Along with the concept that truth is relative, comes the idea that all roads lead to heaven; that all God’s lead to the same ending or result. Many people have said all religions are fundamentally the same or at least similar at their core. Yes, there is diversity within practice and tradition, but ultimtately they are all quite alike. This, I would like to suggest, is not the case.

Christianity offers something that is entirely dissimilar to that which any other religion does. At the heart of this faith is the desire of the divine to be in relationship with His creation. At the centre of Christendom is the Father holding out his arms calling all mankind into intimate embrace. This is what sets this faith apart from all others.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he talks about how God is our father, and that we may call him Abba. This word is Hebrew meaning father. Some that have experts analyzed the scriptures maintain that the word would be the equivalent of the word daddy in English. Daddy. What a familiar  word.

We don’t call just anyone our daddy. That title or word is not used for any average Joe, but rather to describe a father and moreover one with whom there is a deep sense of trust and safety. As children many of us called our father ‘daddy’ because we felt safe in his arms, and he was the one whom gave us life. He cared for us like none other. This is the wording Paul uses to speak of God. He suggests that we can call him ‘daddy’.

The implication here is that God wants to be a father in our lives. For some, that is a father we never had. He desires to be the one with whom we feel safe, and at home in. The one who holds us when we cry.

No other religion I know of offers this; a ‘daddy’ kind of relationship. The divine creator of the world desires to be our daddy, the Abba in our life. So, Christianity then is not really a religion at all but a relationship. Or at least it is meant to be. From this idea of Abba, stems the Gospel. Christ died on the cross so that you and I might be able to called God Abba; so that there would be no space in between us.

Divinity and Humanity were never meant to be split apart. God and man were meant to be in deep, thorough, cherished, authentic relationship. This is what Christianity offers. More to the point, this is what the one true God offers. Abba.

Sometimes the consumerism that is ever-encroaching upon this season can function like a box keeping me from seeing what truly matters. Family and friends, matter deeply. But so does the man sitting outside the Easton Centre who shivers in the cold as I pass him by to purchase my Christmas gifts.

Don’t get me wrong, I like giving and getting presents just as much as the next person-who doesn’t? That being said, though, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve missed the point. Not whether we’ve missed it; just me. Ultimately, whether you’ve missed it is not for me to judge, and is beyond my control. What I ca judge, however, and what I can change is me. My perspective. My actions. It’s almost become one of my personal Christmas traditions to contemplate the meaning of Christmas, and whether what I do during the season is what Christ would want me to. It’s become a habbit of mine to think and then, once I’ve come to a conclusion, not do much to change.

Every year for some time now, I’ve analyzed this season and I always come to the conclusion that this, in and of itself, is not what Christ intended Christmas to be. I realize (anually) that a Christocentric Christmas is not one characterized by gift-giving to family and friends who don’t need the things I give them. Rather a Christ-centered Christmas is one spent focused on those who don’t know him, and need some love and attention.

I enjoy Christmas, and I love spending time with my friends and family. I love the food, and getting nice things for those I care for, so I’m not suggesting I should put an end to doing these things. Instead, I think its time to do something to change my perspective on Christmas. I acknowledge that I cannot change the world by myself. I know that I can’t change the way North America celebrates Christmas. What I can do, though, is do something out of love on a micro level. Maybe I can make a difference in one person’s life. Maybe this season I can be Christ’s hands and feet to someone who needs to feel his touch in their lives.

This is the best way I can think of to celebrate Christ’s birth-to love someone who needs it in his name. To love someone in need the way he loves me-with arms extended. I mean not to suggest that I should forgo Christmas. I merely think its time I include someone (or some people) of need this holiday season.

More than all of the aforementioned aspects of a stressful strech of the road of life, though, the one that is most important is one’s relationship with God. It is at times when one is approaching their breaking point that they need God the most. Though it is sad that it often takes moments such as these for us to realize we need God, it is the truth.

One of the most troubling things I hear people say, and I hear in my own mind, is the idea that we are too busy for God. I have thought this many a time, though indirectly. Most of us just simply neglect him, whether intentional or not, and go about drudging through our busy schedules. Sometimes we even forget him entirely, due to the constant barrage of things that must be done. This is quite ironic because we forget and neglect God during the times when we (palpably) need him the most. We always need him, but its his presence that sustains us through the rough times.

I must admit that my personal tendency is to become sullen and down when I am exhausted and ovewhelmed, but this is not what God desires. He wishes that we praise him during the periods inw hichw e experience a dryspell. Praising him during the high points in one’s life is far too easy, and is not much of a sacrifice. Worshipping during the times in which we’re overwhelmed and indescribably tired, however, produce a sweet smelling offering that rises to the heavens and make God smile. Praising God whilst feeling beaten down is so difficult, but means the world to God.

So not only must we ensure that our connection with the creator of the heavens and the earth is always top notch, we must worship when we feeling like cursing. Now this very point brings up the question of what worship really is, but there is not time enough today to address (or at least attempt to) the true nature of worship. I will however briefly suggest that worship is a lifestyle as opposed to merely songs Sunday morning. With that being said, glorifying God should be evident through action as well as integrity throughout one’s entire life, through both the rough and smooth points. It is such a life that, I believe, makes our father in heaven proud to call us his sons and daughters; that is one in which we praise him while we seem be floundering underneath the wave upon wave of hardship. This is true religion, true relationship, true Christianity.

