The Unclad Soul

And in this season we call Christmas and Holidays, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, Germany’s Saint Nicholas’ Day, and the Philippines’ Giant Lantern Festival, Columbia’s Day of Little Candles, and Toronto’s Cavalcade of Lights, France’s Joyeux Noël, and Russia’s Grandfather Frost, let us find unity, cooperation, friendship. Let us revel in the pretty lights and the decorated trees, the wintry days and the cozy nights, the happy faces and the party fun. Let us feel the grief of the losses of others, the struggling families in an unbalanced economy, the addicted caught in some endless torment, the shamed haunted by a long-ago abuse, the ill unable to enter into the many festivities, the lonely shut off from the busy happy crowds, the prisoners locked in their regrets and dishonor, the mentally infirm whose minds no longer work and whose memories have lost their power. It is a season of birth, of lights, of glory. It is a time to remember the...

In case any of us have forgotten, the Jesus of Christmas was a Jew. He was born one, lived one his entire life, and died one. He had no intention of starting a new religion (Christianity). His life as a teacher and healer was to do something good within Judaism, within the faith he had known all of his life. He did not die for the sins of the world. This was something his followers and the writers of the New Testament later ascribed to him. He died because he challenged the powers of the Roman Empire. He died because he threatened the Emperor’s influence, by promoting peace between people and nations, and not war and dominance. He died because he preached economic and political justice, which people were starving to hear and experience, but which those who governed thwarted. We forget these things. Or else we have never considered the real facts around the life of Jesus. But Bible scholars, theologians, archeologists, historians and solid researchers have known these things fo...

In the holiday classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” George Bailey loses it all. His small building and loan company appears bankrupt due to Uncle Billy’s foolish misplacement of their funds. Believing he had nothing to live for except ruin and disgrace, George jumps off a bridge in desperation. He is rescued by Clarence, an odd, elderly angel still trying to get his wings. As they are both drying out from the cold water below the bridge, George tries to understand what is happening: George : Look, who are you? Clarence : I told you, George. I'm your guardian angel. George : Yeah, yeah, I know. You told me that. What else are you? What...are you a hypnotist? Clarence : No, of course not. George : Well, then, why am I seeing all these strange things? Clarence : Don't you understand, George? It's because you were not born. George : Then if I wasn't born, who am I? Clarence : You're nobody. You have no identity. George : What do you mean, no identity? ...

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “With all its shame, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.” (I struggle a bit with this one. I don't want to give up everything of my youth. I'm trying to age gracefully. But for me, it's not always easy. ~ TM)

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Holiday season: “Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Ehrmann – A line a day for the remaining Christmas/Holiday season: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Ehrmann – A line a day for the remaining Christmas/Holiday season: “As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.”

From the Desiderata by poet Max Erhmann – A line a day for the remaining Christmas/Holiday season: “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.”

I was out recently in the Christmas crowd shopping for my grandchildren. They don’t really need a thing. They have so much. They fortunately live within the amazing care of a dad and mom who adore and cherish and abundantly provide for them. I wanted to just package up some hugs and kisses and send those as my gifts. Wouldn’t that be enough? It would, for them. They would be perfectly fine with such gifts. But I followed the rest of the holiday legion to Target and elsewhere to lend my effort to our society’s commercial Christmas mania. There is that line in Dr. Seuss’ famous “The Grinch That Stole Christmas” that nudges me this time of year: “ Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”   Well, there’s an old fashioned idea for you. A sadly archaic thought buried beneath the nearest mall’s concrete foundation conveniently silenced far beyond the...

Here in this happy season of enraged shoppers and rude store clerks and Target’s phenomenal credit card security system, there is the real spirit of Christmas. It goes something like this. Work with other nations? Why do we need them? We have no need of them. They’re all primitive countries with terrorists and taxes and people of other colors and strange cultures who don’t even observe Christmas. Who can understand a thing they say anyway. Other countries are useless. God bless America. Obamacare? Good Lord no. We don’t need that. If people are stupid enough to get sick then let them figure out how to get well on their own. I don’t want my tax dollars helping other people. The Bible says help yourself, or something like that. Stop war. Are you kidding? Wars are great. Some of the best movies ever made in this country are war movies. John Wayne is still a hero here. Did you not ever see “The Longest Day” for God’s sake? And besides, who gives a flip about the Germans, ...