The tree has been kicked to the curb, shoved in the closet or sunk in the pond. The lights have been retangled. And, most disturbing to my friend EC, the soft rock stations are back to playing the NOT Christmas Mariah Carey songs. It's over. 12 days. Done. And it's not like there's anything excited coming up. Yay! Presidents' Day!
It is complicated to live in the space between "every word of Scripture is absolutely true" and "the Bible is bogus" during the Christmas season. On the one hand, there is no Christianity without Christmas. No faith at all. The incarnation (in-carn-ation; becoming in-fleshed) is a necessary component of the process of salvation. The incarnation is irrational. The divine becomes human-it is totally wild, but, by definition, faith has to be part irrational. On the other hand, magic stars? Pregnant virgins?
And then there's the Scripture itself. Two gospels give the birth story, two do not. The two that do, Matthew and Luke, hardly agree on any detail.
Matthew: Angel appears to Joseph, no census, no inn, no manger, no animals. The story of Herod's pursuit of the King of the Jews. The visit of the "wise men", no number of men, just number of gifts, and no "kings".
Luke: Angels appear to Mary, Mary's friend (not brother or uncle), and the shepherds. This is the census, trip to Bethlehem, the inn and the manger (still no animals).
Neither version lists December 25th as Jesus' birthday, probably because the calender we use today didn't exist.
The truth (remember: I whole-heartedly believe the truth of Scripture, just not the facts) we can take from the birth narratives given in the Bible is Jesus is the incarnation of God (Word, Logos, Christ) born for the salvation of the Jews and Gentiles alike, of all people, rich and poor, everybody! Matthew is very concerned with sharing the Gospel with the Hebrew people AND the Gentiles (non-Hebrew people), which is why he included the "wise men from the East", probably not of Jewish heritage. Luke is principally concerned with bringing the Gospel to the marginalized people, the poor, the women, which is why he included the shepherds and conversations between Mary and Elizabeth.
So, conclusion number one: Jesus was clearly born (we have sources outside the Bible that speak of a powerful prophet and leader named Jesus from the same time as the Bible says he lived), probably in Joseph's hometown Bethlehem, and probably not on December 25th. Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the whole world, east to west, wise men to poor shepherds. (This is the belief part) Christmas is a celebration and commemoration of the power of God's grace through the incarnation.
I've been thinking about The Letdown. That moment when we wake up and realize that Christmas is over and it is, in fact, still winter.
I think the letdown is primarily because the cultural, secular Christmas season goes away. The Santas, the elves, the radio stations...it all just stops. And we've been bombarded with the Santa and Rudolph version of Christmas everywhere we go since the day after Halloween and then...it's gone. Still winter, still cold, still grey, but not Christmas.
But there's no date in the Biblical accounts of the Christmas story and there's no end to the incarnation. The incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth is not an event that happened. Just like the Christian church has taken the celebration of Easter and created symbols of the resurrection every Sunday morning (set up as "little Easters" by the early church) and really with every new sunrise, maybe it's time that we remember the birth of Jesus, and with it the incarnation, all year round. Every day you wake up as a human being, you are a celebration of the incarnation. Every second of every day that human beings walk in this world, we are connected to the kingdom of the divine through the full personhood and full divinity of Jesus.
So conclusion number two: the incarnation-not the mixture of two Biblical accounts, early Christian traditional accounts and totally fictional...um...fiction accounts-but the mystic, mysterious, infinitely powerful TRUE incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth is eternal. The inevitable letdown that comes after the Christmas season is understandable in cultural terms, but in spiritual, theological, ecclesiological (church-y) terms, it's kind of not needed.
Live your Christian, Christmas, incarnational identity every second of every day.
Merry Christmas, Brad
P.S. I was hoping I was easing into this kind of thinking, but I've already lost a reader after one essay. If you disagree, disagree. But ask me why I think the way I think and, please, understand why you believe what you believe. Also, I miss my seminary community and the conversations we had, so PLEASE guys, ENGAGE!
Alright, I'm just going to agree with you, although I think I would use less harsh/blunt of language in the process. Although, I would add that Logos Theology is definitely a construct in John, which don't mention in this post. The youngest of the gospels and least historically reliable (although of course are any of them historically reliable in today's terms?), but most theologically thoughtful yet least open to Jews.
ReplyDeleteAll and all, I'm with you, so boring comment.
Thought-provoking, deep and insightful comments, my friend. This is the comment equivalent of the Charlie Brown adult voice. It's like you're not getting enough sleep or something.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I do wonder what you thought was harsh. This is me holding back.