the Gift

They came from the East bearing gifts;  but the One they came to honor was the greatest gift of all.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Can we imagine a world as described above?  Probably not.  And most likely we should not expect it anytime soon.  Back in the 1960s, when life was young and irreverent, my contemporaries who had taken time to read the Revelation of the Bible would exclaim,

“Cool, far out, that dude John must have been on some kinda awesome drugs.”

Drugs indeed.  In my generation drugs, alcohol and sex were the answer to all of life’s problems.  We proclaimed it on the streets and in our music.  That was the world in which we lived.  Many stayed there, some died there, but God, for unknown reasons, brought a few into His world of forgiveness and grace – a place where all the sorrows and pain still existed, but we now had the tools to co-exist with death and heartache living life abundantly.

That is what the ‘greatest gift’ given to us in the teachings and words of Jesus, the Christ, is all about.  The world is what it is, always has been a violent, miserable place and probably always will be.  But, now we don’t have to wallow in it.  We have a place to go deep within and commune with a God who wants peace and brotherhood for all mankind.  That light we experience within can defeat the darkness surrounding us.  Like Jesus, we were born to live it and share it.  Black, brown, white, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, male, female, gay, straight – all were invited to the table set by the birth of a baby in Bethlehem two millenia ago.  I’ve been invited, you too.  C’mon, let’s party hearty over the birth of the Good News!  AMEN.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 🙏❤