Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas 2024 Message: Hope Rooted in Love and Truth

December 18th, 2024 | Dr. Charlie Self

The recent election in the USA represents renewed political and social hope for some and deeply disconcerting signs for others. In this essay, I am foregoing political commentary and focusing on the deeper needs and hopes of humankind. We do not elect messiahs or monarchs, and the last half-century serves as a warning that no person or party contains all we need for a flourishing future.

Christmas is about divine humility and hope, as God becomes one of us forever in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Our identity, purpose, and flourishing begin with love and reverence for the Lord, followed by alignment with God’s principles. The message of Christianity is not self-improvement, but a new creation. Jesus is not a guru, he is God. Cries for justice are heard by the Almighty, and we can be partners with the Lord is bringing much good to our world.

From federal budgets to global hotspots, from sexual anarchy in the post-modern West to totalitarian rule in many places, our world is filled with crises. Serious peacemaking efforts are welcome, but sustainable shalom must include changes in the human heart as well as military and political action. The moral chaos we see around us will only change when there is a recommitment to enduring truth that is beyond our momentary feelings and thoughts.

Here are some applications of Christmas love and truth for our world:

“Be a good person” is only possible when goodness is rooted in the unchanging character of God.
“My truth” must be exchanged for the pursuit of the truth.
“Toleration” must again be understood as living peaceably with our differences, not celebrating every opinion.
“Democracy” means little without ethical first principles that are shared by citizens. The American experiment is representative governance with protections for all citizens, not the rule of a current 51%.
“Disinformation” is a term used historically by totalitarian states to limit access to all ideas and information. Freedom includes hearing and reading things we do not like. “Consensus” can be a slippery term and must not be used to stifle inquiry. “Everyone knows” or “97% of scientists say” deserve examination.
“Make America Great Again” is a popular political phrase, but it must be tempered with the reality that there are no good old days – just good people in old days.

The King who comes to us in a creche calls us to seek the glory of God and the good of others before our own temporal pleasures or personal ambitions. My prayer for each reader, for the USA, and for the nations is that the “good news of great joy” shared with shepherds will reach every barrio and hamlet, every migrant procession and refugee camp, every penthouse suite and mansion, every home and the homeless, and when received, change the trajectory of each person and community that embraces the Messiah.

Merry Christmas and thank you for reading and reflecting with me as we aim for a free and virtuous world.

Hopeful Realism for 2024, Part 2

January 24th, 2024 | Dr. Charlie Self

As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, I hope that all of us can be hopeful and realistic so that we can achieve more than we thought possible, and we can weather the unexpected with grace. Here are some more observations for the year ahead:

Realism: Social media will continue captivating and ensnaring far too many people, draining creativity and energy.

Hope: May we spend more time with family and friends, learn to use a fountain pen, read printed books, and enjoy the outdoors without a phone in hand.

Hopeful realism: May we see more reflections than reactions and more conversations over mere condemnations.

Realism: Jews and Christians will continue facing severe persecution globally, with little notice from non-religious leaders or neighbors.

Hope: People of conscience will realize that each of us must desire and protect for others the liberties we expect for ourselves.

Hopeful realism: Many will consider becoming Christians or renewing their faith as they recognize the cohesiveness and compassion of Jesus. And many Christians will appreciate the Jewish roots of our faith for the first time.

Realism: The American and global economy will continue struggling as significant adjustments take place due to poor planning, risky investments, and changes in labor and production.

Hope: We will see some improvements in interest rates and job growth, due to normal developments and the results of the political desires of investors.

Hopeful realism: As local and state governments face realities, some will wisely tighten their belts and thoughtfully allocate resources, while removing barriers to business expansion.

And finally, your humble author believes that we are on the cusp of a spiritual awakening that will overflow into neighborhoods and nations as people not only have religious encounters in church, but kindly and thoughtfully serve their families, colleagues, and friends as a thank you to the grace of God. For such love in action, some will face persecution. But the pressures of opponents will only increase their fortitude, and once again, we will see the goodness of God on display.

May we all be hopeful realists, with greater expectations of what God can do, sober awareness of our own shortcomings, and a willingness to extend ourselves to others.

