"We see what we know how to see. We also see what we want to see. Those limitations keep us from finding what we need." Monica DiCristina
Today I saw our UPS driver for the first time since the holidays. He asked "Did you have a good Christmas?"
I say yes because I think that's the right response. It's definitely the easy response. The "yes you can go on your way" response.
I'm not sure what defines a "good Christmas." If you ask most kids, the immediate thought is "did they get a gift they loved?"
So, yes I received a thoughtful gift.
If you ask most adults, you're asking "did you spend time with people you love?"
So, yes I spent time with people I loved.
Sometimes Christmas becomes this checklist. Did I go to all the things? Did I prepare all the meals? Did we show up for all the events? Was there magic made by December 25th?
So, yes. Gifts were bought. Events were attended. Magic was made.
This year I raised the bar in what I asked of myself mentally. I challenged myself to dig deeper into the advent story. I challenged myself to attend church all of the services during Advent. I challenged myself to wrestle with the story of advent in the contextually appropriate historical and cultural context.
I realized this year that Christmas is this challenge.
It is this opportunity to pause for a moment and look at the biblical story of corruption in power, of discrimination against the immigrant, the deep divide between the wealthy and the poor. The damage done when an empire is run by egotistical fear.
When we tell the Advent story in children's plays - no one plays King Herod.
King Herod's role and the subsequent role of the Magi are interconnected.
We leave him out I think because it's not pretty.
It causes us to look in the mirror.
If we only leave the "good characters" in the story, we look in the mirror and see only the good.
If we are challenged to look at the people in power, we might find a glimpse of ourselves in them. We might have to reckon with some unpleasantness amongst the lights and pretty wrapped gifts.
I think we would often like to have the AI version of Christmas. The one cleaned up, brushed off, made to look like an "All American Christmas."
Mama Warriors as you begin (or continue) to take down the decorations (unless you are Episcopal/Anglican and those babies stay up until Epiphany), I hope you hold a bit of the Christmas story year round.
I hope you feel the need to wrestle with and to think about ALL the characters in the Christmas story.
I hope you use each character as a mirror.
When you read these bible stories with your kids, ask the question- Whose story is being told? Whose is missing?
