Joy, family gatherings, gifts, communication with friends, quiet contemplation, religious renewal—these are some of the thoughts and feelings that accompany the approach of Christmas for the Christian world. In fact, in parts of the non-Christian world, Christmas calls forth many of these same images. But the fact is, Christmas commemorates the most momentous event in the history of the world and for all the inhabitants of the world—the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Today, we scan the heavens so that we can find out if there are other beings in the universe. We look for the origin of life, and send space probes to study the planets to understand what formed them, and from what materials. Yet the event that we celebrate at Christmas, which took place over two thousand years ago, probes these very issues. It overturns material concepts and reasoning, and vaporizes the whole theory of solidified matter. And why? Because Jesus was born of a virgin.

That unique experience, which was prophesied centuries before, revises all theories of causation and generation. It brings the forever Christmas message that men and women have a spiritual source; that their true origin is not in egg or sperm; that their human development can transcend limitations of the flesh; and that they can cast off the enslaving shackles of sin, disease, and even of death itself.

We don't know much of Jesus' life until he stepped forward into public view and did the very things that pointed to his fulfillment of prophecy. He healed all types of sickness, stilled storms, fed multitudes, freed people from enslaving sinful habits, and raised the dying and the dead. This caused many people to listen to him and follow the new doctrine he taught. Once, he spoke with a woman who came to a well to draw water, and confided to her his special role. Afterward, she exclaimed to others, "Is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29). In a burst of spiritual clarity, his disciple Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16).

But most people turned on Jesus, rejected and ignored him. How can one explain their denial that he was the promised Messiah in the face of such overwhelming proof? It can only be explained by the extreme hatred of truth that tried to kill the infant Jesus and that dogged his steps all through his healing ministry. That hatred became so intense that it culminated in his betrayal, false accusation, unjust trial, and brutal execution. And this was intended to be the final denial of the Christmas message of universal freedom and salvation.

But the message of Christmas continues to unfold because it is further illumined by Jesus' resurrection, and fulfilled by his ascension. In fact, Christmas and Easter are irrevocably linked in one glorious promise and its fulfillment. The universal message of Christmas (the prenatal innocence of men and women and all creation), the message of the resurrection (the continuity of their progress in the forever expression of Life), and the message of the ascension (the eternal unity of God and His creation), are one symphonic chord. One part of that chord can't be separated from the other parts, and can't be fully understood without them. Jesus' disciples performed some healings while they were with him. But they didn't come into the fullness of their mission until, after his ascension, they received the Holy Ghost (identified by Mary Baker Eddy as Divine Science) and understood that divine Principle, not personality, accomplished the Saviour's mighty works.

Jesus himself explained this beautiful, symphonic chord. At one time he said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). Since Jesus came along some 18 centuries after Abraham (the father of the Israelite nation), he was indicating that his true nature as the timeless expression of the light and glory of God is without beginning. At another time he said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). And here he was indicating that his true nature is without end. That timeless nature is the Christ, the presence and power of God. It's the glory and manifestation of God that finds us, comforts us, and heals us on our daily journey Spiritward. The Christ has always existed, though it has not always been understood. It antedated Jesus. But he was the full human representative of the Christ, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy (see Luke 4:16-19). Jesus said, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father" (John 16:28). That's the full Christmas message of life as Spirit — without beginning and without end.

This message is very individual. We hear the call of Christmas that tells us we have each come forth from the Father; that flesh and blood (DNA, heredity, environment, culture, education, bodily conditions) cannot shape us, limit us, or even help us. Christmas tells us that the creation of the all-intelligent divine Mind is as pure and free as its source because ever-present divine Mind knows itself and its own allness. The result of its knowing is the sons and daughters of God. The image and likeness of divine Love partakes of the nature of Love and is good and free. Christian Science brings home the Christmas message and tells us that an understanding of one's true spiritual source brings freedom from the limitations of the flesh.

The concept of ourselves as linked to matter as our source has to be wrestled down. As we understand that our true being is always linked by divine law to our creative source, divine Mind, our individuality as sons and daughters of God becomes apparent. We then begin to extricate ourselves from negative character traits and tendencies. And in the same way, sickness also loses its hold on us because it, too, is seen as separate from our true being. The Apostle Paul said, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17).

This is explained succinctly by Mary Baker Eddy in her book Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, where she wrote, "Mortals will lose their sense of mortality—disease, sickness, sin, and death—in the proportion that they gain the sense of man's spiritual preexistence as God's child; as the offspring of good, and not of God's opposite,—evil, or a fallen man" (p. 181).

Some years ago, I was serving as a chaplain in the US Army. A high-ranking officer asked if I'd come by to see him and his wife. When I arrived at their home, they took me to see their twin sons, who were a little over a year old. One was toddling around the room. The other couldn't walk. He was hunched over. His back was bent, and he couldn't lift his head from his shoulder. The birth of the child had been very difficult, and the family had been told that instruments used during the birth had caused the defect. The Army doctors had said the child would probably never walk, and that he'd always be stooped over. The parents asked me if I would pray for the child, which I said I would be happy to do.

It became clear to me that I needed to lift my thought above the false concept of the child as a biological mortal locked into a straitjacket of physical limitations. I prayed to see—that is, to understand—the child's preexistence, or his forever coexistence, with his Father-Mother God, his true source. That perfect preexistence was the Christmas message Jesus prayed in the closing hours of his ministry, when he referred to his own true selfhood: "Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5). That glory showed the radiant reality of true being as never encased in matter. When I saw more clearly that this child was not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit, I knew he couldn't be held by material laws of accident. It wasn't muscles and nerves that supported him, but divine Mind that supported its own perfect expression.

The Christmas message of spiritual creation again brought with it the outward effect of "on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14)—in this case, healing. In two weeks, the child was well. His back was straight, his head was up, and he was learning to walk. The last I heard of him, he was six feet four and only stooped to get through a doorway!

The Christmas message of joy and promise calls to each of us in these trying times when suffering seems so prevalent, when victims of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wars, are everywhere, and when pandemics threaten millions of people. Let us not neglect the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), which can be translated today into prayers that see each individual as God's offspring—fed by divine Spirit, housed in Love's sheltering care, and companioned in the warmth of Soul's tender embrace.

Momentary suffering in the face of what looks like a power opposite to God—as evidenced by the crucifixion—calls for courage and spiritual strength. What burdens of the flesh can we exchange for the gifts of Life, Truth, and Love? Can we see our preexistent purity and live it to the best we can in our daily lives, even in the face of adversity?

The cross is the emblem of Christianity. It depicts sacrifice, love, self-renunciation. And the cross carries with it a crown of victory. A portion of a poem written by Mrs. Eddy states, "I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright" (Poems, p. 12). I have found that when I humbly "kiss the cross"—struggle with the lure and pretensions of matter, and strive to renounce characteristics that aren't God-centered—the cross truly becomes a crown of victory and spiritual authority.

In that one symphonic chord demonstrated by Jesus' life, man's continuing oneness with God is the same as his preexistent being. He doesn't begin or end. He is, because God is! Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Perfect God, perfect man. Perfect cause, perfect effect. Now and forever. That's the message of Christmas, its promise and fulfillment. css