Christmas Reflection: The Divine Embrace

December 20th, 2022 | Dr. Charlie Self

Faithful Christians and thoughtful spiritual seekers are rightly in awe of the truth of the Incarnation: in Jesus of Nazareth, God forever becomes human. This is what billions celebrate each year: the Savior of the world comes to us in the innocence and vulnerability of a baby.

Jesus Christ was born…to die. His human growth, adult work as a carpenter, and Messianic public ministry all matter as he unveils the divine life of a human being and the human life of God. Jesus’s words and works – forgiving, delivering, healing and reconciling – all serve as models of life in God’s kingdom. But the most important act in this this drama is found in the Passion: Jesus voluntarily submitting himself to injustice, unspeakable agony, and a cruel death by crucifixion. This pathway had – and still has – a purpose: our salvation. In the hours of agony on Good Friday, our Lord represented all of humankind and was our mediator, our representative as he took on all our sins and sorrows, sufferings and unanswered questions. And death did not have the final word as we celebrate the Lord’s bodily resurrection on Easter morning!

The Bible offers four portraits of our Lord.

For Matthew, Jesus is forever our Immanuel – the With-Us-God (Matthew 1:22-23). And in his resurrection on Easter, we see our future on display: body and spirit transformed and assurance of our eternity in God’s presence (Matthew 28). Jesus comes with a new revelation of God’s presence, authority, and teaching, declaring God’s kingdom and demonstrating God’s grace (Matthew 5-7 and 8-9)

For Mark, Jesus is the Sovereign who demonstrates his authority through humility, and his power through serving (Mark 10:45). Everything the Lord asks of his followers he has done as a human being! Even though his followers are slow to grasp all of this, he patiently loves them and calls them to service.

For Luke, Jesus is the Savior of all humankind: Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, women and men, and everyone from every culture, ethnicity, and race that humbly calls on him for mercy (Luke 1-2; 7, 18-19, 24). Women are welcomed alongside men in Jesus’s inner circle (Luke 8).

For John, The One who is the Eternal Word made flesh (God becoming a human being in the womb of Mary), offers all who believe eternal and overflowing life (John 3:16; 10:10). The key that unlocks this is active believing – authentic trust in who he is and in what he has done through the cross and resurrection (John 20:31).

May our Christmas be filled with gratitude for grace, hope rooted in holy love, and love flowing from the fact that we love God because he first loved us.

Celebrating the With-Us-God: Divine Humility and Human Hope

December 22nd, 2021 | Dr. Charlie Self

Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed by the faithful as the Prince of Peace and Savior of the World. The hopes of Israel are embodied in an heir of David who will be King and bring deliverance, healing, and restoration (See Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2). We are familiar with the humility of Mary and Joseph, the humble setting of the birth, shepherds receiving angelic visitations, and, eventually, Magi coming to worship a toddler Jesus in his home. May we nourish these thoughts forever.

But there is something even deeper about Christmas that can be lost in the familiar festivities. Christmas is the great moment of divine humility: The eternal Son, “God of very God, Light from Light, begotten, not made…” (from the 4^th century Nicene Creed) assumes human nature and enters our history. Michael Card expressed this profound truth so well: “Behold the mystery fantastic and wild; a Mother made by her own Child.” The Eternal steps into time. The Infinite assumes finitude. The Holy One becomes forever human. This is why Matthew 1:22-23 declares that Jesus is Immanuel, which translated literally, means, the “With-Us-God.”

Jewish scholars were stunned by Jesus. On one hand, he was hailed as the Son of David, the Messiah coming to liberate God’s people. Yet Jesus chose a path of healing over violence, deliverance over despotism, inclusion of outsiders over catering to the elites. Jesus’ humility, powerful teaching, and miracles won him many followers. But Jesus was more than an expected King: he declared himself one with the Father and assumed divine attributes reserved only for the One True God: forgiving sin, receiving worship, and declaring his understanding of Scripture the final and full word. For the Jews, this was blasphemy and the unity of the Father and Son was impossible, for God is One. And this oneness is absolute, with no room for rivals.

