December 20, 2024

 Spirit of Christmas  

1. Using our PRC (physical-rational-choice) triad, we can use reason to contrast the physical and spiritual Christmas.

(a)  The Physical Christmas:  There is an emphasis on giving and receiving physical gifts.  They may be placed under the boughs of a tinsel-laden tree with lights.  People will come together to share traditional food, drink, and music specifically linked to the occasion.  Hugs, even if gratuitous, are generally welcomed.  Houses of worship will offer professional-level performances of scripted music and prayer.  And, there are main street parades capturing the imagination of the spectator crowd.  Santa Clause’s will be everywhere bringing the message of hope that he will bring gifts to “good”—but not “naughty”—children. 

Peace is the experience of being merry while others agree to do the same.  Grouchiness is to be set aside and caricatured as something only embraced by those who refuse to be merry.  As a holiday, people are paid for not working or paid several times normal pay if working.  After Christmas, the gifts, music, and merry making are put aside.  After-event let-down is replaced with thoughts turning toward the next holiday—New Year’s Eve.     

(b)  The Spiritual Christmas:  Human life is encompassed within each individual’s conscious experience.  It’s spiritual, personal, and private.  Sharing one’s personal experience with another is the only gift that is uniquely human.  Whenever an individual is moved to share thoughts and feelings with another, there is the spirit of Christmas.  Rather than discarded after a few days, this gift of sharing one’s self can occur anytime during the year, and its significance can continue to grow year after year—as the giver matures and the receiver matures to form an enriched context for interpretation.  As for children, they can give adults the gift of trust and good faith—even when being told about Santa.  Peace is experienced in line with an individual’s sense of personal integrity and one’s integrity with others.  The spirit of Christmas is when individuals share who they are with others.   

 2. There is the story of Christmas and Jesus. Old Testament writings describe a Christ who would guide the Hebrews (Jews) to the fulfillment of their contract (covenant) with God.  By their own account, when they took property and material goods from others they would claim that God gave it to them.  When they killed others, they would praise God for the victory.  Jewish leadership rejected Jesus as the Christ and brought about his death.  A few Jews accepted Jesus as the Christ, and along with their followers were called Christians.  Given that no two Christians would have exactly the same belief regarding Jesus, a sense of cohesiveness was achieved using rituals—particularly centered around Jesus’ birth and death.  Today, there are as many beliefs about Christianity as there are Christians.  Perhaps helpful is to group Christians according to our  P-R-C triad.  Prosperity preachers emphasize the physical benefits of worshipping Jesus.  Groups such as Catholics and Protestants emphasize a particular rational ideology regarding Jesus with consequences of hell or heaven.  All are serious believers in their perspective on Jesus, and are willing to kill non-Christians and even other Christians as a demonstration of their loyalty and belief in their perspective regarding God.  Traditional Jews and traditional Christians can both be seen as choosing to not embrace a spiritual message.  For a spiritual message we can look to what were reportedly the words of Jesus.  

 3. The message of Jesus can be seen from the recollections compilations of those who reportedly spent time with him.  Thus, the information we have is hearsay in that there are no records of Jesus writing anything.  It can be seen to follow that the words of Jesus must be interpreted by the individual reader.  The focus can be seen as on the message of Jesus rather than his birth and death.    Arguably, that message was one declaring that individuals could have a direct relationship with God, and Jesus reportedly described how such a relationship would be experienced.  The good news was that any individual could get alone and turn one’s thoughts to God.  Hundreds of years earlier, Jeremiah (Jeremiah, 31:34; c 627 BCE) had described such a relationship between God and the individual.         

4. Who are the Christians? The short response is whatever the leaders of your particular religious order say they are.  Historically, we can see the Catholics fought with Protestants.  Roman Catholics fought with Eastern Orthodox Catholics; Eastern Orthodox Catholics fought with Moscow controlled Catholics.  All consider themselves Christians.

 As for describing Christians, I like the testimony of Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson.  At a time when he was being accused of not being a Christian, an infidel, and howling atheist, he replied:  “Say nothing of my religion.  It is known to my God and myself alone….to the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.  I am a Christian in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others….”  [The Jefferson Bible, c 1803, Preface] 

5. There can be hope with a belief in a creative Force giving rise to human experience—whether called God, Jehovah, or some other name—such a belief can give hope  to individuals seeking to find integrity within their own experience as well as in their relationships with others.  Organized religion, for the most part, can be seen as separating individuals from a spiritual relationship with such a Force.  It can be seen to follow that if there is no relationship with God, individuals will turn to religious leaders who claim to have knowledge of such a Force.

Anticipating the next posting in about 10-20 days with the topic: “Nature’s God”