Embracing the Mystery of Christmas

By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

Jesus the man spoke to us and through him the Christ Spirit touched our world for all time.
- Anonymous

"I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not walk in the dark; he will have the light of life."
John 8:12

In our collective hearts and memories, Christmas bells ring out across the centuries to call us, to remind us, to invite us into its annual celebration of music, merriment, magic and its eternal mystery.

And just what is this eternal mystery that so engages and envelopes so much of the world? What is the drama of Christmas that compels kings and queens, [presidents and prelates, heads of state and the most simple heads of household to pause in their efforts and join in poetry and praise renewing the age old refrain, "Peace on Earth, Good will to man."?

By its nature and definition, a mystery implies an internal, not easily discernable relationship to events, circumstances or people that does not have a readily apparent solution. Often its essential elements or components are never explained. Inferences and implications can be drawn. Explanations, logical or otherwise, can be offered. But the deeper solution remains hidden from our ordinary rational view, elusive and yet somehow inexplicably significant.

For our reference, "Embracing the Mystery of Christmas", a mystery is defined: "Any affair, thing or person that presents features or qualities so obscure as to arouse curiosity or speculation; anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown; any truth that is unknowable except by divine revelation; an incident or scene in connection with the life of Christ, regarded as of special significance." (Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition Unabridged)

The Mystery of Christmas lies, in part, in the unfathomable power of the unique birth of Jesus, the Christ child, a child who was born to become a world teacher emphasizing the simplest dictate of the soul, to love one another.

While many Christian theological systems have been built upon the basic teachings of the man Jesus, his natal story embraces the unusual elements of birth by a virgin; the announcement of his birth by angelic heralds to shepherds as they watched their flocks and their proclamation that his birth had a Divine Purpose.

That event still compels us today to at once step in, to enter into a sacred or holy place, yes, even a mystical state far beyond the context of scripture's words alone. What, then, was the Divine Purpose for which he came? Was it to "save mankind", as some would say? Was it to "redeem the lost", as others might suggest? Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly." (St. John 10:10) That statement alone carries a weight far beyond our mortal minds to truly comprehend. So how do we as ordinary mortals take in, receive and/or find a place for this idea of a being, Jesus called the Christ, who can reveal a Divine Purpose to all who would follow him?

I offer that this is an integral part of the Mystery of Christmas (Christ Mass) that has echoed across the centuries. The most brilliant minds of man have attempted to explain it. The sages and saints across the centuries have attempted to enlighten and clarify it for mankind. Songs and stories, tales and traditions have brought us into the 21st Century with new images, new music, new metaphors and, yet, the Mystery remains.

To be brought into the presence of a Divine Mystery humbles us. It confounds our attempts to dismiss or diminish it. And those who may approach this ancient story, event, mystery with severe intellectual scrutiny and offer their analytical interpretations, they only add strength to the whole mystery.

When Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life…", I believe, and so interpret, that he is suggesting that the same Life Spark that is within him, is within us. He came to awaken mankind to that truth, that essential teaching or principle. He demonstrated it throughout his ministry. He taught us to love one another, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

To actually receive or to be open to the idea of love, as well as to experience it, is a mystery unto itself. In the thousands of years of human history, in light of all that's been, said, written and revealed about the quality of love, we still do not know the innermost workings of the phenomenon. It remains part of the eternal mystery of life.

Christmas, with its ancient and modern mix of customs and over-the-top commercialism, still offers us a signal, beneath the trappings, that we can hear, see or touch.

Each time we stop and pause long enough to deeply, genuinely listen to the voice of a loved one, sharing joy or pain, we are drawn into the mystery of a holy moment. Each time we see a spectacularly star studded sky from a deep place within ourselves or behold a gaily decorated theme park, department store, or a festive atmosphere festooned with garlands of lights, ribbons of every color of the rainbow, we enter a part of the Mystery of Christmas. Each time we pray, meditate, read or reflect upon the meaning of it all, the sacred aspects of Christmas and the more profane (the overdone, the excesses and the superfluous), we step into the Mystery.

Each man, woman and child who enters the arena of Christmas is stirred, perhaps initially at first, by its outer noise, trappings and tinsel. But then, slowly, behind the painted scenery of a stage play, the costumed shepherds and angels and wise men parading across the stage in each year's Christmas play, the mystery returns.

Why are we moved to participate in the drama each year? We say it's because of our children or our family, our church or our own "need" to participate in some way, in some manner.

Perhaps the Divine Mystery being commemorated calls us, at depth, and gently invites us to discover, in ever so tiny a glimpse or subtle insight, that we are connected at depth to this mystery. We are, each one, a part of the drama and we are looking for, seeking for the star that led the ancient Wise Men to guide us and reveal our holy journey.

So, at this Christmas time, allow yourself to step outside and gaze upon the starry bowl of the heavens…listen for the angels' song of "Peace on earth". May we hear it more clearly and become instruments of peace in our lives wherever we are, wherever we walk, whomever we touch.

When we gaze upon the lighted trees and towns of lighted parkways and the homes of those who also light the way, may we be gently reminded of the sacred and the holy inner light that ever seeks its outer reflection in a world darkened by fear, death and despair. Truly, the light of the season can evoke an inner hope, a change in a hardened world that somewhere within the Christ Light awaits our acknowledgment.

The Mystery of Christmas is thus embraced as we step into the mix of merriment and mirth. It becomes our own holy experience as we stop to pray for a loved one or a stranger, offer food or clothing to those in need, and become as little children who can open the doors of hardened hearts inviting us to love again, share again in the Christ child who lays in the manger of our hearts.

The Mystery of Christmas is that out of the vast cosmos that we call "the body of God", Love came down to Earth in the form of a babe.