But for Bethlehem…

Posted on December 23, 2014 Updated on December 23, 2014

Bethlehem. A small obscure town from antiquity chosen to play a starring role in God’s masterpiece: Peace on Earth. 

Christmas means different things to different people. Not a new thought, nor original. Our nation has granted us this privilege of difference, or as some would insist, the right. The conflict between sacred and commercialized Christmas has been a mainstay in our culture. I have witnessed each side insisting on their viewpoint, often demanding they be heard like a child insists on getting their own way.  This “shouting in the rain” is part of our heritage as a nation. We get to choose. We get to be heard. It’s almost as if the cessation of conflict would be abhorrent to us, undemocratic in some measure. We have the right to be different so we insist on it almost naturally.

We all have seen abuses on both sides. Things done in the name of “rights” and things done in the name of “Christ”. Just because we say it is in the name of something doesn’t make it so. And just because we say it louder doesn’t make it more true. I think we justify ourselves by doing this. We enable ourselves through this deception to actually do harm. Then… we play the democracy card to put the final stamp of approval on it 

This is who we are as a people. We fight. We insist. We claim our rights. We push our agendas. We scramble to make a way to live our lives the way we see fit. We hurt others who disagree or get in the way We make laws to force people to comply. We shout down the opposition. We make things “politically correct” by way of the masses to ensure our dominance. We neglect, belittle and bully. We hate. We say, “This is our right.” We even do all of this over Christmas.

It’s sad to me, but not unexpected. After all we are people. This is what we do. We shouldn’t be surprised that when left to our own devices this is the best we can come up with to function. Left to ourselves we will only be as good as “we” can be. We have nothing else other than ourselves as a resource.

As a nation we are a mere two hundred something years old. In the vast span of man’s history this is nothing more than a blink of the eye. We are powerful. We are self-sufficient. We are self-governing. We are self-based. It’s in the constitution. I get my way. I have my rights. I am my own master. It’s what we do and who we are as a people.

As a family who does celebrate Christmas, we have never separated the sacred from the secular. We have enjoyed both sides of this event. There is nothing like watching the kid’s faces as they come into the room and see the presents around the tree on Christmas morning. We love gathering together on Christmas Eve and reading the Christmas story from the Bible. There is both a Christmas tree and manger scene in our home. We use wrapping paper that has Santa and the Three Wise Men on it.

I think about all our divisions and rights to things as people. I think about our abuses.  I think about us being “self-made” It would really make me sad, and hopeless…but for Bethlehem. The answer to the questions,  “Is this all there really is to life?”, and “Are we really alone in the universe?” have already been answered before we asked them. This is not all there is….there is: Peace on Earth. There is Bethlehem, and we have never been alone.

Merry Christmas to all of you and your families.