Merry Christmas

Christmas—western and traditional (orthodox) is my favorite holiday of the year. 

The scant historical evidence strongly suggests Jesus Christ was born in springtime. Muslims believe the Anointed One was of a monophysite human nature (he wasn’t divine). The Quran states Mother Mary gave birth to him under a palm tree. 

What does not change from faith to faith, and culture to culture is the miracle that a young man taught the universality of God’s love, and the rejection of accumulating wealth without social and political justice.

The story of Jesus Christ is perhaps the greatest parable in the Western canon of the power of the oft-maligned professions of teacher (rabbi) and community organizer (messiah). Christ faced down corrupt social institutions, indifferent and unrepresentative government, crushing poverty and a broken justice system that penalIzed women and minorities out of spite and political convenience. Even after an unjust death sentence, he rose again to prove that the arc of history is long—but it will always bend to Justice.

In these trying times where a literal King Herod and Jezebel occupy the White House, we would do well to ponder how we will honor the Christian spirit of the season. 

Merry Christmas.