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I don’t know how much I will be online this weekend, so: My wife found this recently. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies– ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4 )Tell your wife thanks, Ray. That was cool. Merry Christmas to all!
I enjoyed the Glass Harp duo — they are fantastic! I enjoy the feeling of Christmas, traditions, family, sometimes the dramas, and always the music.
Sometimes I look at the mythological nature of christmas: even as LDS do not accept that December 25th was the actual birth of Christ (it most likely wasn’t), we all celebrate so many mythological aspects.
Was Christ born of a virgin? The bible, book of mormon, and quran all say he was; but as my faith no longer accepts that such miracles are literally the case, i’m not sure it matters. The historicity of the event is suspect, but it feels good to celebrate it regardless.
Did wise men from the east come to visit the young child? There seem to be some problems with this account — the star timing, the time intervening, the slaughter of the innocents — all a little suspect. Yet, why the magi? what was important about the story? Some would say that the gifts of the magi were symbolic for a more syncretic knowledge that may have come from the east to influence the young child as he grew. One can find elements of hindu and chinese teaching in Jesus’s message, but there is no evidence whatsoever of such influence from a historical perspective…except, the vague comment, “wise men from the east”. Yet in his message, east or west, north or south, there is a message of love and peace for all.
Was Christ the Son of God? To the literal mind of Brigham Young, God himself came down and initiated the act — such literalism certainly takes away from the mythological aspects, and puts the birth of Christ into a sort of land of weirdness that seems totally unnecessary. Christ said, “I am the Son of God”, more or less, in John 10. Do we take him at his word? I do, in a Way: He marked the Path and led the Way, and every point defines, to light, and life, and endless day, where God’s full presence shines.
I doubt nearly every literal event associated with christmas, yet all my doubt doesn’t matter. The symbol, the myth, the beauty of the message brings me to tears as I kneel before the cradle of the christ-child. Somehow, in a way, that proves truer than facts, I feel his love and give homage to the sacrifice that makes me whole.
May you all enjoy the richness of the Spirit of this season — thank you for allowing me to be part of your community.
Merry Christmas.
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