I offer as my blog for this day the transcript of a talk that I gave on December 24, 2000 at the annual Christmas Eve Service offered by the ReCreation Foundation in Ashland, Oregon.
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\nI couldn\u2019t sleep last night.
\nI was up from 2 until 6, having another one of my Conversations with God.
\n\u201cTell me about Christmas,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat is it really all about?\u201d
\nAnd I heard, \u201cWhat do you mean, what is it really all about? I\u2019ve told you a million times what it\u2019s all about.\u201d
\nSo I said, \u201cTell me again. I think I may have missed it.\u201d
\nAnd suddenly my head was filled with a Christmas Carol \u2013 one of the happiest and most triumphant of all the melodies of Christmas.
\n\u201cJoy to the world,\u201d the song began, \u201cthe Lord has come.\u201d
\nBut I couldn\u2019t get into it. I kept wondering, what is joyful about the coming of someone who is going to be a lord over us?
\nGod! I said\u2026I don\u2019t understand this!
\nAnd God replied, \u201cYou\u2019re right. You don\u2019t.\u201d
\nThen God said, \u201cBut at least you\u2019re asking a question. And that\u2019s good. It\u2019s really hard to understand something if you think there are no more questions to ask. You can\u2019t be given an answer if you think you already have the only answer there is.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, I don\u2019t have the answer,\u201d I admitted. \u201cSo what\u2019s the answer?\u201d
\nAnd God said, \u201cThe answer is that the Lord\u2026.who has come\u2026.is not a lord over you, but in you.\u201d
\nThese words came to me at 2:57 this morning, and I pondered them in my heart.
\n\u201cThen,\u201d I ventured, \u201cthe Christmas season is not just a remembering of the birth of a Babe. We\u2019ll sing about that Babe tonight, and honor his arrival, for he brought a new TELLING of a great truth \u2013 and a true LIVING of it \u2013 to the world. And these truly were tidings of comfort, and joy.
\nBut this is also a celebration of the birth of the Christed one in all of us.\u201d
\nAnd God answered softly, \u201cyes.\u201d
\nAnd then I wondered what all the songs, and all the messages, and all the feelings of Christmas would mean if I accepted this truth. If I really understood that the message of this season is not about one bless\u00e9d being, but about all beings, being bless\u00e9d.
\nNot about someone else, but about us.
\nAbout me.
\nBut oh, my gosh, did that sound bad. I mean, it actually sounded like blasphemy. How could Christmas be about me?
\nOf all the self-centered, ego-maniacal thoughts!
\nThis is about the coming of the Lord! This is about the Gift of the Magi!
\nBut, my heart insisted, what if the gift was me? And what if the Lord HAS come to be in me, not over me?
\nI know that I can find a place for him over me, but can I find a place for him within me?
\nAnd what would it mean for me to do that? What would it mean for me to be not only a person who has been blessed, but a person who is bless\u00e9d? And for me to think of you in the same way? What if I saw you as bless\u00e9d? Would I act differently toward you?
\nI\u2019d like to think I would. I\u2019d like to think that I would be more kind to you. More gentle with my words, more caring with my actions, more compassionate in my thoughts, more honest in my dealings, more patient and generous and\u2026and more aware of the wonder of you.
\nAnd if I thought that I was a blessed person, would I act differently toward me?
\nI think I would. I think I\u2019d be more kind to myself. More gentle with my words, more caring with my actions. I think I\u2019d be more compassionate with myself, more patient and generous and\u2026and more aware of the wonder of ME.
\nBut is it possible that we are all bless\u00e9d?
\nThis I asked in the middle of the night, and the answer came back, stunningly, simply: \u201cYes.\u201d
\nSOOO, I mused\u2026 this is the meaning of Christmas. That\u2026 that which is Christed is born in all of us. Lives in all of us. IS all of us. We simply do not remember this. And so, Christmas was created to remind us.
\nChristmas, it turns out, is not about a particular religion, but about all religions. It is not about a particular person, but about all persons.
\nIt does not matter tonight whether you are Christian or Muslim, Hindu or Jew, Baptist or Buddhist.
\nOr none of the above.
\nWhen you give birth to the lord within you, you give life to a wonder and a majesty and a wisdom and a love that can flow from you to all the world, and change the world forever.
\nIsn\u2019t this the Christmas Story?
\nAnd when we live this story as our story, are our lives not renewed, our separated selves made whole?
\nIndeed.
\nOur souls are stirred, our hearts are filled. And then it is we who bring\u2026joy to the world.
\nThe gift of Christmas is us, fully expressed and fully realized. It is us — completely willing and totally ready — to love without condition, to give without restriction, to share without limitation, to create without fear, to celebrate ourselves without shame or embarrassment.
\nIt is us, choosing to forgive without hesitation, to help without being asked, to rush in where angels fear to tread. Indeed, to lead the way for angels.
\nAh, to lead the way for angels. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve come to the Earth. To be a herald!
\nHark! The herald, angels sing. Glory to the newborn king.
\nAt this moment we can give birth to the royalty within us\u2026the royalty that we are in God\u2019s eyes.
\nYou know, someone once said\u2026if you saw you as God sees you, you would smile a lot.
\nWell, tonight is a night for smiles. For tonight, if we really try, we can almost see ourselves as God see us. We can feel it.
\nYou can feel it right now, here in this room.
\nThat feeling is called love.
\nYour love for life, and all those you love in this life. And God\u2019s love for you.
\nNow, the Magic of Christmas is that it gives us permission to take that feeling, to take that love, and share it with all those whose lives we touch.
\nWith friend, and with stranger.
\nWith those who agree with us, and with those who disagree.
\nWith those who look and act like us, and with those who do not.
\nWe are invited tonight to feel this love, and to give it permanent place within our heart. To be the source of peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men and women everywhere.
\nWe are invited on this night to walk the Earth not only as one who is BLESSED, but as one who is bless\u00e9d. Not only as the Lord of the manner, but in the manner of the Lord.
\nFor that is what we are. We are the lord of our inner kingdom, and thus, of the outer one as well. And when we understand that, everything changes. We begin to experience the world, and to affect the world, in a new way.
\nThat is the Christmas invitation. We are invited to begin that experience on this night.
\nOn this\u2026.silent night.
\nAnd if we do, we will make it a holy night. And we will begin to create a world in which all is calm. All is bright.
\nJoy to the world! The Lord has come. Let Earth receive her King. Let every heart\u2026prepare him room.
\nAnd heaven, and nature, sing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I offer as my blog for this day the transcript of a talk that I gave on December 24, 2000 at the annual Christmas Eve Service offered by the ReCreation Foundation in Ashland, Oregon. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-and-the-new-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n