Dear Spiritual Family,
Well first, Merry Christmas! Today, in our final video message of the Season, we are focused on the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the Event of Christmas Itself.
In the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the theme is JOY. Jesus said in John 15:11 – “These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” It is the fullness of that joy that we are speaking of today. It is a joy that lives within each of us that Jesus points the way to. And what are these “things” that Jesus spoke to us?
That God is Love. That God is our Father – our Creator. That we access that love through forgiveness. That we are to love God with all our mind, our might, and our soul. That we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That he, Jesus, is always, always with us. And would you agree that is a lot to be joyful about?
Author and master teacher, Alan Cohen, offers an excellent acronym for this word: Just Open Yourself! – We offer an Iteration here – Just Open YourSelf. This Self is spoken to in answer to the question, “What am I?” in A Course in Miracles –
“I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite…..”
The first “Gift of Christmas” that the title suggests that we acknowledge and accept is the obvious one. Mary reads from Luke, the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. We encourage you to sit in the quiet and contemplate the magnitude of this Gift to the world, to our world. He came to, above all, love us, and show us the way to comprehend the second Gift.
And what is this gift? It is you. It is the Christ Being that you are – that we all are. It is the Holy Child spoken of so clearly in the “answer” given above.
And we humbly ask that you pause once again in this busy Christmas Season, to meditate deeply on this Truth. The description given above is absolute and unequivocal. It comes from One Who knows us beyond all doubt, beyond all appearances.
As we, individually and collectively truly commit to accept these Gifts of Christmas, our Light grows brighter, our Love grows stronger and we find the true Joy that God intends for us.
Merry Christmas.
We love you so,
Rev. Steve and Mary