A baby cries in the night. The mother awakes and takes the baby in her arms. She rocks the little one and whispers over and over, “It’s all right.” While this would seem to be merely a commonplace event, it actually poses a question about the ultimate context of our lives. Is the mother telling the truth? For Christians, the answer has to do with another baby born long ago in a manger.
When I was in college or seminary, too many years back to remember which, I came across this vignette. It has stuck with me, because it raises the core religious question in such a simple, poignant way. We look about and see order and beauty…but also suffering and death. We know how much mothers love their children, but also that some children die. Indeed, in this world, everything dies, sometimes prematurely or painfully.
That’s not a world which, in and of itself, appears to be all right. We find it hard enough to accept a mother’s death, even if she lived a happy life and was able to hold her grandchildren. But how do we accept a child’s death or other unspeakable tragedy? As we know but routinely repress, these tragedies happen all the time and seem to be random, senseless. A friend once told me that if you were able to comprehend, for only a moment, all of the suffering in a single hospital, you’d fall apart.
Which brings us back to that baby in a manger. Angels were there, the story goes, and told shepherds that they need not be afraid, that this baby was bringing good news, great joy. When that baby became a man, he spoke of his Heavenly Father, who created the world and watches over it, feeling even the fall of a sparrow. He told us that nothing good is ever lost but will be renewed and eternally transfigured. Tears will be wiped from our eyes, suffering and death will disappear, the lion will lie down with the lamb.
For both believer and non-believer, the core religious question is the same, and it could be stated in the terms and stories of any religious tradition. Were the angels telling the truth to the shepherds? Was that baby in the manger telling the truth when he grew up? Is that mother telling the truth when she whispers those words of comfort to her baby? Is it all right, really all right, or isn’t it?
Christmas, no matter how it’s been secularized and sentimentalized, is essentially an answer to this question, an answer that has been heard through the centuries. It’s not an answer that makes sense in this world. No, it’s an answer that makes sense of the world. And when we hear it anew, we lift our voices, whether we believe or half-believe or can’t believe: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”
newtonfinn 
Newton, thanks for this very thoughtful and reflective post.
Hi Newton! I’ve become aware of you through your comments on JWOB, and find that your being seems to be moving with the same longings and reflections as my own does.
I want to thank you for acquainting me with the works of Edward Bellamy. He is a man that needs to be remembered,
And this post is a deep and marvelous contemplation!
It really is true that the whole Christian message is an answer to that one question that faces everyone of us when we enter into this world: “Is the Universe safe?”
It’s the famous question that Einstein asked, and he said that everything depends upon how we answer that question.
I’ve spent my whole life examining the great minds and philosophies that have attempted to give an answer, and find that all they seem to do is to make my mind more restless.
And throughout it all has been that “still, small voice” that speaks to me whenever I turn my attention towards that Child who was born in a humble manger 2000 years ago, and that voice says to me again and again:
“You are being looked after, and you are loved more than you could ever possibly imagine!”
It’s a message that is definitely in contrast to what we see in the world around us, and yet whenever I turn my attention to that simple message, a great light fills my whole being and makes me want to shout and cry with joy!
It doesn’t make sense, this feeling, and yet it feels so right!
Like Schweitzer, I too find myself thinking that one of the best ways to worship God is to have a “reverence for life” in all of its forms, to see any expression of life, from the smallest molecule to the most vast galaxies as something to be cherished and looked after.
Merry Christmas to you and yours at this time of year, and may the upcoming new year bring us all closer to seeing the Kingdom of God fill the earth!