December 15, 2018

Dear Friend,

There is an outside and an inside to Christmas. The first can easily be seen: Christmas trees, cards, gifts and parties. Even the story of the birth of Jesus and the legends which surround it are part of the outside. We often do not get beyond the outside to taste the sweetness and joy that can only be found when we get inside of Christmas and find that Christmas is inside of us. Brother Angelus said, "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, if He is not born in thee thy soul is all forlorn."

Much of the celebration of Christmas has been made into hero worship--with Jesus as the object instead of the teacher and guide to worship. This is not what Jesus was about. He came to tell us of our own divinity and to demonstrate the expression of the divine which is within everyone. He came to this Earth as a great example of his natural process and not as the exception.

The symbols of the Christmas story include the parents--Mary and Joseph--and, of course, the little child. But we cannot forget the inn, too full to make room for two weary travelers about to become the most famouse parents in the world! We cannot blame the innkeeper for the conditions that night. The simple fact was a lack of space which forced the child to be born in a stable. And what of the inn this Christmas? Is the inn of your mind too full of worldly thoughts, even the outer meaning and activities of Christmas? Is there room in your awareness for the idea that Christ lives, guides, supports, and heals within the manger of your own being?

This year you are responsive to both the outer and inner side of Christmas. do not simply believe in it. Act it! Make firm in your own mind the conviction that Christ is the true essence of all that you are. Let your, "Merry Christmas," salute to others be a silent acknowledgment of the Christ in them. Whenever you see a Christmas light or candle, let it remind you that the true flame burns within you and within everyone. As you do this Christmas, it will not be merely another Christmas play you participate in, it will be the Christmas of your life.

Merry Christmas and the most blessed of New Years, Friend!


Rev. Greg W. Neteler

P.S. Burning Bowl Service Sunday, January 6, 2019 at 11:00 AM CST.