Today being Christmas Day, this post appears in lieu of the next scheduled post in the Words on Paper series. “Important books that shaped and reflected America 1950-2000” will appear next week. Merry Christmas! – Forrest
In choosing a batch of Christmas cards each year, I look for ones with a religious message and art. It is Christmas, after all, celebrating the birth of Jesus.
However, this year the choice of cards drifted elsewhere. Last fall browsing through the selections at Barnes and Noble, one box of cards caught my eye. It showed only one word on the front, Hope.
While most years we prefer to celebrate in joy the birth of Jesus at Christmas, this year hope seems to be more appropriate.
Seeing people at the grocery store or shopping mall in recent weeks I sensed a glum atmosphere. Many people did not look joyful. Is it the economy, the weather, politics? Maybe for some realizing the scam by Don the Con? Of course, many people are carrying personal burdens, although the Christmas season can be an escape or refuge. All of the hoopla and gifting can be a distraction.
I remain hopeful that society is disengaging from the so-called Postmodern Era, or at least people hope and strive to. For too many decades our politics, economics, and culture have suffered from excessive cynicism, doubt, relativism, ‘alternative facts’, skepticism, mistrust – all characteristics of the Postmodern Era.
I am hopeful that society – politics, economics, and culture – will continue to resurrect and restore beliefs and values that everyone harbors, whether they know it or not – the universal Law of Morality. We are created in the image of God that includes love, ethics, morality, honesty, science, facts, truth, faith, and hope. These values inhabit the so-called Metamodern Era, toward which I hope society is moving.
So how does this relate to Christmas?
We hope and strive to have faith that the birth of Jesus as the son of God is true. I believe in the possibility of miracles, which allows me to believe that God could do such a thing as to manifest a virgin birth. If anyone needs a scientific explanation, I would offer quantum physics, where the physical and metaphysical may intersect.
At the same time, I recall one of my professors, in teaching a religion class at a Christian university, saying that it was fairly common in those times to announce a virgin birth, in a society where becoming a mother out-of-wedlock could be a death sentence. So, if you believe that God works through his creation, humankind, maybe Joseph had a role in that after all. And if you believe that our spirits emanate from God, well there you go.
God became incarnate in Jesus to correct the course of humanity, which too often leans toward division, power and greed. The earthly kingdom he talked about is within each individual, with the Sermon on the Mount being our guide. Until then, God’s word came through the prophets, remotely, which as we know is never as good or effective as in person, face-to-face, even two millennia ago with Jesus/God in person.
While professing faith in the birth of Jesus as the Son of God, it’s okay to feel some doubt. In our modern, postmodern, even metamodern perspectives, it is sometimes difficult to accept. But, as Paul Tillich said, “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” I am intrigued by the apparent paradox of doubt and faith. Unquestioning certainty can be harmful to faith.
I didn’t know much about Tillich until research for this post. The Lutheran theologian is known for escaping Nazi Germany in the 1930s and espousing a synthesis of Christian theology and existential philosophy. I have read only the introduction (by Peter J. Gomes) to his most well-known 1952 book, The Courage to Be. It talks about the ‘God above God’ – the ultimate, true God above all of the various human theologies.
Gomes writes: The courage to be in the face of existentialism with its temptations to cynical despair and non-creative self-indulgence, is “the courage to accept oneself as accepted in spite of being unacceptable… This is the genuine meaning of the Pauline-Lutheran doctrine of ‘justification by faith’.” Last line in the book: “The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.”
It would be interesting to know what Tillich’s take would be on the current misguided populism and Christian nationalism supporting autocratic politicians and billionaire oligarchs who today want to destroy democracy.
Faith, works, and hope are percolating in my head as the underlying themes of the story that I am currently working on. They are represented in two of the main protagonists, providing tension to move the story along. One leans toward works, and other, faith. If faith without works is dead, what is works without faith? Hope? Being whole requires both faith and works.
In any case, I hope to be able to make more progress and eventually complete the story. If the current pace continues, that may not happen by next Christmas. I hope that the necessary works will fend off doubt and follow the faith. That means sitting at the keyboard most mornings with a figurative lock on email, Facebook, and other cyber distractions. Hope and faith are nice to have but works requires perseverance and discipline.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!
Thanks for your attention!
Forrest
Dec. 25, 2024
