When you have time to breathe during the Christmas season -- between shopping, baking, shopping, mailing cards, shopping, attending parties, shopping and this year working or going to school right up to the holiday -- there is time to reflect on the meaning of our celebration. The birth of a baby that is believed to be our savior.
In this age of global theology-based conflict, it's important to examine the meaning of Christmas and how it makes Christianity, the dominant religion of western civilization, different from other faiths.
To me, the key difference that goes beyond everything else is the baby. Christians fervently celebrate a tiny, helpless lump of flesh. That such a being is able to exist in the first place, let alone grow, learn and flourish, is astonishing. We're all amazed and usually proud of how our own children develop over time. The odds of just making it to adulthood in ancient times were not so good.
It would be easy to go directly to someone in his 30s who performs miracles and worship him. Much harder to welcome the object of devotion as a crying newborn in a stable.
That's where faith comes in. Faith that this baby will grow into his savior role. Faith to look beyond the humble beginnings and see what could be in the future. That faith is what drives Christians so powerfully in their lives.
That part of the faith is what makes Christianity unique. It brings to believers a great appreciation of life itself, that life is worth living and that we can create something better for ourselves -- both individually and part of a group. That love of life, ingrained in us over the centuries, made us what we are as a people today. It allowed us to build our civilization in the Western world that is now emulated by many other cultures across many other religious lines.
To all who celebrate the holiday, Merry Christmas!
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Despite what people wish for, a hard look at the polling data still shows no sign of a resurgence by John McCain or a collapse by Mike Huckabee in the early GOP primary states or in national surveys. Save the wishing this time of year for gifts.
