Theologian and civil rights activist, Howard Thurman shared the following poem in a sermon reminding me Christmas is not a one day event. It is part of the daily ceremony and ritual I should undertake. It reminds me some usurp Christmas as a neo-liberal, market agenda that changes a deeply spiritual event into profiteering.
“Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes,
And the heart consumes itself, if it would live,
Where little children age before their time,
And life wears down the edges of mind,
Where the old person sits with mind grown cold,
While bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death,
Where fear companions each day’s life,
And Perfect Love seems long delayed.
CHRISTMAS IS WAITING TO BE BORN;
In you, in me, in all humankind.”
Jesus and his family were humble refugees from humble backgrounds. Regardless of material wealth, we each come from and return to humble backgrounds. In between, I can seek deliverance, age with grace, and retain a daily Christmas spirit. Without it, hearts harden, minds ossify, fear is a constant companion, and there is a lack courage (in French, coeur is part of the etymology of courage) to act and speak out against those who treat humans as chattel dealt with as objects. With a daily Christmas spirit, I engage in I-Thou relationships, without judging, qualifying, objectifying the other. Martin Buber proposed “the key to creating society that is nourishing, empowering and healing for everyone lies in how we relate to one another.”
It takes considerable effort to overcome the divisiveness we currently live with and listen, with open hearts, to others who share views of the world different than ours. In On the Brink of Everything, Parker Palmer describes how he felt anger towards others who voted differently than he did. By the time the book was published, he described how it was important to understand that people did so because they felt left behind in various ways.
Here is Healing Time by gospel and blues singer Ruthie Foster, which seems appropriate in today’s day and age. How do we heal and make whole?
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Such an enriching post! Thank you for sharing it Ivon.
Pat
Thank you and you are welcome Pat.
May we strive for a caring spirit throughout the year. As our hearts are ablaze with a loving spirit, perhaps others will catch part of that flame. There are many kind people in the world but we can never have too many.
That is worth striving for. Kindness can be contagious
Beautiful and thank you for sharing.
Thank you and you are welcome Eunice.
Indeed Ivon, kindness never goes out of fashion. And true kindness is a year round staple; should it come from the heart.
Healing Time by Ruthie Foster was such an uplifting song. Thank You.
Thank you Carolyn. Kindness is an antidote to so much that ails us. We saw Ruthie Foster live and she is a wonderful singer with her gospel background.
I never quite thought of Christmas in this way. Thank you.
You are welcome Emilie.
I appreciate this. Thank you 😊
Thank you and your are welcome
Very nice!
Thank you.
❤️
Thank you
Pure delight
Thank you