Christmas Eve
To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to kneel at the manger and gaze upon that little baby who is radiant with so much promise for our world today.
—Brian McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking
Brian McLaren invites us to see the birth of Jesus as the dawning of divine life and aliveness in creation:
Do you remember how the whole biblical story begins? “In the…” And do you remember the first creation that is spoken into being? “Let there be…”
On Christmas Eve, we celebrate a new beginning. We welcome the dawning of a new light.
A new day begins with sunrise. A new year begins with lengthening days. A new life begins with infant eyes taking in their first view of a world bathed in light. And a new era in human history began when God’s light came shining into our world through Jesus.
The Fourth Gospel tells us that what came into being through Jesus was not merely a new religion, a new theology, or a new set of principles or teachings—although all of these things did indeed happen. The real point of it all, according to John, was life, vitality, aliveness—and now that Jesus has come, that radiant aliveness is here to enlighten all people everywhere.
Some people don’t see it yet. Some don’t want to see it. They’ve got some shady plans that they want to preserve undercover, in darkness…. They don’t welcome the light, because transparency exposes their plans and deeds for what they are: evil. So they prefer darkness.
But others welcome the light. They receive it as a gift, and in that receiving, they let God’s holy, radiant aliveness stream into their lives. They become portals of light in our world….
What do we mean when we say Jesus is the light? Just as a glow on the eastern horizon tells us that a long night is almost over, Jesus’ birth signals the beginning of the end for the dark night of fear, hostility, violence, and greed that has descended on our world. Jesus’ birth signals the start of a new day, a new way, a new understanding of what it means to be alive.
Aliveness, he will teach, is a gift available to all by God’s grace. It flows not from taking, but giving, not from fear but from faith, not from conflict but from reconciliation, not from domination but from service. It isn’t found in the outward trappings of religion—rules and rituals, controversies and scruples, temples and traditions. No, it springs up from our innermost being like a fountain of living water. It intoxicates us like the best wine ever and so turns life from a disappointment into a banquet. This new light of aliveness and love opens us up to rethink everything—to go back and become like little children again. Then we can rediscover the world with a fresh, childlike wonder—seeing the world in a new light, the light of Christ.
Reference:
Brian D. McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation (Jericho Books, 2014), 79–80.
Image credit and inspiration: Maciej Wodzyński, untitled (detail), 2020, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Both the summer daisy and the winter freeze exist as exhalations of God, each a shining expression of the divine unfolding—from the cosmos to the incarnation of Jesus.
Story from Our Community:
My closeness to Nature has grown into an awareness of oneness with Nature. My God consciousness has also grown. No doubt they have grown together. Nature is a form that God takes, and that includes the forms we call rocks, plants, animals, and us as persons. Everything is essentially good and sacred. It is in ignoring that, separating God and Nature, that we miss the mark and create all kinds of problems.
—David D.
