From Birth to Birth

Dear Eugene,

The morning is dark and wet.  I looked out the window and tried to see something new.

I sought not merely a new perspective, new depth, new scope, new discovery, but a new creation, a renewal of the old because history matters, a new birth because the old only matters in light of the new beginning.

Christmas is the beginning of a new beginning.

We opened our gift, liked, even loved what we saw.  But what are we to do with it?  The baby is so weak, fragile, vulnerable; what difference would it make in the scheme of things?  Three years of ministry, sayings, doings, a match barely stays lit and you can see the end coming fast and strong; let go of it quick lest you burn yourself.

His friends let go of him when he needed them the most.

Gift unwrapped.  Once liked 👍, even loved, now dispensable.  Like last December's Facebook post.  Meanwhile another war broke out, another child died, another bullet flied, another stomach left empty, another longing unsatisfied.

So the world looks forward to the next Christmas, with eager expectation and cynicism just as earnest, knowing full well it will become another "meh" in no time.

I have this posted on the wall I'm facing now:

Our identities as men go from one birth to another.
And from birth to birth, we'll each end up
bringing to the world the child of God that we are.

 The incarnation, for us, is to allow the filial reality of Jesus
to embody itself in our humanity.
The mystery of incarnation remains what we are going to live.

 In this way, what we've already lived here
takes root as well as...
what we're going to live in the future.

It is a quote from one of the most profound movies I was blessed to watch.

I shall watch it again soon.

Almost Christmas.

Yours, Alex

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