Christmas 2019
For many Christians today is celebrated as the birth of Jesus who is, in the Christian tradition, recognized and revered as The Christ. Last night I attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church. It was not the traditional midnight mass which I sometimes attend but it was close to Christmas day when I arrived home. The church was richly decorated with hundreds of poinsettia plants, greenery and candles. Music filled the air and swaddled everyone in the promise of comfort and hope.
For me, one of the best parts of the service was the sense of community. In this, my adopted home, I am often surrounded by many loving and creative people; those who I know, should I ask, would come to my assistance as I would theirs.
I was also acutely aware of all those who were not there because they have died of addiction, AIDS or some other disease – those who still walk with us. A few, of course, have died of old age. This week I have been talking with others about the ancestors who daily walk with us on this journey. I am always comforted and a bit awed with the fact that our DNA contains a record of those who have walked the journey from Africa to where we are now. Given the six degrees of separation between every human being it is reasonable to assume that none of us are far removed from Jesus, the Buddha or all the tribal leaders who summoned the will and advice of the gods.
I am reminded of a recording of the song attributed to Runaround sung by Pitbull feat, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte entitled “We are one”. A portion of the lyrics are:
“When the going gets tough
The tough keep going
One love, one life, one world, one fight
Whole world, one night, one place. Brazil
Everybody put your flags in the sky and do what you feel.
It’s your world, my world, our world today”
(One can watch this sung and performed on You Tube.)
These lyrics and the energy with which they are performed remind me of the power of this simple, homeless, out of work carpenter who proclaimed that we are indeed one; we are indeed our brother’s and sisters) keepers; we are indeed able to overcome if we just remember that we – all of us including our ancestors – are one. We can change the world.
The example of that simple carpenter as revealed, not in the ornate chalice but the simple cup shared by the stranger who knocks ever so gently on our door.
We open the door, metaphorically kill the fatted calf and prepare the feast. It is our world.
Written December 25, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
For many Christians today is celebrated as the birth of Jesus who is, in the Christian tradition, recognized and revered as The Christ. Last night I attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church. It was not the traditional midnight mass which I sometimes attend but it was close to Christmas day when I arrived home. The church was richly decorated with hundreds of poinsettia plants, greenery and candles. Music filled the air and swaddled everyone in the promise of comfort and hope.
For me, one of the best parts of the service was the sense of community. In this, my adopted home, I am often surrounded by many loving and creative people; those who I know, should I ask, would come to my assistance as I would theirs.
I was also acutely aware of all those who were not there because they have died of addiction, AIDS or some other disease – those who still walk with us. A few, of course, have died of old age. This week I have been talking with others about the ancestors who daily walk with us on this journey. I am always comforted and a bit awed with the fact that our DNA contains a record of those who have walked the journey from Africa to where we are now. Given the six degrees of separation between every human being it is reasonable to assume that none of us are far removed from Jesus, the Buddha or all the tribal leaders who summoned the will and advice of the gods.
I am reminded of a recording of the song attributed to Runaround sung by Pitbull feat, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte entitled “We are one”. A portion of the lyrics are:
“When the going gets tough
The tough keep going
One love, one life, one world, one fight
Whole world, one night, one place. Brazil
Everybody put your flags in the sky and do what you feel.
It’s your world, my world, our world today”
(One can watch this sung and performed on You Tube.)
These lyrics and the energy with which they are performed remind me of the power of this simple, homeless, out of work carpenter who proclaimed that we are indeed one; we are indeed our brother’s and sisters) keepers; we are indeed able to overcome if we just remember that we – all of us including our ancestors – are one. We can change the world.
The example of that simple carpenter as revealed, not in the ornate chalice but the simple cup shared by the stranger who knocks ever so gently on our door.
We open the door, metaphorically kill the fatted calf and prepare the feast. It is our world.
Written December 25, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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