Chaplain's Corner

This past year has been in one way a most horrifying one. The daily news outlets regale us with stories of the atrocities that people commit against one another: terrorist bombings, domestic violence, murder, child abuse, kidnapping, questionable police shootings and people murdering police. Many have taken to turning off the news especially stations like CNN, I hardly blame them. There is a certain overload and vicarious victimization that comes from hearing about these horrific events but having no way at all to respond to them. Some even develop an awful sense of foreboding, wondering when something like this might happen to them or happen here.

We can especially feel this way as the carols, stories, movies and sentimental TV shows that are part of our Canadian Christmas culture begin to be played. The angelic message from Luke’s account of the Christmas story rings a bit hollow, “Peace on earth, good will towards men.” But we may take some comfort in knowing that the year Jesus was born in Bethlehem was no less shattered by chaos and cruelty than is ours. Human history is in one sense the story of humanities atrocities against itself.

Hallmark and Hollywood create beautiful images of family reconciliations, strangers showing kindness to strangers, and the human generosity. Not that these don’t exists, but the sad truth is that the not the norm. Many people approach the season with dread, afraid of what hornet’s nest will be stirred up by some unintended offence or worse, what targeted attempt to embarrass or put down will disturb this year’s family gathering.

Many will come to the end of the season grateful that it’s over for another year and burdened with a new set of resentments created by insensitivity, carelessness and cruel behavior. Some will chose to spend the holidays alone for the pain of loneliness is far more desirable to them than the pain of being hurt again by family and friends. As you read these words, images of some of your more regrettable Christmases may be welling up within your memory.

I might turn now in an attempt to convince you that things are not quite that bad, but we all have the capacity to pretend, we need little help with that. Instead I want to turn into the wind of the upcoming Christmas storms and ask the question “Why? Why do we torture ourselves with everything we hate about the season? Why not seek to move into a way of celebrating, or not for that matter, that has more integrity, that will see us into January not wishing we could have skipped December altogether.”

Now I know there are some among us who love everything about Christmas, but there are many who have deep struggles with so much of it. So, own who you are in relation to this holiday. If you love it – revel in the season but if others around you haven’t been blessed with happy feelings around this holiday, don’t make it your aim to drag them kicking into the celebration, respect them enough to give them their space, their feelings and their perspectives.

Christmas, in reality was about the execution of God’s plan to intervene in the chaos of humanities atrocities against each other, whether they be family dysfunction and pain or greater in scale. The “peace on earth good will towards men” that the angels announced was not at all a universal declaration but a message of hope. The hope begins internally, within us when we embrace Jesus for who he is and trust completely in what he did for us. Under those conditions this inner peace and a supernatural good will towards others can become our personal experience.

Perhaps one of the reasons the birth of Jesus happened so quietly and privately was to help us understand that Jesus work always begins quietly and privately within us; believe me – I have experienced it myself.