of oneness with God.
For some, Jesus is a theory, a concept, a philosophical idea. For some, he is a figure of history. For some, Jesus is Savior and Lord. For some, he is all of these and more… brother, healer, way-shower, friend.
I’ve known Jesus all my life. I grew up in a religious setting whose primary emphasis was on his death and resurrection. And then, at a turning point in my life, I met Jesus again, for the very first time and have come to understand that my salvation (wholeness) lies, not in his death, but in his life, including his demonstration of the life that cannot be overcome by death! Like many of you, I sometimes feel that I lived in the days he walked the earth. Perhaps I was one of the women who followed him and who the gospel of Luke speaks of so warmly. Out of a recent imaginative meditation, I wrote this poem ~
Was I there among those women who walked the way with you?
Was I there when crowds came running and you told them what was true?
Was I there to feel your power? Was I there to feel your tears?
Did I have a place beside you in those brief and blessed years?
When I think about your story, I can almost hear your voice.
I can feel your caring presence and I feel my heart rejoice!
Whether then or now, no matter, in my heart I hold what’s true~
Yes, I am one of those women who will always walk with you.
However little or much Christmas means to you in 2004, I encourage you to embrace the spirit of joy and goodwill that pervades the season. And then, to go beyond even this to a place, deep within your heart, where the Christ is always being born.
Have a blessed Christmas!
Janet Bowser Manning
What I want to explore here, for myself and for anybody who cares to read it, is my “take” on this special day. Most specifically, I want to address my perception that over the past 25 years or so, there has been a conscious effort to make Christmas less Christian and more universal. It is my perception that it is celebrated more as a day dedicated to “Peace On Earth and Harmony for All” than to the birth of Jesus. Even Hallmark expresses this with a wide range of cards that are politically correct… for everybody!
Whether this comes from a collective desire to create more shopping or a desire to celebrate unity in a world of diversity, it appears to be true. And, do you know what? I’m basically OK with this. I’m basically OK with anything that promotes oneness as opposed to separation. We have only to look at the news to see a world of suffering. And, to those of us who look at things through a metaphysical lens, we recognize the cause of suffering as a belief in separation. So, what’s wrong with this inclusive approach to Christmas? Nothing at all… except…
It does not change or do away with the fundamental purpose of the day. The cards that say, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” are telling the truth. And celebrating in a secular or even a universal fashion does not change this. On some level, any celebration of Christmas means making a decision about Jesus. For some the decision is to ignore him. For some it is to adore him. For the rest, the decision runs the gamut of everything that lies in between: he was a teacher who may or may not have lived; he was a teacher who said some good things; he was one of the world’s Master Teachers; he was the Great Exception, God’s only Son, sent to save a sinful world; he was the Great Example of what all humankind can become; he was the Christ, who came to show us the way to be saved from ignorance and suffering, and to come into a full expression of our own Christ Self; he is with us today, continuing to lift us through the activity of the Holy Spirit. As Charles Fillmore liked to say: Jesus Christ is here now, raising us to his consciousness of oneness with God.
For some, Jesus is a theory, a concept, a philosophical idea. For some, he is a figure of history. For some, Jesus is Savior and Lord. For some, he is all of these and more… brother, healer, way-shower, friend.
I’ve known Jesus all my life. I grew up in a religious setting whose primary emphasis was on his death and resurrection. And then, at a turning point in my life, I met Jesus again, for the very first time and have come to understand that my salvation (wholeness) lies, not in his death, but in his life, including his demonstration of the life that cannot be overcome by death! Like many of you, I sometimes feel that I lived in the days he walked the earth. Perhaps I was one of the women who followed him and who the gospel of Luke speaks of so warmly. Out of a recent imaginative meditation, I wrote this poem ~
Was I there among those women who walked the way with you?
Was I there when crowds came running and you told them what was true?
Was I there to feel your power? Was I there to feel your tears?
Did I have a place beside you in those brief and blessed years?
When I think about your story, I can almost hear your voice.
I can feel your caring presence and I feel my heart rejoice!
Whether then or now, no matter, in my heart I hold what’s true~
Yes, I am one of those women who will always walk with you.
However little or much Christmas means to you in 2004, I encourage you to embrace the spirit of joy and goodwill that pervades the season. And then, to go beyond even this to a place, deep within your heart, where the Christ is always being born.
Have a blessed Christmas!
Janet Bowser Manning
<< Home