“Each year, Christmas invites Christians to reject violence and war, to break with the betrayal of past Christian history, and to start over again on the journey of nonviolence in the footsteps of the nonviolent Jesus. Christmas is a celebration of nonviolence, pure and simple. It invites us to repent of violence and choose once again Jesus’ way of nonviolence. It summons us to name warfare as obsolete and get on with the work of practicing nonviolence in our personal lives; joining the global grassroots movement of nonviolence for disarmament and justice; and institutionalizing nonviolent conflict resolution. Christmas calls us to a high ideal: the abolition of war itself, and along with it, the abolition of poverty, corporate greed, racism, executions, empire, fascism, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction. This goal is achievable, if we want it.”—John Dear
A few years ago, this icon by Kelly Latimer caught my eye and my heart and we bought it. It hangs in our study where we can remember the truth of this holy season.
One Christmas Eve (approximately the year 2000) in Las Vegas where I was stationed with the Air Force my family and I attended a service at one of the local Presbyterian Churches (USA) congregations. Before the beginning of worship a man came into the sanctuary and went up and laid down by the Nativity. He lived on the streets and evidently didn’t “fit in” with the congregation (he would have been welcomed by the members and the pastor of Central Presbyterian in Mobile, AL where we worship and serve the unhoused community and others in need today). Anyhow, back to the Las Vegas church… an usher went up to the front of the sanctuary where the man was and escorted him out of the church. I looked at my wife and son and said, we’re leaving, how could we worship in a sanctuary where Jesus wouldn’t have been welcomed?
Sadly, in 2025 the act of kicking Jesus out of the sanctuary is even more relevant. I see his face in the faces of the victims of the immoral actions of this administration. According to some who claim to follow Jesus, these actions are sanctioned and supported.
So once again, as I did last Christmas, I share Merton’s piece as both a reminder and a warning.
Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it — because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it — his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected because they are regarded as weak; and with those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, and are tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst. — Raids On the Unspeakable, p. 72-73 and A Thomas Merton Reader, p. 365
Who will you welcome to the Lord’s table? In whose eyes will you see Jesus? Are we, dear reader, willing to do the work of Jesus and the prophet Micah? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
I think that we have hardly thought through the immense implications of the mystery of the incarnation. Where is God? God is where we are weak, vulnerable, small, and dependent. God is where the poor are, the hungry, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, the powerless. How can we come to know God when our focus is elsewhere, on success, influence, and power? I increasingly believe that our faithfulness will depend on our willingness to go where there is brokenness, loneliness, and human need. If the church has a future it is a future with the poor in whatever form. Each one of us is very seriously searching to live and grow in this belief, and by friendship we can support each other. I realize that the only way for us to stay well in the midst of the many “worlds” is to stay close to the small, vulnerable child that lives in our hearts and in every other human being. Often we do not know that the Christ child is within us. When we discover him we can truly rejoice.
Verse of the day
Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
– Luke 1:78-79
Voice of the day
We, too, are made of wonders, of great / and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds, / of a need to call out through the dark.
– Ada Limón, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”
Prayer of the day
Light of the world, illuminate us on how to walk a path of peace that incorporates our distinct sense of wonder.
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”—CS Lewis
“You can only live in one moment at a time, and you cannot think simultaneously about listening to the waves and whether you are enjoying listening to the waves. Contradictions of this kind are the only real types of action without freedom.”—Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
These words of Thomas Merton spoke to my heart today. Yesterday we celebrated the life of a dear friend and brother of mine. Love was central part of who Dan was and how he lived out his faith. He spent his career as a lawyer fighting for those who were being oppressed by the system. He wasn’t in it for the money, rather he was trying to make a difference in this world one life and one relationship at a time.
No true Christian can safely face the Last Judgment with the self-satisfied conviction that it is “somebody else” who is wicked, and that certain “other people” are foredoomed to be among the goats. If we are members of Christ, then we must live as members of Christ. We must be like Him Who came not to condemn man in his misery and confusion, but to enlighten him and save him. (p. 142)
Instead of living in a spirit of arrogance and condemnation, perhaps those who claim the name of Christ could live in a spirit of love and light. I see far too many practicing the former and calling themselves Christians. I find myself more often than I would like jumping straight into anger and condemnation when I see what is going on around me in this country and world. It takes a very intentional effort on my part to stop myself from going down that road and instead to live as a Christ follower. Dan lived that way in a humble and selfless manner. As someone said after his Memorial service yesterday, we need more Dan’s in this world. I wholeheartedly agree with them ♥️
“If access to health care is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?”—Dr. Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
“From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up to the Pharaoh.”—Rosa Parks
“I am convinced that even violent temperaments can be channeled through nonviolent discipline, if they can act constructively and express through an effective channel their very legitimate anger.”—Martin Luther King Jr.
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