I have continually found it remarkable that the stoning of St. Stephen is remembered on the day after Christmas. There is a temptation and tendency to sentimentalize our Christian sacred story. I want to believe that the birth of our Savior is followed by the remembrance of the first Christian martyr, in order to remind us that birth and death are constant companions, literally and symbolically. And what of the Holy Innocents who were sacrificed to save our Savior? And let us not forget that our salvation comes through the death of the baby in the manger!
This reflection is not to sully the Christmas Story or to emphasize the dark side of our Sacred Story. This word is to compensate for the sentimentality that can take a substantial story and trivialize and make a superficial one sided tale. The opposite is always there. When we deny the opposite, it finds its way into the picture. The opposite of sentimentality is brutality. When one pushes to the extreme, it is inches from its opposite. The Crusades: “we have such a loving God, The Prince of Peace, we want you to accept him as your own and if you don’t we will kill you!”
We need always to hold both truths: No death without birth and no re-birth without death. We live our lives between two opposite extremes which are the same. Our story integrates the two: manger and martyr.
What effect has the secular celebration of Christmas had on your appreciation of our Sacred Story?
Can you reflect on examples in your own life where something has become its opposite?
Many of us who practice a religion are Idealist. The opposite of idealism is cynicism. Have you had an experience whereby your ideal became a cynical view?
The Very Rev. J.Pittman McGehee, D.D. is the former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and currently a Diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Austin. He is also adjunct faculty at the Wessendorf Center at the Seminary of the Southwest. He is the author of five books and frequent lecturer in the field of psychology and spirituality.