If one imagines life as sort of race, a marathon in which all must finish to receive the prize. Unlike a normal race, however, the prize is offered to all, regardless of the trash they carry. He is the prize; an eternity spent with him is the reward we can receive. But, as mentioned before, one must finish the race and there is only one way to do so. It is inevitable that the load we carry will cause us to stray of course and therefore not reach the finish line. Some simply give up, some give in, and some finish.

There is an option to give up one’s load, to make running the race easier. Logic would dictate that this is a most obvious course of action. Why would one not make running the remainder of the race easier? Being the mistrusting, and hard-hearted people that we are, we assume there must be a catch of some sort. But, as we investigate, this is hardly the case. One man, though he was so much more than this, made a sacrifice many years ago so that the rest might have the option to be released from the suffocation and bondage of their past. He gave his life so that we might truly live one and live it to the fullest. He was killed so that humanity could have the option to run the race and finish it. All that he asks in return for taking our burdens is a submission to him. He only asks that we follow him, and for this he fills us with the hope, love and joy that we lack.

His name is Jesus Christ and many know, or think they do, who he is but I submit to you that he was not the man you think he was. If you think you know him, and understand his message yet choose not to give it all up, I would suggest that you, in fact, do not.

Why do we find it so hard to give up the little that we posses for so much more? The leaders of this world, and by this I mean (for the most part) the media and popular culture, tell us that we are the masters of our domain. They fool us in to thinking that freedom is living one’s life in such a way that allows them to accumulate as much wealth, power, and pleasure as we can. What a grievous lie. Those who spend their lives pursuing such things are left with nothing in the end, because they live like there won’t be one. I mean not to suggest that there is something wrong with wealth, power or pleasure but when this is one’s chief aim in life, they often become and black hole consuming everything in their path and are left empty.

The point I wish to convey here is this: Christ gave up much so that we might have so much more than we deserve; that we might live with him. This life does not the “religious” or “ritualistic” life that some lead, but can rather be a vibrant and organic messy spirituality. This does not mean, however, that we may pick and choose what to believe as proponents of the new age movement would suggest, but rather that a life lived with Christ will be the most existing and joyous existence one can imagine.

If what I am saying is true, and obviously I believe it is, than why not give up the burdens, and mistakes that cause us so much pain and turmoil? Why not give oneself to God fully, and experience a liberty that even the most eloquent of poets cannot adequately describe? I promise you that Christ will fill the whole that you deny exists within your soul, you will have the love that sustains.

As I think about it, those that confound me even more are those everyday average joes who walk around unnoticed. The average man and women who walk through life, without so much as a kind word from anyone. They plow through the mess of life with no kind words, embraces or meaningful personal interactions to make the pain a little easier to handle. This struck me as I was sitting in my seat on the subway, completely cut off from all the other passengers, though I was sitting right beside them. No one looked each other in they eyes unless they knew them. We did not look at each other, say so much as a “good evening”, and certainly did not touch one another. Touching would be awkward wouldn’t it? Heaven forbid I touch someone for a minute and talk to them for an instant. If I did, I would realize that they are a person too. It’s better to remain cold and detached.

What I don’t understand about all of the aforementioned situations is why we remain so detached from one another. We are all hurting. We are all broken. All of our lives are messy. Why, then, must we pretend we are the only person in the world who matters? We are all people, living our lives together, breathing the same air yet we act as if our goals, wishes and dreams are all there is. The man in the large building wielding his overpriced business suit is no more valuable than the man sleeping on a grate outside.

We are all so inconceivably conceited, deceived to think we have the right to turn a blind eye to the brokenness outside the box of our own ambitions. We all lack the ability to fend for ourselves, regardless of how well we appear to be doing so. We all lack something vital to our very existence. A gaping hole lies in our soul and the longer we pretend it isn’t so, the more life’s woes tear the hole and make it bigger. I cannot fill this absence of love with anything but him. He is the what will make me whole. All he asks is that I love him.

As I sit and think about the utter pain and sadness in our world, my heart sinks and hurts. It aches for people, because I catch a taste of their agony. I know what will dull the pain and replace the agony of the desolate with hope, happiness and peace; I know the love. I experienced it on a daily basis, yet I am still capable of remaining silent and moreover closing my eyes to the chaos pain causes and plugging my ears to the cries of woe. Going through the motions of life becomes tiring and stale so quickly.

The knowledge of the saving love of Jesus Christ must produce results; it must feed the hungry, listen to the broken and embrace the bitter. This is the message of the gospel; this is why Jesus died-to seek and save the lost. We are ever so lost in the fogginess of a hurting city, but we must look to Jesus and remember he’s right there in the mess of life with us. All he asks is submission-giving in to his love and letting it change us as it will.

Amongst all the messy confusion of my thoughts, I find myself lost in translation. I know my faith must translate to tangible actions of love to others, but how? I lost my way somewhere between knowledge and works, and became comfortable with standing between the two, knowing but not doing as much as I’ve been called to. Where do you stand?

Please understand that my intentions are not to attack the rich or apathetic. This is merely a cross section of my thoughts at this moment in time. My intention is to provoke the same thought in you that God has stirred up in me.