I
had someone tell me today that they hated Christmas and I must say it
is the first time someone has ever said this to me. It took me
by surprise especially since I know the person attends an Episcopal
church. Perhaps they aren't clear on their understanding of the
significance of the celebration which is a celebration of "the
Christ" ... the Law of Love being realized in the awareness of
mankind. I know that
Jesus was not born on December 25th and I also know that he
wasn’t “the Christ” but I also know that his teachings and
Christ-consciousness can very well help all of us to find “the
Christ” within ourselves. The
American mystic, Ernest Holmes, explained this very simply:
“The
two great teachers of the Bible are Moses and Jesus. Moses taught the
universal law of cause and effect. Jesus tells us of a direct
relationship between God and man. One is not complete without the
other. Both teachings are necessary.” And he further writes: “The
inner Spirit, which is God, bears witness to the divine fact that we
are the sons of God, the children of the Most High. As sons of God we
are heirs to the heaven of reality; joint heirs with Christ. This
means that we are all one in Christ as we are one in God. Christ
typifies the universal Son of which each is an individual member.”
Ernest Holmes’ earnestly hoped and believed that we would all
learn to “evolve” his teachings just as the Master Mind Jesus
taught in simple parables so that the uneducated could understand
profound spiritual laws believed that the enlightened among us would
evolve his teachings as well. To
attach any great spiritual teacher’s philosophy to a religion is
certain to create contradictions; i.e. Christianity has adapted
certain concepts of Plato’s philosophy to their religious tenets
creating confusion. To
understand the “sons of God” concept from Jesus’ teachings we
must understand that the word “son” in the Aramaic language of
Jesus meant “a part of” … and intelligence reveals that every
living thing is a “part of” G-d, not just those of the human
species for G-d is Life Itself.
However, even without a profound understanding of the teachings
of Jesus, his-story can inspire us to reveal more of the Christ within
our own individual soul or consciousness.
The great Dr. Norman Vincent Peale illustrates this in a story
from his childhood: "One
Christmas Eve when I was about 10 or so, my father and I were passing
Burkhart’s Department Store in Cincinnati when a dirty old fellow in
a tattered coat stopped me, took hold of my sleeve and said, “Young
man, give me something.”
I pulled my arm away, gave the man a slight push and walked on,
nose in the air.
My father stopped short. “You shouldn’t treat a man like
that—Christmas Eve or any other time.”
“But Dad,” I said, “he’s a bum.”
“There is no such thing as a bum, Norman,” my father said.
“There may be some people who haven’t made the most of their
lives, but all of us are still children of God.”
Then he took out his skinny old wallet—it never had much in
it—and he handed me a dollar. And he said, “You catch up with that
man. Tell him, ‘Sir, I give you this dollar in the name of Jesus.
Merry Christmas.’”
“Oh, no,” I said. “I can’t do that.” He said, “You
do as I tell you, boy.”
In those days you really minded what your parents told you.
So I chased after the man and said, “Sir, I give you this
dollar in the name of Jesus. Merry Christmas.”
The old fellow was flabbergasted. He took off his beat-up old
cap and bowed to me and said, “I thank you, young sir. Merry
Christmas.”
In that moment, his face became beautiful to me. He was no
longer a bum.
Well, all this happened many years ago, but I remember it
vividly because my father gave me such a clear demonstration of the
new commandment Jesus brought to us.
“Love one another,” Jesus said in John 13:34, No ifs, ands
or buts. No reservations. And that’s how Jesus loved. He loved the
poor, the diseased, the prostitutes, the criminals, the “bums.” He
loved those who ridiculed, hated and abused Him. To me, Christmas is
about that way of loving.
If you are looking for words to
grow on, let me tell you that you’ll never grow taller, nor wiser,
nor more beautiful than when you’re putting those three words to
work. Love one another.”
The
Christ-spirit within us can be compelled to be revealed from within us
in many ways and we don’t have to be religious for this to be true. Whether we get our inspiration from Jesus, Buddha, Krishna or
Paramahansa Yogananda, matters little, what matters is how we
translate this inspiration into the actions that we take in our life
experiences. And the
season of Hanukkah and Christmas give us plenty of opportunities to
experience the Christ-self of us.
It is a season of giving and most of all a recognition that
there is Something more to us than mere flesh and bones.
It is a time to extend our heart and our spirit to those we
know and to those we don’t know. It is a time for sharing not only things of a material nature
but those things of the heart; kindness, empathy and love.
This story is from a sermon Dr. Norman Vincent Peale composed in 1970:
“One
Christmas Eve over 35 years ago I was in Syracuse. People of the
church were distributing big, bulging love-motivated Christmas baskets
to poor families in the neighborhood.
All but one basket had been delivered and I offered to take the
last one. It led me into a strange adventure. The home proved to be
little more than a shack at the rear of some rundown tenements. An
obviously overworked young wife admitted me.
I could see she had been scrubbing the family clothes in a
steaming old-fashioned washtub. On a shabby couch sprawled the young
husband, obviously deep in his cups. The wife followed my glance.
"He is a wonderful man," she spoke defensively. "If it
wasn't for that one weakness he would go places. And he will...he
will."
Her voice ended in a choke. On the wall, surprisingly, were two
excellent paintings which appeared quite out of place in the
surroundings. They pictured a dignified and obviously outstanding
couple. "They were his parents," she explained, "who
were good New England people. He wouldn't part with those pictures
even if we starved. I guess they represent his hold on life, on hope
maybe."
I gave the basket to the young wife, wished her a Merry
Christmas, and determined to help that family in a more creative way
than just a Christmas basket. Next day, Christmas, I dropped in to see
these people again and had a pleasant visit. The following Sunday they
showed up at church and kept on coming every week.
I stopped by the day they moved into a simple but nice home. I
must admit I choked up a bit when I saw Fred carrying those two
portraits into the new house. It was July when they made this move,
but it did not seem at all incongruous when Fred said happily,
"Merry Christmas!"
Why not? It was on Christmas that life began to be merry for
this nice family."
What Dr. Peale gave to this family was far beyond the
human-judgments that we see evidence of in our world today.
Most people, including most ministers, preachers, priests and
rabbi, would have had little empathy for this young couple which
appeared to be a hard-working woman and a drunken husband.
Far too many of us would have dropped the basket off and
dropped any concern about them from our mind.
Yet, it is the Christ that would compel us to put away our
judgments and to give more of what Dr. Peale gave them; dignity,
respect and worthiness.
Let us think of the indwelling-Christ as we read these words
from Psalm 51:10 from the ancient wisdom:
"Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me"
... and let us add, "as
I recognize the Christ in me at Christmas and throughout the New
Year."
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the
faith!
Rev.
Henry Bates
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