How to REALLY keep Christ in Christmas (and every other day, too)

Turning a Curse into a Blessing

Matthew 5:11-12

St. Augustine gives us the best way into understanding the darkest of the Beatitudes—the end of faith is to become like Christ, so if the world rejects you for your faithful praxis, then you are like Christ. 

I get frustrated with how this Beatitude is misused in American society by people who belong to the Church. Somehow, having to endure the suffering of someone wishing us “Happy Holidays!” is akin to being stoned to death. Somehow, having to recognize and deal with the fact that we live in a pluralistic culture including people from all over the world who are as ardent in their spirituality as we are in ours is being thrown to the lions. No one in America is threatened with death because of their church attendance. No one in America will get rocks thrown at them for mentioning adherence to Christ. And, no, if the Church does what it is supposed to, Christmas will not suddenly become devoid of its spiritual meaning and power. 

The Christian Kurds huddled on a distant hillside, fending off ISIS storming the mount, understand this Beatitude far better than any of us here and now. They would probably be more than ready to swap places any time.

We need to recapture the real and present power of Christ’s final blessing, truly understanding a curse that becomes beatitude. 

The Just Grace Gospel Music Band gives us a remarkable reminder of how to do just this thing on their website—

This idea is also a means to a proper Thanksgiving, too. We see the grace of God every day, but we do not always acknowledge it as we should. Thanksgiving is a celebration of all the benefits and bounty that come through God’s providence. It is pausing to realize we did not make another lap around the sun without God’s presence, possibility, and power. It is pausing to offer full gratitude for the people who make our lives so very rich and full. It is realizing that even in the darkest hour, God’s light shone through tender words, compassionate friends, and the simply presence of the Holy Spirit enfolding us in love deep for words. We celebrate, venerate, and worship Jesus as the Christ because he accomplished every deed listed above in the JGGMB’s poster. 

And the world did indeed reject him, isolate him, and then kill him. 

Why?

I think primarily because we human beings are completely enamored with status quo situations. Life is uncertain, so when we find a modicum of stability, we latch onto it. When someone comes along who asks us to broaden our horizons, take risks, or empty ourselves of our precious stuff, we recoil. That means welcoming the stranger into our midst—shoot, at times, welcoming the strange into our midst. It means abandoning self-justifying judgment of someone lost, blaming them for their condition, and, instead, getting directly involved and helping them be well. It means realizing that nothing we have or hold is ours, but rather is on lease from God who waits to see what we will do with these things. Will we multiply the grace received? Or will we hide that grace away, burying it so deeply we even hide it from ourselves?

Too many of us settle for just that scenario. It is why people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and other miracle workers were perceived as threats and treated as such. They push us to share, to open, to welcome, and to give. We don’t like to be pushed. 

But that is the way of Christ. 

It is wading into a tragedy like Ferguson, Missouri enduring race riots we have not seen in twenty-five years, and calling everyone to stop, repent, and find God. Yes, that means asking the authorities to reexamine an approach that leaves a teenager dead on the sidewalk; and, yes, it means asking those who would riot how that it any way brings compassionate justice into being. 

You begin to see why the world does not tolerate an approach like Jesus’—it offends everybody! 

Yet, it is the way to salvation of the world. It is the ground of a hope that nothing can touch, take from us, or dash. It is a means by which so many of our problems can be solved. It is road to a joy that is inexplicable and immeasurable. It is entrance into the Kingdom of God. 

It is the only way to turn a curse into a blessing.

Fear not! God is with us. Take on the mantle of Christ—be Christ for someone today.

See what happens.