The Reality of Telling the Greatest Story
We are all part of a story – a VERY long story. I am of half-Irish heritage so I love to tell stories. I am still mourning the loss of Jimmy Buffett who was a great storyteller, and who has inspired me in many ways. As he reflects on his passion for telling stories, mostly through poignant ballads, a line from one of his songs about story telling is, “…but the life and the telling are both real to me.”
I would like to tell a story that is very real to me. It begins before any of us can imagine. It begins before any person or thing. It begins with the love of God. God’s love was the first energy of all existence. It is that from which we all are. God’s love is the foundation for ALL of us – EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US. NO EXCEPTIONS OR CAVEATS!!
God’s love was made manifest in creation and the first two chapters of Genesis give us slightly different God-inspired versions from which we can appreciate and respect all that was and is created.
Creation connected humanity and divinity because it roots us in God. However, being human, we are all flawed, as is creation. Nothing is perfect in life, but as the Angel Gabriel tells Mary as a part of his announcement to her that her Son would be the eternal King, “Nothing is impossible for God.” God’s creation gave human life endless possibilities.
The story continues with both possibilities and flaws of life. People fought with each other. Some people gravitated to power, violence and greed. Some gravitated toward peace, harmony and compassion.
Along the way, humanity never lost track of our rootedness in God’s loving gift of life – we just forgot it sometimes. From that forgetfulness came different perceptions of God, violent disagreements about God. In addition, that forgetfulness led to some seeking power over others and the unbelievable flaw of slavery.
From slavery came a desire for freedom. The enslaved sought a better way of life, one of promise and possibility. Charismatic leaders such as Moses and Abraham led those enslaved to a land of promise. During the long journey to a new way of life, some grew weary, others doubted, still others turned away from that which was leading them the whole time – God. At that moment, God reached out a hand to all humanity and humanity took God’s hand. This DEEPLY spiritual gesture sealed a covenantal connection between God and us. We can’t get rid of God and God can’t get rid of us.
When these historical people finally arrived, many who followed them forgot the promise, the journey, the covenant, and other nations conquered them. A similar pattern is part of our United States history. We broke away to a new land to form a new nation. The journey traversed sea not desert, but was a long one nonetheless. Four score and seven years later, we fought between ourselves and ALMOST destroyed the promise and the dream.
Such promise and tragedy seem to be playing out in our world now. We are fighting about the identity of God and forgetting our rootedness in God.
In history, a little over two thousand years ago, I believe that God was pacing the floor of heaven and watching this drama unfold. I believe God was, and is, perplexed by the flaws of humanity, but out of love constantly gives us new opportunities to renew the partnership of love generating new signs of hope. I believe God’s dream for humanity is for ALL of us to live out of the instigating love of all existence.
In God’s perplexed, even agitated and certainly disappointed state, I believe God came to the point of calling out in desperation, “What do I have to do to show these people that I love them?” Then quickly following said, “I know, I WILL BECOME ONE OF THEM.”
And so, God gave humanity not only a gift but THE GIFT OF HIMSELF. The Christ child was born in our midst, in history but also again and again and again, as many times as our forgetfulness leads to flawed responses, and even more often to God’s partnership with us fulfilled in the flesh of the Christ Child given to us for all eternity.
May this Christmas be a renewal of the love covenant of God for you, and those you love and extend to all humanity, flaws and all – love and all.
Merry Christmas!