During the Christmas season we are asked to believe in miracles. Believe that a virgin conceived a child by the Holy Spirit. Believe that an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary would give birth to the Son of God. Believe that angels came to the shepherds in a field outside of Bethlehem and told them where to find the baby Jesus! And yet, if anyone claims to have seen an angel in today's world, they are scoffed at and called delusional.
We are told that Jesus grew up to be a great teacher and perform many miracles. He said: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." () And yet, many churches condemn those who perform spiritual healings because, you never know, the healing might come from the devil rather than God.
Jesus demonstrated that life is eternal, and yet, we are told not to try to contact our loved ones in spirit. Catholics and other Christians may pray for their departed loved ones, but in Protestant churches we are told that we should not pray for the dead, and we should not pray TO anyone other than God and Jesus. Life is eternal, and yet many Christians believe that this one brief physical life is our only opportunity for salvation. They don't seem to believe in the miracle of a loving God who desires the best for his and her children.
I often feel that Christians have put themselves in a little box with God and their definition of God. If church members stray from the perimeters of that box with questions, explorations, or imagination, they risk the wrath of God. If we tear down the walls of that box, we find that God expands to fill the outer reaches of the universe and beyond. In Matthew 19:26 we read that "with God all things are possible." So yes, it is possible - and most likely - that God has created intelligent beings on trillions of planets throughout the universe. It is possible and likely that many of these beings are more highly evolved than we are, and that they are already among us, waiting for the day when we are spiritually mature enough to meet them peacefully.
With God all things are possible - and yet, many who pray for God's kingdom to come to earth do not believe it will happen. Some Christians have told me that we will never know peace in this world, even though we read in Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." In Luke 2:14 we learn that a heavenly host of angels said to the shepherds on that first Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
We sing and pray about world peace every year at Christmastime, but how many believe it can become reality? Is it an impossible pipe dream, or do we believe that with God all things are possible? Perhaps if we truly believe the miracle of Christmas - that Jesus was born to save the world - and work toward that end, we will find favor with God and the world will be saved from the violence and mayhem we have allowed to exist for far too long.
I believe that if we open our hearts and minds to the possibility of miracles this Christmas, and every day, we will discover there is so much more to God's universe than we ever dreamed possible. Why not try it and see what happens?
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