Advent Series #23
Although I have been up for hours, it has been a relaxing day off. The time has slipped by. While I am off today, I so enjoy writing…and I have missed several days while preparing for the Candle Lighting yesterday…so I thought I would pick up where I left off. Today is the 23rd day of Advent, and we are giving our attention this week to the quality of Love. (More will follow to fill in for the missed days.)
While Love can be an emotion, or a form of intimate attachment and caring for another, we are using this word differently. The mystics of many traditions, cultures and times used the word Love to mean the self-givingness of the All-That-Is, the emanation and expression of the Divine into the infinite number of forms that It takes. In this sense, Love is active; it is a creative process that is forever at work, serving to evolve creation to its next-yet-to-be.
In three days’ time, we will have arrived at the holiday we call Christmas Eve, the night of laboring and waiting for the birth of the Christ child, and the night in which the shepherds in the book of Luke were led to travel so that they might witness this infant. I would like to begin a series of articles that address the two Christmas stories – one in the book of Luke, and one in Matthew. They are very different stories, written by different authors, at different times, and for different audiences. Looking at the two stories separately helps us to round out our understanding of the symbolism offered, helping to find direct application of this ancient wisdom in our lives.
I will begin today with the Gospel According to Luke, the one we are most familiar with. We find that it was written in roughly 85 C.E., and is known in its earliest form from extensive papyri fragments dating to the early or middle of the third century. This Fourth Gospel is often described as a Hellenistic Gospel, having its origins in the Greek culture during the reign of Alexander the Great. “Its dualistic vision of humanity (light and darkness/truth and falsity), its cosmological speculation about truth and light, and its appeal to the figure of the Word, have antecedents in Greek philosophical and religious thought.” (Historical Context for Luke, Columbia University, author unknown) It is believed that the author of Luke was a native Greek speaker who lived in or around Palestine, and that he composed this book from a number of sources circulating in his community. His intent seems to have been to present a complete and well authenticated narrative of the Early Christian movement. His points of focus are the signs, the sayings of Jesus, and the crucifixion.
In the opening chapters of Luke, the author relates a number of stories having to do with the birth and childhood of Jesus, including “the announcements made to Zechariah and to Mary concerning the births of John and of Jesus, and the story of the shepherds watching their flocks at night who came to worship the newborn child. We also have accounts of the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem and of the child being wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. After eight days, the child was circumcised, and later he was blessed by Simeon and by Anna. These stories are not reported in the other Gospels, and we cannot be sure whether Luke learned about them from an older source or from oral traditions.” (Cliff Notes Online) Wherever he got them, they are told more from Mary’s perspective than Joseph’s.
There are some definite differences between the accounts written in Luke and Matthew. Luke says Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, and were made to travel to Bethlehem for a census, although there is no Roman record of a census taken at that time. The city was so crowded that they were forced to stay in a stable as the only shelter available at the time of Mary’s labor. Luke’s account also speaks of shepherds who travel to witness the newborn child. Matthew doesn’t mention the stable at all, as his account implies that the family lived in Bethlehem; and it is in his account that we find wise men rather than shepherds.
My purpose thus far has been to offer a brief summary of the Christmas story as it was presented in the book of Luke, and to give some context. This story is woven deeply into our culture, embedded in our race consciousness, and holds influence in our lives whether we know it or not. And so, perhaps as we approach 2021, it is important for us to hear this story in a new way, a way that is relevant to our lives as we move into a new age…a time of conscious participation in our own evolution and the evolution of the species. Can we hear the messages of this timeless tale in a way that helps us to transcend challenging conditions as they arise…that reminds us who we are here to be, and gives us the tools to assist us in becoming the highest versions of ourselves?
As we listen through the lens of metaphor, we find that each of the characters represents an aspect of our humanity. In this light, I would like to offer some questions for you to ponder as you move into the remaining days of the Christmas Season…questions that may speak to your heart. Are you willing to consider? What if Mary represents a state of purity in mind and heart, and a state of deep willingness and surrender? Keeping our own minds and hearts pure, and surrendering our need for control, might we experience the birth of Christ Consciousness…deep Spiritual Wisdom and Knowing, Power, Strength, Courage, and Love in our own lives?
What if the shepherds represent our thoughts? Keeping our attention and intention focused on the Light…our thoughts, words, and actions centered in the Divinity that we are? Might we experience the birth of innocence, trust, and pure Goodness within ourselves, in our relationships and circumstances? And might we find value in practicing the humility of those who so naturally and willingly allowed themselves to be led in the dark of night?
What if Mary and Joseph represent every human…male, female, or otherwise identified… as we make our way through life? What might we as individuals, and as a human family, experience if we could approached the journey with such patience, presence, determination, humility, gratitude, and faith?
And what if the birth in a stable was meant to remind us that our greatest inspiration can come from the most commonplace of experiences…that God is absolutely everywhere…and that the material aspects of life do not determine who we are to be in the world?
It seems to me that these questions have value. American Philosopher and Spiritual Evolutionary Charles Eisenstein would call the Christian Gospels a New and Ancient Story…that is, they tell the story of the origins of Christianity, an evolutionary movement in religious history. The change in mindset that Jesus required to understand his teachings could be called a first century paradigm shift. It required that his listeners change the way they thought about God. In addition to being ancient stories, we find that Jesus’s way of living…the example he set…has a message for our time. It promotes the continual evolution of humanity. As we read about the life of Jesus, from his conception to his resurrection, Love leads the way. Love…the eternal self-givingness of Spirit, in, through and as Its creation…is the way that we are called to live our lives. In Love’s image and likeness, we are to give of ourselves. Part of what we are asked to give…or give up…is our illusion of control and the comfort that comes from familiarity. We must be willing to change and evolve as we are led into new times and new ways of living together.
Thank you for sharing in these contemplations. There will be more coming your way as we move toward the blessed experience of Christmas. May each of us find new meaning.
Know that today and always, I am here to support you.
Know that today and always, you are stronger and wiser than you know.
May we each live from our Radiant Light…be well…stay in touch…know our unity…and thrive!
And…may we know the Absolute Beauty and Wonder of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day, as Infinite Intelligence continues to pour Its blessings upon our world.
