what are we celebrating on christmas?

i have had 2 thoughts on this that have brought me delight.

1. last week in the christian science bible lesson i read "jesus was the offspring of mary's self-conscious communion with god." (Science and Health 29:32) it struck me that there was an "offspring" from this communion. then it dawned on me, this communion with god took the place, in this case, of physical human sex in creating a child. now, physical sex is a materialistic symbol of real communion, one idea interacting with another in the most intimate way. and when this intimate sharing takes place, it brings forth fruit! if it is spiritual sharing it brings forth a beautiful, new, amazing spiritual idea. the more purely spiritual the interaction between ideas, the more powerful, individual, and useful the fruit it produces. i think of this all the time in making art or writing music. where do these "children" come from? these songs and paintings come from my intimate communion with the spirit of love, adventure, insight, creativity, etc.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines communion as "The act or an instance of sharing, as of thoughts or feelings." mary "communed" with god, and there was an outcome! an amazing outcome. therefore, when we commune with god (share thoughts or feelings - and in this case to share with god probably means holding them in common, not so much telling god our feelings) there must be an outcome. it MUST bear fruit! this caused me to think of all the good that can come forth from our heart's communion with infinite Love.

for all the time, energy, thought, and media spent on sex, we will certainly bring real LIFE to fruition more and more to the degree that we seek this spiritual intimacy - spiritual communion. and when we see the amazing fruits, the delight, the salvation that it brings forth, it makes it much easier to seek.

we are celebrating the gifts, the amazing fruits (an orange in your christmas stocking!) that come forth when mary, and all the rest of us commune with god.

2. have you ever been grumpy and mad and all you wanted was for some special person to come and tell you its all ok and try to get you to be happy again? i have. and i have found that sometimes that person comes, and sometimes they don't. but! god did.

angry, impatient, hungry humanity is like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, waiting outside the party, grumbling. in that story the father, comes right out to the son and kindly speaks with him, entreating him to come into the party. its just what we all would hope for if we were the older brother. jesus, the "only begotten son" was, on the mega scale, god coming out from the party, entreating us all to come into the kingdom of heaven.

at christmas we are celebrating the generosity and magnanimity of our good god, who didnt stay inside the party while we grumbled and had hurt feelings outside. he sent his only begotten to us, entreating, teaching, comforting, leading us back into the party, where we belong.

merry christmas my dears!