How Would Jesus Be?

The whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays "controversy" is officially off the hook now. The recent fervor, attesting to an "attack on Christmas" shows only how far we have fallen.

The decision to honor or not honor Jesus, the decision to honor or not honor diversity, becomes tough. You can't do both. And yet surely Jesus would honor diversity over his own name. Moreover, he would immediately go to the heart of the question and see what's behind it.

The difference between Christmas and Holiday, or Holy Day, is merely one of specificity. Christmas is for Christians, and everyone on the planet has Holy Days, in whatever fashion. Any substantial scholar will tell you Christmas is when it is due to the Winter Solstice and the Coming of Light - traditional Holy Days for many cultures. No way they sell Christ with an October birthday.

The question of some sort of attack on Christmas by those that honor diversity shows a complete failure to understand what Jesus taught. One might say the question itself lacks Christianity. To ask this question is to disregard the respect Jesus had for every single person he met, saving a few choice words for temple moneylenders.

And indeed, it is the moneylenders and their minions of today, direct descendants, that are at the heart of topics such as "the attack on Christmas."   If we must use words like attack, can't we at least use them in a more accurate context - like the attack on human rights or the attack on our environment. This stuff is at best a distraction, a diversion from more holy and more holistic thinking. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" And we are snared time after time.

At worst, it is a malicious attempt to spread the tide of diversity that is a natural part of a world ever more connected. The same mentality that brought you an attack on Christmas also brought you an attack on Iraq, an attack on American jobs and an attack on civil liberties. Are we surprised? Are we surprised that we felt so damn good with righteous dignity as we tore into the key tenant of Jesus' teaching - Love thy neighbor as thyself.

For starters, change the channel or turn it off. Don't listen to such mental pollution. You might note advertisers before you change the channel. If you have strong feelings about Jesus, a better question than "what would Jesus do?" is "how would Jesus be."

Sit with that thought, dear Christians, and leave the bad and banal media behind. They do not serve your Master.

Particularly now, at Christmas time, how would Jesus be? We see Archbishop Tutu and others that reflect divine light, can you imagine the presence of The Christ?

Well, that presence is in you right now. Your fears and distractions have kept the experience from you, but that doesn't change the fact. Jesus said "Ye are Gods." Hard to see when we're huddled like rats as the world goes down in flames, but no less true. That divine flame only becomes apparent when we choose love over fear.

And for non-Christians? The same flame. Jesus didn't own that spirit, he embodied it, as did The Buddha, The Prophet and countless others.

Let's take this opportunity to truly make these "Happy Holidays." And if someone tries to take you in with that attack on Christmas stuff, remember, "How would Jesus be?"