What is your favorite Christmas story? Perhaps it’s a family story, or maybe one from your church’s tradition. Whatever its source, it most likely points in one way or another to the joy and fulfillment that comes from other-centered self-sacrifice and charity.
One such popular story is the one about the 1914 Christmas Truce on the Western Front of World War I. “In the week leading up to the 25th, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce.”
And then they went back to fighting. A fact that personally makes me question whether this story is actually more sad than inspirational. Because in the end it is a stark reminder of how futile our efforts have been at adopting Christ’s message of Love and Charity! Of securing “peace on earth and goodwill toward men”.
Why is this? We all enjoy and revel in the Spirit of the Season. So why doesn’t it ever last? Let me offer my own theory; I believe it never lasts because we really don’t believe it’s true. We have never actually bought in to the Love Proposition. Oh it’s all well and good to be loving and charitable to those we are close to, to those who think, look, and act like us, even to those who are a bit different – as long as they don’t threaten our sense of fairness, pride, or security. But let push come to shove and, faster than you can say “Merry Christmas”, the gloves come off and we resort back to whatever coercive behavior has worked before to eliminate unwelcome threats.
You see, the Way of Love, of non-coercive selflessness, does not come naturally to us. It is totally counterintuitive. And truly accepting it as a way of life represents the Ultimate Paradigm Shift; some have called it Conversion.
Unfortunately, too many of those identifying as followers of Christ have forgotten this and have instead substituted parochial codes of behavior, belief in story details, or verbal shibboleths as signs of conversion. Jesus himself unequivocally clarified this in His parable of the Sheep and Goats. (See the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31-46) According to Jesus, conversion has nothing to do with believing in a Name, and everything to do with believing in what that Name stands for.
Do you like me long for the spirit of Christmas to last all year? Would you like to see lasting peace on earth, in Washington, in your home? If so, then I invite you to seriously consider the Love paradigm so elegantly represented in this Christmas season of giving. How much of your life are you willing to devote to it? That was the question He had for the rich young ruler. And that really is the question each of us has to face.
In that spirit, here are my “gifts” to you this Christmas –
- Watch To End All Wars staring Kiefer Southerland.
- Listen to Jesus for Skeptics by Herb Montgomery. (You can find a link to it on my blog site MaverickGold.co)
- Read The Life of Jesus in The Passion Translation. “As a man thinketh, so is he.” “By beholding we become changed.”
Do this, and I guarantee your next year will be more “Christmassy” that the last.