The Christmas paradoxes continue: God becomes a human child...the Creator, a creature; his death gives life; we celebrate his human birth and the heavenly birth of martyrs Stephen, the Innocents, and today, Thomas a Becket. There's no escaping these paradoxes if we truly value and live our Christian life. This verse from a beautiful hymn describes the need for "death" in its many forms:
And all the nations then will see
The light that spills from Zion's height
And purifies our blinded hearts
till sin-dimmed eyes can see aright.
The price is high: a piercing sword,
A cross that asks of us to choose
The fire that cinders selfishness--
For we are saved by what we lose.
What we lose: even when the time we planned for what we considered important is usurped by a commitment to service to others...especially to family. A mother holding a crying baby when the dishes she planned to wash remain in the sink, untouched...or the beds remain un-made...or the practice or game that ran overtime and required a longer wait than anticipated and thus threw off the plans for the rest of the day. We all live through moments such as these. It is consoling to know that in such cases, "we are saved by what we lose."
Bro. Rene
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