religious @ 20 Nov 2006 05:21 pm by DrBill
           As we approach this most holy of seasons for Christians, it is a time for reflection … a time to be thankful for the many blessing. But in times of peril, and peril abounds, many of us ask: thankful for what? For instance as we celebrated the survival of a son from a war zone last year, we lost a 34 year old sister-in-law to a car accident this year. She was on her way to work. No car bombs, no snipers, no mortars … merely a motor vehicle accident. But that ‘mere’ accident took the mother from a family of 7, the youngest not even 2 years old. Within two months of the loss of their Mom, those kids lost two grandparents. That followed two other tragedies which, if I outlined you was simply say I was exaggerating … but to say the least those kids are confused and reeling this Holiday Season. Were it not for their Dad, and his faith, strength and undying love they would have lost hope. Yet even with that instilled hope, one of the questions they will be undoubtedly ask this Holiday Season: “Is it okay to feel warm and fuzzy, excited and grateful when just a few months ago they lost their Mom?â€Â That will be their guilt speaking, the same guilt that we have all felt at a time of loss. We are asking ourselves, ‘What about the person who isn’t here? Should we, can we ever, feel happy without them?’ As I joined those loved ones in grief I could not help but ponder: how could this be? Who is in charge of this crazy world … is it really an all loving Creator God or is life merely chaos and chance as we are taught in public school?Â
          Then I add my personal sentiment … how about those who are not returning home from Iraq; or those who have lost limbs, psychologically effected, as well as those refused proper celebration for their unquestioned heroism by a misguided minority mocking them … is that the sign of a loving God … how could this be?
           My Marilyn has not had an easy year, four more surgeries just to get her pain into the ‘bearable’ category … just last week the final two. Then there’s a sister with multiple serious illnesses in her family, the recent loss of her husband, and a geographic move which separated her from her grandchildren … another with a broken heart and serious disease … and I ask are we worshipping the right God? How could we, they, feel thankful? Maybe the skeptics are right, life’s a bitch and then you die.
But then I remember … I remember the old, old story … the one that we celebrate this season. The one about a king … the ultimate king, the Creator God … with ultimate power, yet who condescended to be born of a virgin? Can you imagine? I’ll bet the rumor mills were flowing in those days. After all the punishment for adultery two millenniums ago in the Middle East was death … for the woman. And who was going to believe this young emotional teen named Mary who claimed that she had never been with a man … certainly not a pragmatic carpenter named Joseph … or would he? After a dream, or vision, or hallucination … depending on your view … he became convinced that his betrothed had indeed been impregnated by none other than the Holy Spirit … God Himself. That was just as the prophet Isaiah had predicted some 400-600 years before … he, Joseph was to be entrusted with raising the incarnate God. So, as the story goes …this baby was born not in a castle with private nurses to make certain He would be safe and free from disease, but in a stable with only that carpenter and, talk about unsanitary, animals and their deposits as witness. Can you imagine taking your infant to a barn and wrapping him in dirty rags, then placing him in a feeding trough rather than a crib? Not my grandchildren … never … but that was the way the Christian God chose to enter His creation. No fanfare, no baby showers, just shame and poverty … something to which any would be able to relate, no matter the society, no matter the time, no matter the culture … and perhaps that is why Christmas has been feared over the millenniums.  It was as if the creation was allowed to see the entrance of the Creator into the material world … in the most humble of manners … from an innocent teen, a single Mom for all intent and purposes, the Christian God descends and condescends from the thrown of the Universe to this parlor of punishment.
           But we humans fail to grasp the rational for the incarnation … because we fail to grasp the reality of death. We fail to understand that death merely separates us from eternity. And that is in no small part because we fear the unknown … and make no mistake … death is the ultimate unknown. Although we cognitively understand that we must pass through the valley of death … and that only our faith can see us through that passage … we fear our faith will falter. Moreover, that voyage will be taken by each and every one of us … at an uncertain time for most … all alone. But for the Christian, it will be a voyage accompanied by our God because He Himself has faced death … and will face it with us if we but choose. The miracle of this season is simple; yet profound for those of us in the Christian faith … God came to us so that He could accompany us over that chasm between humanity and deity. To worship a God who so loves us that He gave His only Begotten Son, to not only be born in the most humiliating of circumstances, but give His life in a blood sacrifice as atonement for our sins … is more than I can contemplate … more than enough reasons to be Thankful (“Rebirth Pains†WD Bellavia).
Therefore, this is the season to reflect … are we worshipping a loving God or not? What do you think? I have come to the conclusion that it is very, very …oh so very simple … you see when we loose whoever or whatever is so precious to us, we reveal our faith, not our God. One might ponder is thanks ever really meaningful when all is right with the world, or is it only sincere when the world seemingly has walked away? I can only hope your faith is enough to restore the joy deep within your soul, no matter the circumstance. My faith has been more than enough to nourish me as I gratefully and wondrously worship the God of love and the God of my choice in a nation that is hope, and allows even such as I to worship, express, and give thanks … even in times of vulnerability. I hope that you experienced a blessed Thanksgiving and allow me to be amongst the first to wish to you a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah