The Real Meaning of Christmas
For those with open minds and open hearts, Christmas is wondrous and magical, surprising and miraculous, awe-inspiring and transcendent.
Thank God for Christmas!
Without Christmas we would exist in a living hell of infinitely more pain, sickness, suffering and death than we see today. Christmas is the birth of the Son of God to earth, a birth to bring salvation to all the earth, a birth to raise all of us up from earth into a heaven where pain, sickness, suffering and death do not exist.
The birth of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago accomplishes all this? Yes, but Christmas has much more to do than we can possibly imagine with a wonderful experience inside of ourselves.
Jesus Christ counsels us not to judge by surface appearances, teaching us there is always much more going on than meets the eye. Jesus would say, "as above, so below," hinting to us that an event on earth is a reflection of an event in heaven. But heaven, Jesus says, is here and now within us. So an event visible by observation is a reflection of an event inside of us.
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)
So yes, we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus which occurred 2000 years ago. But in a heaven of eternal here and now we celebrate Christmas as the birth of the Christ child within us, the birth of the experience of total innocence and total holiness within us.
Those who have surrendered to Jesus Christ, who have surrendered into the experience of the kingdom of God, laugh at the discovery that it has always been their natural state. We really are children of God. But on earth, in the realm of time and space, heaven was not always experienced. It was a natural state which was clouded over by so much pain, anger, guilt and earth-focus that it might as well have existed "up above the clouds somewhere," rather than right inside of us.
So our true child of God Christ nature had to be born on earth, so to speak. The baby Jesus had to be born within us, God's answer to our prayer to be saved from the world of sickness and pain we had created.
Scientists feeling around inside the box of their primitive little earth science will scoff at such a "mystical" transcendent idea, and narrow-spirited ACLU lawyers will prepare new attacks, but the truth is: outside the realm of time and space the birth of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago is the same event as the birth of Jesus Christ inside of us here and now, an event which brings indescribable love and joy and peace to earth.
Maybe Jesus had in mind scientists and lawyers when in his latest revelation for the 21st Century, A Course in Miracles, he described the Gift of God's Answer:
Perception's laws are OPPOSITE to truth, and what is true of knowledge is not true of anything that is apart from it. Yet has God given Answer to the world of sickness, Which applies to ALL its forms.
God's Answer is eternal, though It operates in time, where It is needed. But, because It IS of God, the laws of time do not affect Its workings. It is in this world, but NOT a part of it. For It is real, and dwells where all reality MUST be. What is projected out, and seems to be external to the mind, is not outside at all, but an effect of what is in, and has not left its source. (ACIM Chap. 26)
If Christmas is God's gift to us, and we are children of God, of the nature of God, is not Christmas our own experience of giving gifts? Let us not complain about how "commercialized" Christmas has become. For who would complain in heaven? Rather, let us realize we are like the ancient wise men. We recognize the birth of the Christ in others and offer gifts of gratitude.
With each gift we give this holiday season, let us cherish this thought:
"I recognize the birth of Christ in you.
This gift I give is for the Christ child in you
bringing holy love and joy and peace to earth ...
the real meaning of Christmas!”
"...nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Click below for more information on A Course in Miracles Light Sessions:
Holy Instant Christian Fellowship- Salt Lake City
