[Salon] Christmas: A Message Of Unity In A Time Of Division

CHRISTMAS: A MESSAGE OF UNITY IN A TIME OF DIVISION
                                                      BY
                                ALLAN C. BROWNFELD
————————————————————————————————————————
Christmas 2021 comes at a time when our society is deeply divided. Our political parties no longer view themselves as engaged in a common civic enterprise but increasingly view those of the other party as “enemies.”   On Jan. 6, those displeased with the results of the 2020 presidential election invaded the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to alter the election results. The Capitol has not been assaulted in this way since the British invaded it during the War of 1812. As one who worked in the U.S.Capitol for many years, I felt this attack upon our democracy very personally.

We say that our country is one based upon Judeo-Christian values, yet the fabric of our lives often mocks such a declaration. It seems that our genuine values—-the ones we really adhere to in our lives—-are hardly the ones to which we give lip service.

The extraordinary malice felt by many Americans toward those with whom they disagree on various political questions—-from health care to immigration to the level of government spending—mocks the moral standard enunciated by Jesus which Christmas celebrates. Jesus urged love not only for those with whom we disagree, but even for our enemies. Consider his words and how few of even those who proclaim themselves to be Christians adhere to them.

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus declares, “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” In Luke 6:28, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” In Matthew 7 12, “In everything, therefore treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the law and the prophets.”

Christmas is a time for contemplation of the meaning of life—-and of our own lives—-and of seeking our answer to the question of what God expects of us. Even many who proclaim themselves to be Christian fail to understand that the view of man and the world set forth by Jesus—-and the one which dominates in the modern world—-are contradictory. It is important to remember that Jesus’ teaching in this regard is a continuation of Judaism’s prophetic tradition and has been incorporated in Islam as well.

In his book “Jesus Rediscovered,” the distinguished British author Malcolm Muggeridge, who had a religious conversion while preparing a BBC documentary about the life of Christ, pointed out that the desire for power and riches in this world—-a desire to which so many are committed—-is the opposite of what Jesus commanded. Indeed, Jesus was tempted by the Devil with the very worldly powers many so eagerly seek:

“Finally, the Devil showed Christ all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said: ‘All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomever I will give it.’ All Christ had to do in return was was to worship the donor instead of God—-which, of course, he could not do. How interesting, though, that power should be at the Devil’s disposal, and only attainable through an understanding with him! Many have thought otherwise, and sought power in the belief that by its exercise they could lead men to brotherhood and happiness and peace; invariably with disastrous consequences.”

Finally, Muggeridge points out, “Always in the end the bargain with the Devil has to be fulfilled—-as any Stalin or Napoleon or Cromwell must testify. I am the light of the world, Christ said; power belongs to the darkness.”

Speaking of his own time, Muggeridge who died in 1990, and with whom I shared the pulpit at the National Presbyterian Church to celebrate the life of our mutual friend, the writer Freda Utley, notes, “The parts of the world where the means of happiness in material and sensual terms are the most plentiful—-like California and Scandinavia—-are also places where despair , mental sickness and other 20th century ills are most in evidence…As Pascal points out, it is part of the irony of our human situation that we ardently pursue ends which we know to be worthless.”

Our society, once motivated by a view of a God-centered universe, now has other values. Malcolm Muggeridge lamented, “I firmly believe that our civilization began with the Christian religion, and has been sustained and fortified by the values of the Christian religion, by which admittedly most men have not lived, but to which they have assented, and by which the greatest of them have tried to live. The Christian religion and these values no longer prevail, they no longer mean anything to ordinary people. Some suppose you can have a Christian civilization without Christian values. I disbelieve this. I think that the basis of order is a moral order; if there is no moral order there will be no political or social order, and we see this happening. This is how civilizations end.”

And yet, despite all of this, and the growing intolerance we see in our public life, there is a spiritual yearning in our American society, a feeling that things are not what they should be, growing dismay with the insults and mockery some in our political life wield against those they view as adversaries. There is a growing desire to set ourselves and our country on a better path. Christmas speaks to that spiritual vacuum in our lives—-but only if we will listen to its message.

G.K. Chesterton, discussing the message of Christmas wrote, “…there is a quite peculiar and individual character about the hold of this story on human nature; it is not in its psychological substance at all like a mere legend or the life of a great man. It does not in the ordinary sense turn our minds to greatness;   To those extensions and exaggerations of humanity which are turned into gods and heroes, even by the healthiest sort of hero-worship.”

In Chesterton’s view, “It does not exactly work outwards , adventurously, to the wonders to be found at the end of the earth. It is rather something that surprises from behind, from the hidden and personal part of our being; like that which can sometimes take us off our guard in the pathos of small objects or the blind pieties of the poor. It is rather as if a man had found an inner room in the very heart of his own house, which he had never suspected; and seen a light from within. It is as if he found something at the back of his own heart that betrayed him into good.”

A key question for Chesterton was, “How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it?” His sense that the world was a moral battleground, wrote his biographer Aliza Stone Dale, “helped Chesterton fight to keep the attitude that has been labeled ‘facile optimism,’ so that he could never recover the wonder and surprise at ordinary life he had once felt as a child.”

This holiday season we would do well to reevaluate the real gods in our lives and in the life of our country. Our health and that of America May depend on such a genuine celebration of Christmas.