CHOOSE

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

 

________________________________

 

 

sorry Norman

but you’ve really got it wrong

Christmas does not make the world softer or more beautiful

 

Christmas, the advent of God was not

Soft and comfortable

 

Ask Mary, pregnant and unwed at 15

Oh yeah!  Right!  Easy, cool, special

Well, it was special, but it sure wasn’t easy

 

Joseph

I don’t even want to go into that mess

poor Joseph who had to choose to stay or go

support or condemn

who had to choose to step back and silently protect

 

then we have dirty shepherds attending a birth in a manger

and an angry, paranoid king

and babies being murdered

 

we have aliens arriving

and a family fleeing, immigrants fleeing death

 

Christmas is real, very, very, real

 

when God came it was difficult, challenging, and costly

and people were confronted with a choice, every single one of them

Mary had to choose to say yes

and Joseph too

 

the shepherds had to choose to leave their sheep

the magi had to follow the star

 

Herod, paranoid and wanting to keep his power

had to choose to listen to the scriptures, or not

to accept or resist the arrival of a new King

 

later the disciples would have to choose to drop their nets and follow

or not

 

the rich young ruler would have to choose whether to keep his money

or give it away

 

Pilate had to choose

the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees had to choose

soldiers had to choose

tax collectors and other assorted “sinners” had to choose

all those Jesus met, rich, poor, Jew, Samaritan, Gentile

had to choose

 

to listen or not

to hear or not

to follow or not

to change or not

to be healed, or not

to love, or not

 

in the end, that is the one choice

to love or not

to go with the way of service and love

or not

 

choosing to buy into the strategy of God as revealed by Jesus

is no small thing

 

when we choose between Jesus and “not Jesus” we are choosing between

essential selfishness and generosity

fear and trust

exclusion and inclusion

cruelty and kindness

apathy and empathy

guns and children

profit and generosity

money and people

lies and truthfulness

businesses and the planet

                                             

there is cost here!

and sacrifice

and we are being asked to abandon one kind of power, the power of domination

for another kind of power

the power of service

 

but the reality is that the baby of Christmas

demands a choice

 

we are there

in the manger

staring down at a pink and wrinkled infant King

what choice do we make?