I don’t remember how old I was when I was first introduced to the phrase, “God don’t make no Junk,” but it was early in my life. Maybe it was on a poster in a Sunday School class, or lesson theme at vacation Bible school, I do not remember. I know that I heard it again at college Bible study led by one of my professors.
It is not a new idea nor is it a radical idea.
The idea that God created humankind and called it very good is a core tenet of the orthodox Christian theology (Genesis 1:31). The Bible says that God created humankind in the image of God (Genesis 1: 27). I understand that to mean that I cannot look at another human being without seeing something of the reflection of the divine in that person.
There are people in prominent positions of power referring to a whole group of humans as garbage. To call another human garbage is tantamount to calling God a liar.
It denies the goodness of God’s creative act if not the very existence of God,
The idea that a human being created by God would be called garbage is abhorrent and distressing. The very idea contradicts everything the Bible teaches about human beings and God’s creation of them.
It denies the goodness of God’s creative act, if not the very existence of God, and contradicts not only the best ideas of the major world religions, but also the basic notion of human decency. .
Thomas Merton said, “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”
All of us bear the image of God, we are made of the same stuff, we live on the same planet.
Anything that happens to one of us, impacts all of us.
If Christmas means anything, it means not only that God loves us enough to come to us, and God desires for us to love one another as God loves each of us.
Love is the central ethic of the teachings of Jesus. It is not a feeling or a thought; it is an action.
When we love others as God loves us, we work for justice for all, show mercy to all, share compassion with all and offer grace that borders on amazing because that is the way of Christ.
The Christmas season is an opportunity for us to be reminded that life can be different.
The celebration of the birth of Jesus is a remembering that God wants us to share life together. We are not bound to systems that leave some of us with too little to make it through the day while others of us have more than we can use in a thousand lifetimes.
Life can be different.
We are not bound to live only for ourselves. We can choose the common good rather than that which is good for only a few.
Life can be different.
We can stop thinking that there is nothing we can do to make a difference and begin recognizing that our small acts of kindness, compassion and solidarity can have an impact far beyond the time and place in which we offer them.
Yes, life can be different.
While collectively and as individuals we have missed that mark time and again throughout history and in our own lives, Christmas can be a time of beginning again, a time of renewing hope. Christ is born. Therefore, there is hope.
I love what MaryAnn McKibben Dana says about hope. “Hope is wrapped up in what we make real. Hope isn’t what we think. Hope isn’t what we feel. Hope isn’t even what we imagine is possible. Hope is what we do in the face of suffering, pain, and injustice.”
When there is no prospect for success,
When there is seemingly no way to do anything helpful or meaningful,
When the noonday is as dark as the darkest night, we have a choice to make.
In those moments, we are called to do the thing we know to do, not because we can see the positive outcome, but because hope needs flesh and bones, hope needs hands and feet, hope needs hearts and minds, hope needs us as much as we need hope. When we choose hope, when we choose to be hope, we make life different for ourselves and for our neighbors.
For Christmas this year, we could give each other a gift of hope. We could give it with the idea that we are going to try to be the hope that our struggling neighbor needs.
Imagine people running around trying to speak and act in ways that cause others to have hope. What a merry Christmas that would be.
Reverend Ed Sunday-Winters
Reverend Ed Sunday-Winters is the pastor of the Greensboro United Church of Christ.
