FREE KINDLE FOR PC

FREE KINDLE FOR PC
So you can read my books

Monday, December 15, 2014

THE LIE OF CHRISTMAS MAGIC?





Some say Christmas has never been magical, not even from the beginning.

We tend to overlook that the Holy Birth occurred in Bethlehem because of an act of oppression, and the threat of violence,

 when a man and woman were forced to travel from Nazareth to their ancestral home 

by the decree of an occupying army in the final days of the young woman’s pregnancy.

And, although we tend to be only vaguely aware of it, the massacre of innocents is woven inextricably into the story.

Only three days after Christmas Day, on Dec. 28, the Church’s calendar remembers the other children of Bethlehem,

the ones left behind when Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt for safety following an angelic warning, 

the ones slaughtered by King Herod in a fearful rage.

Magic in Christmas? 

No matter how much we might like to make it so, magic was not prominent in these events.

Though we may rarely come to terms with it, 

the Christmas story begins and ends in violence.

We should not be surprised.


We should not be surprised that the incarnation of good, of which the innocence of all children reminds us

is not received either warmly or passively by the presence of evil.

Sometimes that evil finds its expression in armies of violence, sometimes in greed and fear and power,

and sometimes in clouds of darkness that overtake and consume those among us most vulnerable

to delusion left to their own devices by a society deaf to the needs of those without power: the old, the mentally ill, the poor.


The thought that there is no magic in Christmas might even do some good:


Magic too easily lets us off the hook for the role we are called to play in the story,

the story of goodness being birthed in the world, 

the story of light that the darkness would overcome, the story of innocence confronted by evil, the story of Christ.


No, there is no magic.

What there is is an age-old struggle with evil that comes in many forms.

Christmas comes into play, 

not because it represents even a temporary respite from reality, 

but because the birth of incarnate love lays bare the reality 

that it is the evil that does not belong here.


The birth of incarnate love lays bare that the slaughter of innocents in whatever form, 

child or adult, finds no place, no home, no tolerance, no business as usual in the world of which God dreams.

And once we are robbed of the magic of Christmas, we begin, maybe, to grasp its reality.

The reality is that the birth of the Christ child does not cast a magical spell rendering the presence of evil ineffectual.

It does not relieve humankind of the hell-before hell we have made of this world. 

Rather, it invites us to participate in its redemption.

The birth of the Christ child is not a tool for us to use, like sorcerer’s apprentices, 

magically relieving us from doing the hard work that needs to be done. 

It is a call to action.


God has entered the world in a profoundly real, not magical, way. 

And that in this particular child, Light has come into the world,

 and the darkness did not, and will not, overcome it.


{Tomorrow:  
BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS}



9 comments:

  1. On 60 Minutes tonight there was a segment on the slaughter of innocents in Syria. It was hard to watch, and a hard reminder of how much work we have to do in this world that is without magic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow that was an interesting read, there is magic from within... :) have a great one, sorry my visits are more scarce... my thoughts are still the same. You are a great friend with great writing... all the best and happy everything in the new year.

    Jeremy

    ReplyDelete
  3. So true, "It is a call to action." It's easier to just sit by and be, but that's not our calling.

    Roland, have the best and Merriest of Christmases. I enjoy your posts so much. See you next year.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Participate in its redemption - I like that. We need to, since we are the ones who messed it up in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is a beautiful way to look at it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The 'Magic' is in his vicarious life, and death.

    Sorry I haven't comented in a while. I have been trying to keep up reading your post. This one was great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Helena:
    Knowing that The Father sees all -- it is hard to understand why He hasn't wiped the Earth clean of Man long before now. Sigh.

    The Magic may be in His restraint and in His Children trying to bring some light in the darkness.

    Jeremy:
    Happy Everything with you, too, in this New Year. The Holidays drain me as a rare blood courier. I spent most of the day just sleeping, healing from the weekend! I am glad you are my friend!!

    Teresa:
    Don't tell me you are not visiting again this December! You have the most healing of holidays, too! We are fellow soldiers in an ancient war. :-) Thanks for saying such nice things about my posts.

    Alex:
    Yes, we participate in the world's heartaches, so it is only fitting we try bandaging its wounds, isn't it?

    Taryn:
    Thanks so much for saying so. :-)

    David:
    I have missed your visits! It pleases me very much that you liked this post. Have the merriest of Christmases and a truly better New Year!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Christianity is paradoxical in nature.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
  9. Janie:
    As is all reality if you think about it. Happiest of Holidays!

    ReplyDelete