by Joanie Butman
Over the holidays I read David Brooks’ new book, How to Know A Person. It should be required reading – especially during an election year. In a world where people are more connected than ever via the internet, they are also more disconnected than ever with those around them. Brooks surmises that this lack of personal connection is a large contributor to many of the social ills plaguing us. We are experiencing a deadlier epidemic than Covid. It is one of hatred. Respectful disagreement is long gone, replaced by villainizing anyone who doesn’t share the same perspective. He traces this deterioration of civility to invisibility. Brooks claims that the most common lament currently is that many people feel unseen and unheard. Their clamor for attention and belonging leads to any number of egregious behaviors.
With this in mind, my prayer for all of us as we celebrate The Feast of the Epiphany is that we will have one of our own – a life-changing discovery (or rediscovery) of God’s incomparable, unending, extravagant love. When you understand that you are fully known, seen, heard and loved (warts and all) and allow that love to permeate your entire being, you perceive and treat others differently. The fruit of His Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) overflow into everyone around us whether it be around the corner or around the world. If we choose to base our identity, worth and security in the truth of who we are in Christ, we aren’t threatened or offended by those with differing opinions or beliefs.
My father once told me that the truest thing he could say about love was that it was a response to being loved. Think about it. You can’t give away that which you don’t have, which is exactly why God gave us the miracle we celebrate on Christmas. By giving us the gift of Himself, personified in the birth of His own son, we are offered access to His lavish love so that we, in turn, can share it with others. That’s the gift, the promise and the hope of Christmas.
If you recall from the scripture telling of the Magi’s journey, after being warned by an angel regarding Herod’s true purpose, they travelled home another way. Tony Jarvis, author of With Love and Prayers and a wise man in his own right, comments about their decision to return home a ‘different’ way:
That may mean nothing more than the literal fact that they went home by a different route to avoid Herod in Jerusalem. But it also may mean that for the rest of their lives there was a difference; that somehow, their lives had been changed forever by their contact with the baby; that the rest of their lives would be lived ‘another way.’
May we all choose to begin 2024 ‘another way’ – one that shines God’s light into a darkened world. We can all choose to be illuminators.
Happy New Year!
