Nativity Theologizing

I grew up with a brand of Christianity that was heavily centered on Good Friday. We celebrated Christmas along with everyone else. But the meaning of Christmas was confused at best. It seemed like a necessary first step toward the cross which didn’t quite cohere with Joy To The World.<br /><br /> Decades later, now decades ago, I learned that the folks who first shaped the contours of orthodox Christian faith, especially St. Athanasius, the chief architect of the Nicene Creed, taught that the Incarnation was salvific in itself. Something happened in Bethlehem in 4 B.C.E. (or whatever year Jesus was actually born) that changed the relationship between God and humanity, even between Creator and Creation.<br /><br /> How that salvation worked was and still is hard for me to grasp. It is called “assumption.” In a mysterious way, when God assumes human nature, then human nature is sanctified, redeemed, made holy. That feels right to me even though I can’t explain it logically.<br /><br /> There is another way I have been thinking of Christmas as salvific that I can understand a little better. It goes like this: Being human is a precious and wonderful thing precisely because it is so brief an experience, so vulnerable, so frail, such a mix of joys and sorrow, virtues and vices, moral heroism and moral disaster. The beauty of being human is inseparable from the fragility of being human. I say this as one whose youthful pride and certainty are long gone and as one who has seen love at its tenderest in the hours of suffering and death, in the moments of contrition and forgiveness. Being human is insubstantial, ephemeral, fallible, and for those very failings is all the more to be cherished.<br /><br /> Yet the vulnerability of being human – physical, spiritual, and moral vulnerability – is so great that we cannot bear our human condition. It is just too hard. We need to be sustained now and ultimately redeemed by a God who is above all this, beyond “the changes and the chances” of this life. We need to be held by the Serene Center of the Universe, who was and is and ever will be. Our fragility can subsist only in God’s strength.<br /><br /> The problem is the immeasurable distance between God and us. The vastness, the incomprehensibility of Divine Majesty, the namelessness, imagelessness, unutterable wonder of God means God is beyond our reach. And we cannot climb up to God. All religion that purports to elevate us to God merely inflates our egos and thereby separates us all the farther from God.<br /><br /> It was therefore necessary for God to come to us. “Condescend” is a bad word now. But it used to have a good theological meaning -- “to come down to.” God came down to us. God joined us in the mix and muddle of human life. “For us and for our salvation, he sent his only and eternal son to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us.” And therein the basic shift happened and religion has never been the same.<br /><br /> Instead of our trying to climb up out of our human frailty to meet God in the Divine Serenity, God joins us in the stable of mortal human life. It is in this stable of human living that we meet God. It is here we find the seed of peace and joy. The meaning of our frailties – all of them, physical, moral, spiritual – is changed from the wall the separates us from God into the gate that opens our hearts to God. That is the miracle I celebrate at Christmas. However, you understand this Holy Season, I hope you will be touched by grace right where you live, that you will find a light in your darkness, and that you will experience the assurance of God’s love for you exactly as you are.

Nativity Theologizing

I grew up with a brand of Christianity that was heavily centered on Good Friday. We celebrated Christmas along with everyone else. But the m...

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Return Of The Mouse

Mid week the mouse arrived. It is a Christmas ornament -- yes a Christmas mouse wearing green and red trousers and a red sweater -- no doubt left on our door knob by the same people who left the white plastic Christmas tree and ealier ornaments.<br /><br />But this mouse looks familiar. See Night of Reepacheep, blog post May 21, 2009 -- the very mouse who bit my pinkie in Lake Logan, North Carolina last Spring. How much do these people actually know about me?

Return Of The Mouse

Mid week the mouse arrived. It is a Christmas ornament -- yes a Christmas mouse wearing green and red trousers and a red sweater -- no doubt...

