Every year churches at Christmas time celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, but what is the meaning of this story for our postmodern times? I think that is a key question these days for often we, as pastors, retell the Christmas story in the ways we have often told it in the past. But today's world is very different then the world I grew up in. If we took seriously our postmodern times, how would we tell the story differently? Here is my response to that question. Here is a picture of a red hot coal. When we are born, we, as babies, are like a hot burning piece of coal that brings light, heat, love, etc. to all who encounter us. This past week I was with my two nephews and I was reminded again about how much God’s spirit is present in a purer way in young children. One could say that this child-like soul is the virgin state of the human soul. In this context, the word virgin means uncorrupted, undefiled, pure, natural, and original. Above, we see a virgin forest, an old growth forest that has never been logged by humans. Below, we witness virgin snow, pure white snow that has not been touched by acts of human or nature. When we describe the state of the human soul as virgin, we are referring to the parts of the human soul that have not been distorted or contaminated by the fallenness of our human world or family of origin. This part of our soul, the deep part of our soul, is still in its original childlike state. By that, I mean that this part of our soul is responsive, open, trusting, loving, gracious, and potentially able to manifest all the different fruits of God’s spirit. This part of our soul is responsive to all the different ways the "Holy Spirit can come over it and overshadow it" (Luke 1:35). As a result, the spirit of God is able to become incarnated in our soul and body causing us to become the hands, feet, voice, and presence of God to others. When we are in touch with this virgin part of our soul, one could say that our soul is on fire with the spirit of God like a hot glowing coal. This is our virgin soul state. But if we are not nurtured by love and all the qualities of God's spirit within our life, part of our soul cools off losing its ability to love and be spiritual. And if our soul is not surrounded by other souls influenced by God’s spirit, the Divine spirit within our soul eventually becomes dormant; not dead, just dormant. One could say that our hot piece of coal becomes cold, dark, and hard like these pieces of coal. When coal looks like this, what happens if you blow on them? Will these pieces of coal light up and resume burning? Nope. Not possible. What if you throw a lit match on this pile of coal? Will it catch fire? No. Not possible. How does one get this pile of coal burning again? By introducing to the pile one or more red hot coals and eventually the other coals will begin to warm up and catch fire…if the conditions are right. What I have just described with coal is one way of understanding the whole meaning of Christmas. As the gospel of John describes in its first chapter, the whole world was in darkness---badly in need of light, love, and all the other qualities of God’s spirit. But how does one cause a pile of cold black coal to light up, to wake up and rediscover its original purpose to burn and bring light and warmth to its environment? By placing a hot brightly burning piece of coal in the centre of the pile of coal---like this. This is why the incarnation was necessary…why it was crucial that we, as humans, experience God in human form. Through us encountering the heart of God full of love and compassion, through the human heart of Jesus and other people like him, our hearts begin to burn within us…with this same love and compassion. Through encountering the mind of God full of truth and understanding through the human mind of Jesus and other people like him, our minds begin to open up to the same truth and understanding. Through encountering the power and strength of God’s presence through the human presence of Jesus and other people like him, we begin to experience this same spirit of strength and power within us. Through God becoming incarnated in the human Jesus and others like him, it makes it possible for each of us to incarnate this same spirit of God within our own lives, in the same way that a fully lit and heated coal transforms all the pieces of coal touching it. This was God’s plan of how to bring healing and salvation to our world but God needed someone with a profoundly virgin soul. In fact, God needed more than one person. God needed two persons, a mother and a father, both with virgin souls who would be receptive, open, and adaptable enough to the purposes that God had for the world with their special child. Two human virgin souls that were full of God’s life-giving spirit so that they could provide the home that this special child would need...to be and become a profound life-giving soul to the world. Within the Bible, there is story that highlights the virgin nature of a teenage girl named Mary (Luke 1: 26-38). Within the Christian tradition, we often highlight the physical interpretation of virgin, but Mary also had a virgin soul, a child-like soul that was pure, uncorrupted, and open to surrender to the influences of God’s spirit…a soul that is willing to allow “God’s holy spirit to come over it and allow the power of the Most High to overshadow it”. As a result God’s spirit was able to become incarnated in human form…in both her but also, in the conception of a human baby who would be named Jesus. The Bible informs us that this child "would become great and would be called the son (a manifestation) of the Most High." We see Mary’s virgin soul most clearly when she responds to God’s invitation with these words, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you said.” This is what led to the famous birth of the Christ Child some two thousand years ago. Today, our world is in probably as much darkness now as it was 2000 years ago when God came to Mary and invited her to take on her special role. We have so much darkness building in our neighbouring country to the south that it troubles me: the new tax cuts for the rich, the changing of the internet rules so that the free market system around supply and demand determines how much I pay to access web sites, the 40 million people who will lose their publicly funded health care, the total disregard for truth and scientific research, and the list goes on. But I am also troubled by what is happening within my own country …how our lives are getting faster and busier and more structured by technology, work, and the decisions we make. Such an environment does not support spiritual or faith formation that happens through the activities of contemplation and other spiritual formation practices that allow us to slow down and reflect on our life experience including the movements of God’s spirit in our life. Such an environment does not support intimate times with family and friends or times of rest where we can be intimate with oneself. Such an environment does not support volunteering and being sensitive and responsive to the needs of others. Life is just too busy for these time-consuming activities that nurture the virgin parts of our soul and others, those deep parts that retain the pure, childlike aspects of God’s nature within us. As a result, many people opt for forms of escapism that are less time-consuming but also less life-renewing. What happens to people and families when their souls are not longer nurtured well by their culture and society and they are no longer able to nourish their spiritual divine nature? Will many of these coals, which symbolize individual souls, lose their life giving glow, lose touch with their virgin parts of their soul, and become dormant again? This is the place I fear our culture is moving toward…if not already partly there. This reality of growing darkness in our world also points to the role that church and other religious and spiritual organization have in our times. What would it look like for these organizations to claim or reclaim their role of creating settings where people’s souls are nourished and nurtured in the ways that are necessary for our postmodern times? What would it look like for them to create settings where they help people experience the wind of God’s spirit blowing on these people's souls in ways that cause their spiritual coals to burn brighter? That is my prayer this Christmas as I look into the new year. Questions to ponder:
1. What does Christmas mean for you? What parts of the Christmas story connect for you? Which parts don't? 2. What parts of your soul are virgin, that is pure and true expressions of your Divine nature? When do you connect with these parts? How do they make you and others feel? 3. What people or settings feed the spark within you that cause your soul/coal to burn more brightly? How could the Spirit of God/Christ be incarnated in these people/settings? 4. What aspects of your culture, work environment, and/or family diminish the spark in your soul and cause your soul/coal to cool and deaden? 3. As you look into the new year, what changes are you led to make with your life and priorities?
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