A Mysterious Note

Late last night, I stepped out onto the porch to turn off the Christmas lights I had just finally installed and there lay a mysterious envelope addressed to one of my children. I placed it on her placemat to find at breakfast and went about my evening. This morning she opened it and discovered it was a Christmas card from her best bud, a beautiful young devout Muslim girl.

These two girls could not possibly disagree about more. They believe different things about politics, faith, the Rona, you name it. And they know this...it comes up sometimes, and they talk about their disagreements on occasion. But it is not their focus. They simply play together and enjoy the things they do have in common. This is nothing short of miraculous these days. A Muslim girl placed a Christmas card on our porch. She didn't stop to consider whether it appeared that she was somehow condoning some theological point she may not agree with. She did not stand in an offended posture declaring to us that we need to say "Happy Holidays" because she doesn't celebrate Christmas. She didn't harp on what the news might have to say about any of it. She simply loved her friend. Her friend who is different and yet so much the same, in all their shared humanity. She found the one thing she could agree with, a shared desire to see her friend have a wonderful day, and shared her greeting with us.

Wow!

I have been reading a book called Immortal Combat: Confronting the Heart of Darkness by Fr. Dwight Longenecker. He has been present to many exorcisms and has a unique view of the darkness within, as he has battled against the demonic face to face. In it, he is using the imagery of old literature to describe the evil we face today, the possibility of it that lurks within each one of us. This book is not for the faint of heart, yet applies to us all and explains so very much of what is happening in the mob mentality of today, the divisions, etc. (and I'm not just talking about politics here, that is only one arena where this happens). There is the idea that we can no longer generally tolerate opposing ideas and must squash all such things and even the people who hold those opposing views. He makes the strong argument that the sacrificial systems of old that sought a scapegoat and performed blood sacrifices of innocent victims are not as dead as we might think, and that Jesus is more relevant and needed than ever. He refers to Power, Pride and Prejudice as the chief sins, things that are so well hidden within us, by so cunning an enemy, that many of us live unaware that we too can fall prey to these things. It is not the sins of the flesh that reside in the lowest levels of hell, but the refusal to ever admit one could be wrong, the cool maliciousness and calculation of people who live a lie (thankfully not all of us fall into this latter category). It is hard to read and it is stuff all over the pages of Scripture. But when spelled out all in one place within the current context, is hard to hear. Simply because as he breaks down how all of this happens, how all the divisions happened and continue to proliferate, I see it in myself, too. I see it in all of us. Our condition is so utterly hopeless on our own. Even the best among us have this disease of sin and brokenness lurking within, however big or small that may be at the moment.

Yet, God did not leave us there. He sent a solution. He Himself entered into our messy human condition and gave Himself in our place to bring us freedom from this awful fate and enslavement. He defeated death and broke the power of sin over us when we accept this free gift of His grace and healing. It seems, as I am reading Fr. Longenecker's description of the old sacrificial system and Jesus' work of redemption, and thinking over my own faith life, the Scriptures, and the state of the world, that the way he describes it, in a nutshell, is that Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice so that we could stop sacrificing each other on the altars of our false gods and ideologies, and begin to find peace with God and each other.

Jesus loves us with a heart that is both human and divine. There is never a single moment since the time of our conception that we have ever been alone, unloved or unknown in this world. He just invites us to hand these things to Him...our tendencies toward power, pride and prejudice, and let Him create a new heart and mind within, in the context of relationship with the very One who made us, and in loving those around us, His body on earth. He came in the form of the most vulnerable among us to be for us Emmanuel, "God with us." He longs to walk with each one of us so that we will never be alone.

I am reminded this morning of Matthew 18:4 NASB....

"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

I wish you all a peaceful and joy-filled Christmas this year, and many blessings in the new year. Peace be with you.

Photo Credit: Vintage RS, Stocksnap.io