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Trying to stay positive

Over the past several days I thought of a hundred things to write about but all the topics were downers. Each time I'd even think about writing a post I found myself spiraling down into a self-pity party.<br /><br />My Edmonton trip is over. Having my husband go with me was a huge mistake. Instead of making things better, it made me miserable. When I'm working in a new city away from home, I'm highly stressed. After a day of meeting new people, trouble shooting problems, making endless phone calls to my home office, the last thing I wanted to do is go out and have "fun". I just wanted to crawl to my hotel room and collapse.<br /><br />As a result of me not being fun, we had a huge fight while in Edmonton. Probably one of our all time worse fights in our 21 years of marriage. He left a day early to go home, which was fine with me. I couldn't handle the double stress of my day job and then my night job of being a loving wife.<br /><br />Even though it's been almost a week we're both still mentally bruised from the arguing. We both regret what happened, but what's done is done. We can't take back the hurtful, mean things we said to each other.<br /><br />Now we have the added stress of Christmas, the season of joy. Sorry, but I'm just not feeling it. I want to feel happy and peace on earth and all that other stuff I'm suppose to feel this time of year, but it's not happening.<br /><br />I'm on vacation for the next two weeks. We had plans to travel to Denver and Arkansas to see my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">husband's</span> family, but I think we're putting that on hold until after the new year. I can't bear the thought of getting on another plane. Maybe it's incredibly selfish of me but I need to stay home for a while.<br /><br />We even talked about spending Christmas apart, but we both know that would be the final nail in the coffin of our marriage so we both agreed we're not ready for something like that...since that would really be the end of us as a couple.<br /><br />So much for remaining positive. This is probably just about the most depressing post I've ever written.<br /><br />On the diet front, I'm hanging in there at 175.8. I was at the gym for two hours yesterday, getting back into the swing of things with the exercise. It felt good.<br /><br />My goal is to try and get to 170 by the end of 2009, which isn't too far from where I was on December 31, 2008 - 165.2. That means I'm up 10 pounds from a year ago.<br /><br />Never mind that I dropped down to 152 for a brief period during the past year so technically I'm up 20+ pounds. I just don't want to think about that right now.<br /><br />I'm going eat healthy for the rest of the year and hit the gym every day. That's my goal for the next two weeks. I'll set new goals for 2010, but right now I can't think that far into the future. I'm just trying to get through a day at a time....and stay positive (not doing so good with the positive crap).

Trying to stay positive

Over the past several days I thought of a hundred things to write about but all the topics were downers. Each time I'd even think about ...

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Planning de la semaine du 21 au 24 décembre 2009

<BR><br /><h2><strong><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 113%;color:#005c9b;" >Permanences<br /></span></strong></h2><ul><br /><li>Le <strong>Conseil Général du Loiret</strong> sera présent dans les locaux de la Maison de l'Emploi du bassin d'Orléans<br />- le lundi 21 décembre de 9h à 12h30<br />- le mardi 22 décembre de 9h à 12h30 et de 13h30 à 17h,<br />- le mercredi 23 décembre de 13h30 à 17h<br />- le jeudi 24 décembre de 13h30 à 17h<br /><br /><li><strong><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2007/11/boutique-de-gestion.html">Boutique de gestion</a></strong><br />- lundi 21 décembre de 13h30 à 17h</li></ul><br /><h2><strong><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 113%;color:#005c9b;" >Ateliers</span></strong><br /></h2><br /><ul><li><strong>CV</strong> - mardi 22 décembre de 9h à 12h30<br /><br /><li><strong>Lettre de Motivation </strong>- mardi 22 décembre de 13h30 à 17h<br /><br /><li><strong><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2009/07/atelier-situtilises-tu-trouves.html">Sit'Utilises tu trouves</a></strong> - jeudi 24 décembre de 10h à 12h</ul>

Planning de la semaine du 21 au 24 décembre 2009

Permanences Le Conseil Général du Loiret sera présent dans les locaux de la Maison de l'Emploi du bassin d'Orléans - le lundi 21 dé...

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