The New Star of Bethlehem

We forget that one of the key characteristics shared by all great faiths was that they were marginalized in their origins. Their appearance in their unique geographical confines most often represented an overestimated threat to the holders of power. The reasons why the great religions survived is because they were calling for refinements of the soul as the primary mechanism for societal change.Jesus Christ came from a long line of prophets – a string that lasted for hundreds of years. When he finally arrived on the scene with his gospel of humility and self-sacrifice, about the kingdom of God being somewhere “within,” he hardly appeared as any true threat to the established powerbrokers. But as with Muhammad or Buddha, there was a remarkable magnetism in a worldview that called for respect, love and repentance towards God. Jesus drew his greater numbers from the marginalized and outcast. Naturally they were drawn to him because they were rejected by their own societies, trapped in systems that made marginalization seem more like a prison cell than a temporary place.The story of how Jesus Christ eventually established a kingdom of spirit out of the poor, sick, disenchanted and rejected is only fitting because of his own origins. According to the scriptures he was already being driven away on the night of his birth – the first Christmas. He was born in a stable with animals and forced to flee to Egypt because the religious and political powers, knowing of the prophecies proclaiming his coming, did everything in their immense power to exterminate Jesus before he could acquire any status. Returning from the obscurity of Egypt, he lived his life in the isolation of what was then Jewish life. When he finally emerged as a challenger for the hearts and minds of Jewish citizens, it was to the outcasts that he eventually centred his ministry, often railing at the political and religious elites for their lack of concern for the physical, moral and spiritual plight of the people they were meant to care for.For the average Christian this is well-known, revered repeatedly over the Christmas season. But it’s not actually understood by experience. Faith is now an intensively personal journey and places of worship are learning that in order to keep their followers they have to run the gauntlet between proclaiming the need for self-sacrifice while at the same time making pew members comfortable where they are seated.We now live in an age where, through design or accident, the marginalized in society are growing in number and calling for remedial action to assist their plight. Around them they witness massive churches of great wealth, full of affluent people who are comfortable in their surroundings. They also see churches at their very best, offering feeding programs, housing strangers, addressing special needs, and attempting to inspire barren souls.But this isn’t enough – not nearly. Jesus didn’t come to just minister to such folk, but to call on great powers to bend their inclinations towards human justice and the struggling of society. This is what is missing in the modern era. People don’t want to just be fed, clothed or housed. They want out – lifted from the confines of poverty and ushered into a society of opportunity, employment and freedom from want.The church’s lack of such a clear voice during the Occupy Wall Street movement has revealed a fatal flaw in its historic presence in society. For all its service, it is mute – unable to speak out lest it disturb the affluent in its pews. Certain faith leaders in London, Ontario have visited political offices over the last two years and urged leaders to take action on poverty. But these were meetings held inside cloistered halls and in the offices of leaders who have the pictures of themselves shaking hands with prime ministers, famous people, and the elite of their day on the walls. Everything seems to be about ambition and the well to do. Speaking in private is one thing; proclaiming your belief in public is another. And challenging you own congregations is something else again.The very thing these religious leaders were calling on our city to undertake has now been echoed in the call from the Occupy movement to address where our modern society has gone astray. But suddenly from the churches – silence. This isn’t some pretty star gliding across the heavens guiding wise men to a manger. It’s the nova of a new era, calling upon all people of faith to pick up their beliefs and follow what is clearly a troubled road. Our city officials have called for a new citizen’s effort to deal with the legitimate grievances of the Occupy movement and to bring recommendations back for city and provincial review. Church leaders had challenged these officials to do something, and now, thanks to the Occupy movement, the city is moving forward with the challenge. But they now gaze in the distance for the people of Christian faith to follow their historic leader, not to the mission or foodbanks of their age, but into the halls of power and wealth. To date, they wait in vain.Martin Luther King Jr. once remarked that the most prejudicial hour in America was 11 o’clock on Sunday mornings, when churches met to worship their God. He called upon those churches to get up from the comfortable pews and throw their weight behind the civil rights movement. That call is now being uttered in our time. A symbolic star is moving across our own firmament, calling us to follow. The Christian faith was born among the marginalized and it was world-changing. The more it has moved out into affluence, the less power it has retained. The call for the churches this Christmas is not just to worship, but to consecrate themselves to the original mission of their founder – restoring justice to the earth.