As Christianity spreads beyond Judaism and welcomes converts from Greek and Roman philosophies and religions, the idea that Ultimate Truth could assume human nature was deemed illogical and impossible. After all, the soul was trapped in the material body and that which is perfect could never be contained in flesh. This dualism would later infect Christian thinking, with unfortunate consequences. Popular religion in Rome had a place for many gods, but Christians refused to bow to any other lords or gods other than the Eternal God revealed in Jesus, who is Lord and the Christ. So Greek dualism and Roman polytheism were rejected in favor of the adoration of the Father, the Son (Jesus of Nazareth) and Holy Spirit.

Let’s come back to divine humility. In Jesus, God is forever one of us! What an affirmation of being human! Jesus’ experience was just as ours, though without the sin that ruined our first parents and continues subverting our lives. Jesus developed from a child to an adult, faced all our temptations, experienced our emotions, knew physical fatigue and limitations, and enjoyed life with friends and family. His crucifixion was excruciating. On the Cross he carried our sins and sorrows, sufferings and unanswered questions. His bodily resurrection on Easter offers a preview of the eternity for all believers: our future includes embodied work and play, community and worship. Jesus is forever one of us. If we could somehow have Scotty (of Star Trek fame) beam us to heaven, we would be able to touch Jesus, for even as the glorified Lord, he is one of us.

This Christmas, let’s allow divine humility to heal us from inferiority or inadequacy arising from our past and the abuses and rejections we remember so well. We are worth God forever becoming human. We are worth the painful and unjust death of the Cross. We have a vision of our future on Easter. With God’s help and the support of many around us, we can walk in confidence and hope, for we have welcomed Immanuel into our lives.

The Hope of Christmas: The With-Us-God

December 22nd, 2020 | Dr. Charlie Self

The influence of Christianity and celebrations of winter solstice came together by the 5^th century. From that moment to the present, Christians of every tradition have celebrated the Advent Season and Christmas as the dawn of hope, the moment where the Eternal stepped into time and God forever became one of us in Jesus of Nazareth.

For much of history, commemorations were solemn, with Advent, like its Spring counterpart Lent, understood as a time of prayer and sacrifice. With the work of St. Francis and others in the 13^th century, Madonna and Child become iconic and celebrations begin, albeit in modest forms. Martin Luther commended lighting the Tannenbaum (Christmas tree), transforming a pagan ritual into a celebration of Jesus as the Light of the world.

The Victorian era is the source of most Western/global Christmas imagery and festivities and only in the late 19^th and early 20^th century has Christmas become the holiday we know and love today. Many devout Christians still resist this celebration, disliking the pagan influences and the excuse for excess.

The Hope of Christmas is the promise of salvation and peace through the coming of Jesus. This humble son of a carpenter is declared by angels and shepherds, aging prophets and faraway magi as King of the Jews and Savior of humankind. Songwriter Michael Card declares:

“Behold the mystery fantastic and wild; A Mother made by her own Child.”

Author G.K. Chesterton offers this as we ponder the Incarnation:

Gloria en Profundis

There has fallen on earth for a token
A god too great for the sky.
He has burst out of all things and broken
The bounds of eternity:
Into time and the terminal land
He has strayed like a thief or a lover,
For the wine of the world brims over,
Its splendour is split on the sand.

Who is proud when the heavens are humble,
Who mounts if the mountains fall,
If the fixed stars topple and tumble
And a deluge of love drowns all-
Who rears up his head for a crown,
Who holds up his will for a warrant,
Who strives with the starry torrent,
When all that is good goes down?

For in dread of such falling and failing
The fallen angels fell
Inverted in insolence, scaling
The hanging mountain of hell:
But unmeasured of plummet and rod
Too deep for their sight to scan,
Outrushing the fall of man
Is the height of the fall of God.

Glory to God in the Lowest
The spout of the stars in spate-
Where thunderbolt thinks to be slowest
And the lightning fears to be late:
As men dive for sunken gem
Pursuing, we hunt and hound it,
The fallen star has found it
In the cavern of Bethlehem.

The Biblical Story is not one of human ascent to the divine, but of divine longing and pursuit of our race of rebels. It is God that reaches out, God who searches, God who invites…and finally, God who comes in Jesus and makes the ultimate sacrifice for our eternal life. In the words of Linus, “That is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”