Dec. 25, 2006
COMMENTARY: Christmas: An Answer to Humanity’s Problem
By Stephen N. Reed
You ever know someone who is really quite difficult to get along
with but who can surprise by being genuinely charming now and
then?
How about a truly loving, kind, good-humored friend who, when
under stress, can baffle with a word, a look, or other behavior that
is right out of a horror movie or asylum?
Human beings are that way: works in progress.
But sometimes we do things that are beyond a simple immaturity
in our personal growth or emotional development. Sometimes,
for lack of a better term, we....sin. We knowingly do wrong.
We choose it, even when we had the strength to avoid it. And
anyone out there who tells you that they've never had this
experience is fooling themselves or is from another planet.
Sin is our common denominator--it's part of what makes us human.
* * *
But thankfully, that is not the only human common denominator.
Vying with that sinful streak is another, better impulse, one which
wants to do right, wants to love others.
What almost all world religions says is that, in order for this better
sense in us to take charge consistently, we need outside help.
Self-help
methods may have some merit, and much can be discovered through
introspection and the help of good friends.
But none of that can change what is going on in our soul. The battle
between sin and love will continue to present itself: through the
many circumstances and challenges life brings each of us.
Christians celebrate the arrival of Jesus in thanks for a God who loved
humanity enough by sharing our lot with us. How else to gain our trust
than to come and share our burdens -- literally.
When we realize how much God must love us in order to share our
plight, the joyful hymns by Charles Wesley and Franz Gruber make
sense to us at last. This IS good news: a God who can relate, save,
and redeem -- and breathe into us new life.
* * *
Stephen N. Reed is a former Charleston talk radio host.