While the day of Festivus (a fake holiday, made up by the creators of Seinfeld and celebrated annually on December 23. For more about this mythical festivity, check out this link: https://www.history.com/articles/festivus-meaning) is officially a day for the airing of grievances, allow me to engage in an act of confession.

I confess to you today that I am MUCH more comfortable living in an “either/or” than a “both/and” world. 

Either/or. Black/white. Right/wrong. Give me binarity! Let me swim in an ocean filled with clear choices… choices that allow me to plant my flag HERE and move on. Please don ‘t force me to wrestle with shading, nuance, subtlety. 

When I find myself buffeted by the storms of change (as I do now on an almost daily basis), I crave an anchor to cling to. A beachhead upon which I can fling my weary body and rest awhile.

I jest, of course. 

Because if there is anything that Christmas celebrates besides love, family, tradition, generosity, and egg nog, it is Jesus… the very embodiment of the BOTH/AND nature of God and the world. 

In the nativity narrative (found in Luke 2 and Matthew 1-2 in the Bible), we are forced to come to terms with a Loving Creator who is BOTH imminent AND transcendent. Who is BOTH utterly beyond our puny human constructs of space and time AND intimately entwined in the weft and warp of this quotidian existence. 

Simultaneously.

I have also come today to confess that I struggle with the boldness of the Christ child. He insists that when I come to the stable and kneel in reverence, I abandon my carefully curated picture of the world. The Child coaches me to embrace the possibility of the coexistence of Good and Evil… Dark and Light… Human and Divine… Heaven and Earth. 

He urges me to step out and live in a world of uncomfortable complexity, shunning the siren’s call of Tidy Boxes. He says I do not love my neighbor in spirit and in truth until I love the WHOLE of my neighbor.

Today’s outpouring is both a confession of flaws and an airing of grievances, consistent with the spirit of Festivus. Daring to live in this real, complicated, deep, nuanced, perplexing, abundant, beautiful world throws me off balance. Dwelling in God’s reality instead of a sandcastle of my own creation makes me look foolish and unprepared. It causes me to stutter and hesitate rather than puff and pontificate. 

And I’ll confess… it pisses me off. 

So maybe this year I will finally do what I have been called to do every year. Maybe I will lay down my sword and shield. Maybe I will open my heart and my arms and embrace the infinite, benevolent, omnipotent, both/and God who loves me (and you) enough to come and live with us in flesh and blood.

Abundant Christmas blessings to you and yours;