Yes Virginia, There Is A Jesus!

“If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not about anything”

Motto of the Fountain of Life

　

Our Christmas Scripture is John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.”

In the days preceding Christmas, the Herald-Standard editorial pages were filled with the gun rights/gun control issue. Around 30 local people were interviewed for their opinions. Only about three referenced the need for God. That said something important to me. It was a verification that we subconsciously as a nation do not considered God as a part of any solution. 

Lost Meaning

The Christmas day editorial question was “Have we lost the meaning of Christmas.” Again local people were interviewed for their opinions. Everyone agreed that we had lost the meaning of Christmas. Again, just a few references to God were made. I don’t even recall a mention of Mary or Joseph or the shepherds or the wise men. Most focused the meaning upon family reunions and children. The famous Christmas editorial, “Yes Virginia. There is Santa Clause,” was also run. It is a warm essay about the “spirit” of love and concern that permeates the season. The essence of the piece was that as long as that “spirit” exists, there will be a Santa Clause. There was no mention in the editorial page anywhere about the spirit of Jesus. Here was another confirmation that God is really not a part of America’s social conscious.

Asking Jesus to Stay Outside

 By law He is not allowed in schools or government buildings. Some modern philosophers hold that God is even dangerous and should be shunned for our own good. And if art truly reflects reality, the reality in America is that if God in our public discourse is not already dead, then He certainly is at best irrelevant. With all the social pressures, it is as though we are ashamed to speak His name reverently out loud whenever we are outside Church or home. 

Family

Nonetheless, there is an element of truth to being with family. The Christmas before last, cousins De and Jerry invited me up to State College Pennsylvania . It was great being surrounded with their families and grandchildren. This Christmas in Masontown, however, was very solitary and reflective, but it ended with a wonderful if not unusual family reunion. So the rest of this personal message is what I experienced and did and thought about on Christmas Day and about exploring the true meaning of Christmas. 

Christmas began with breakfast and reading the paper. Being with family seemed a good idea. After lunch I decided to visit mom and dad at St. Agnes Catholic Cemetery and wish them a Merry Christmas. I had the idea that I wanted to share the good news about Christmas. While driving there I thought about what I wanted to say to them. What is Christmas about and what is that good new? The good news is that Jesus lives. And when I thought of Jesus I started to think not only as a son, but as a preacher.

Incarnation to Save

The great news is that because Jesus lives, we all live, not only here in this life, but we share life everlasting to come. We share it with and in Him. And therein is the importance and meaning of Christmas. It commemorates a day when the great God of the Universe became flesh. Adam was a real human being. His sin led to eternal death for all human beings. But Jesus took on flesh and blood and became a real human being just like Adam and you and me. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus taught that whatever Jesus had not assumed, He has not healed. That means that had Jesus not become a real flesh and blood human being, His sacrifice on the cross would have had no meaning for any of us, who are descendents of Adam. Had He not been a human, His resurrection from the grave would have had no significance for flesh and blood humanity. But because he was born of a human woman in Bethlehem, the Cross was efficacious in the forgiveness of human sins, and the Resurrection did ensure and enable that we humans also share His eternal life. It was His intention since before eternity past to share His life with us. And God is serious about that sharing as proved by Good Friday. Theologian John McKenna once said that “God will not be who He is without us.” 

On Our Lips If In Our Hearts

I wanted to say those things out loud to mom and dad. But what would people say seeing someone talking to a tombstone? But I was alone there with no one to see or hear me, yet I still was ashamed to talk out loud to them about Jesus who is so central to my existence. My friend, Rev. Tom Smith in East McKeesport is not ashamed to talk out loud about Jesus in normal conversation and normal daily activity. He says grace before meals in public restaurants just like he does at home, without any fanfare. He politely asks waiters if there is anything for which they would like him to pray; without being religiously effusive. When I am with Tom, I am not ashamed to say the name Jesus out loud in public. It just seems natural; the way it should be. 
 

 Because He Lives

Therefore, I spoke that good news to mom and dad, out loud, and told them that because of Christmas Jesus lived, because of Easter He lives, and because He lives we live. The more I spoke the easier it became to continue speaking to them. Talking out loud to them at a cemetery is not as strange as it may sound, and all because of the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus is God and therefore He is not subject to time. He is not subject to death. Since we share in His life neither time nor death are barriers to my talking to mom and dad. Christmas, the Incarnation, makes the Resurrection effective for humans like you and me, for all of us. And because He rose so will mom and dad. And because time is not a final barrier for a spirit life, it does not matter if they are asleep in the grave or are actively with Jesus now. In either case they are fully aware of every conversation that I had with them at St. Agnes and of every visit made to them. My words spoken over their graves are not lost or hollow just because they don’t respond today. Mom’s nephew, Gary, wrote to me last year after mom died. Gary phrased the reality of the Resurrection so simply yet so eloquently when he said that he can hardly wait for our big family reunion. 

Sharing Jesus

 

I also took that good news message that Jesus lives to my uncle Nick. He rests just about 40 feet from mom and dad. Joe and Sophia are in-laws and they rest just 10 feet from Nick. Uncle Rich is 40 feet the other direction near uncle Jake and uncle Joe. Great aunt and great uncle Julia and Sam are there too. What better place than a cemetery to review the reality of the Resurrection and to tell the family that I am also looking forward to the their Resurrection just as much as they are. The next stop was St. Mary’s Catholic at Leckrone to see grandma Anna, her brother great uncle Jack and their parents, Jedo and Bubba. Bubba came to America alone in 1886 as a 12 year old girl. What a great life she and Jedo had. I was privileged to meet her when I was very young. I was able to remind her of her joy and that this Christmas visit was helping me to share in their collective joy because it is also my joy, our joy. 

 Time Is No Problem

I know saying that they have joy now, today…that sounds strange. However, they are now outside of time. Now they have joy that is complete and pure. And again, it does not matter if they are asleep in the grave or actively with Jesus now. Time does not matter any more. They have the unaltered joy of undiluted anticipation; the anticipation of being resurrected and seeing Jesus. My joy and anticipation is interrupted due to pain in my knee, with worry that my 401k plan will survive, with worry over truck and house repairs, etc. There are so many distractions to our joy, but there are no longer any distraction for theirs. Knowing that made me feel joyful too.

Next was a trip to St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox, to visit dad’s, mom Angela. She was born in 1862 and raised fine children on a farm near the Bessmer #1 coal patch. I finished the day by driving to New Salem’s Presbyterian to share the good news with cousin Pauline. She passed away in October 2012, having lived 98 wonderful years. Sharing that Christmas message and being with so many family members made this a wonderful Christmas for me because it resurrected so many forgotten dead memories which became vivid and alive again and it made Jesus seem so very alive to me and I did not feel at all alone. 

Jesus, the Tie That Binds

I did a lot of thinking about Christmas. Visiting the family enabled me to feel Christmas, to feel my relationship with loved ones and with Jesus in an emotional way, not just an academic one. Because of Jesus my relationship with mom and dad family and friends is not severed with death. Because of Jesus those relationships are alive. And because of His mercy, grace and abundant love, Jesus encourages and enables you and me to have that same vital living relationship with Him, now, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8). 

So what is the meaning of Christmas? The answer is simple. Yes, friends, there is a Jesus.


May the grace and peace and love of God our Father and Jesus our Savior be with you all.

Rev.George Relic, Assistant Pastor
Fountain of Life Church, Washington Pennsylvania
A congregation of Grace Communion International