Deliberately Diverse represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but are gratified by the opportunity to stimulate deliberately diverse discussions in our beloved community.
Today’s column represents the thoughts and opinions of The Reverend Terry Pierce, vicar of St.
James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor, NOT the Taylor Press.
Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Eid Milad Saeid! Frohe Weinachten! Buon Natale!
I am honored to be the writer for today’s Deliberately Diverse column and, in addition to Merry Christmas wishes for those who celebrate with me, I wish a New Year filled with joy for everyone.
What is it that we who call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ are celebrating?
Very simply, we are celebrating the incarnation of God into human life which is represented in our stories and traditions by the birth of Jesus, and we are celebrating the continuing mystery of God’s presence with us, now and in
all time. God is not far away; God’s homecoming is a homecoming into our world – a homecoming that destroys death and renews the world within creation. God comes into our mortality, into our frailty and dwells with us. He wipes away our tears, soothes our grief and heals our pain. We look to the presence of God in our midst and try to live our lives accordingly, in relationship with the mystery, with one another and with all that God created.
The nativity story, when we take our Christmas wonder glasses off, is a story about the pain and difficulty of being human.
We have here a young woman who appears to have broken her marriage contract and a man who would quietly dismiss her rather than reporting her to authorities for punishment. We have an infant, in all its frailty, laying in a manger, fortunate to be sheltered but not born in the kingly regalia of palaces and robes and warmth.
What we have here is all the fear and anxiety that rips through human relationships. What we have here is God speaking into our fraught human existence, saying Do Not Be Afraid.
We are celebrating the entry of God into human life, the glorious, joyous presence of God here, with us. We are celebrating in Christmas – that God entered human life in the frailty of a child, in a relationship broken and reconciled.
We are reminded that we are called to make God’s presence apparent in the world, loving one another and all that God created, ensuring that our neighbors are sheltered, fed, and most importantly, embraced in God’s love.
For this day, and for the coming year, let us put aside our divisions and rancor and care for one another.
