Pouring Forth What I Believe Christ's Real Message Was.
No, not the Merry Fucking Christmas Hostile Jesus Manifesto this year. I just came from a Catholic Christmas Eve mass AND polished off the rest of the Dragonstooth Stout(Yeehaw!), so you can probably guess what kind of mood I'M in.
But it does go back to at least who Jesus decided to tell his message. To be born in that most humble of abodes. A manger, barely fit for beasts of burden, let alone human beings. To be wrapped in swaddling clothes, about as far from what we would consider worthy for the king of kings.
And who did the angel tell that Christ had been born? Did he tell it on high, to those in seats of power, or even to the merchants tending thier coin? No. He told it to shepards, the untouchables of that time.(You work with those filthy beasts? Eww! Eww! Get away from me!) Probably the ones who could use his message and were ready for it the most.
Damn, but Dragonstooth Stout is the cat's ass. It's made me think faster than my fingers can type.
It's all in the giving, isn't it? I relearned that lesson for the umpteenth time today. Christ gave to what we humans would consider the least of us. But he saw us as God sees us. Not as greater or lesser, big or small, black or white, but simply as carrying the same spark of divinity within, and who were READY to receive his message.
In some ways, it's similar to John F. Kennedy's familiar refrain "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Only in this case it's not your country you give to. It's all of humanity. Even beyond! Not even just all of humanity, but to the entire planet, birds, beasts, oceans, plants, rocks, and all.
To relay it to my own personal experience, today I sent off a text message just saying Happy Holidays to a couple I knew online. Honestly, wasn't expecting a reply because that had been the pattern for so long, almost as if why bother?
But it's also this evening I realized their behavior is their choice. My own behavior is my choice. If they choose not to say a damn thing, well there's not much I can do about that. But should I be a Scrooge and not bother sending it off then? I've chosen instead to see their humanity, including all its faults and foibles and do it anyway.
Of course, later on I did get an unexpected reply, so that much was nice.