For those of us from the west or who derive from a western Christian experience, Christmas is a holiday of celebration, giving and family. Certainly, the giving aspect has become dominate outside of faith circles, but I am not exploring the area of crass mercantilism. Among people who hold onto remnants of tradition, the history Christmas lies in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth some two thousand years ago. Yet the heart of Christmas lies in something far more transcendent. The spirit of Christmas lies in the hope for eternal healing. This hope transcends western experience.
Since starting this blog, its been visited several thousand times, with nearly thirty percent of visits from outside the U.S. So, many of the visitors have lived outside a western experience. I offer to all of us that when I search out the heart of this holiday, it remains something far more significant, more ethereal, more transcendent than gifting, receiving, and family gatherings. Christmas represents our search for meaning; a meaning that includes rising above the depravity of pain and suffering.
The pain in my back and upper chest reminds me of the surgery and the days of suffering afterward. As the scar begins to fade and the pain abates, my suffering from the events seven weeks ago will become a fading memory. Throughout this experience, I have reflected on people I know who suffer far more than me due to man's depravity. Boys who have been forcibly conscripted into horrible wars before puberty, girls raped due to ethnic violence, children born into an environment of dirty water and dysentery, and starvation only to name a few.
Christmas represents the eternal hope that this experience is a comedy; that in spite of all man's depravity, this thing we call life all ends well; that Shakespeare and Dickens got it right. "God bless us every one! said Tiny Tim, last of all."
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