CHRISTMAS: A CHANCE TO BRING A DIVIDED NATION TOGETHER
BY
ALLAN C. BROWNFELD
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Christmas,
2022 comes at a time of increasingly sharp political division within
the American society. The assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
by those unhappy with the results of the 2020 election is only one
example. Increasingly, members of our political parties view one
another as “enemies,” rather than fellow Americans engaged in the common
enterprise of government. As a result, democracy itself appears to be
threatened.
We say that
our country is one based upon Judeo-Christian values, yet the fabric of
our lives often mocks such a declaration. It often seems that our
genuine values —-the ones we really adhere to in our lives—-are hardly
the ones to which we give lip service.
Christmas
is, of course, many things. It is a season of celebration and family
reunion, a season of merriment and good cheer. More than this, however,
it 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. Jesus told his followers to love their
enemies. In today’s American society, people express hatred and
contempt for those with whom they disagree on tax policy or immigration
or environmental policy. And in the midst of their intolerance for
disagreement they often call themselves “Christian,” even “Christian
nationalists,” making a mockery of religious labels.
This
point was made eloquently in the book “Jesus Rediscovered,” published
in 1969, by Malcolm Muggeridge, the distinguished British author and
editor. Muggeridge, who had a religious conversion while preparing a
BBC documentary about the life of Jesus, 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 of us 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 whomsoever I will give it.’ All
Christ had to do in return 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.
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 darkness.”
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, there is a spiritual yearning in our American
society, a feeling that things are not what they should be, a desire to
set ourselves and our country back on a better path. Christmas speaks
to that spiritual vacuum in our lives—but only if we will listen to its
message.
The spirit and
message of Jesus should unite the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. Muslims respect and venerate Jesus and consider
him one of Almighty God’s greatest messengers to humankind. And Jesus,
many forget, was not a Christian, but a Jew. Rabbi John Rayner, for
many years the leading voice of Reform Judaism in the United Kingdom,
notes that, placing aside the Christian theology which emerged after the
death of Jesus, “Jesus was a Jew, in every sense. He was born of
Jewish parents. He was circumcised…He received a Jewish education…the
prayers he prayed were Jewish prayers. Above all, the religious beliefs
and values Jesus affirmed and taught were those of Judaism.” In Rabbi
Rayner’s view, the Lord’s Prayer is thoroughly Jewish, as is the Sermon
on the Mount.
Discussing
the message of Christmas, G.K. Chesterton 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.”
Chesterton
points out that, “It does not exactly work outwards, adventurously, to
the wonders to be found at the ends 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.
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