From the cockpit of the Subaru

CORAC founder Charlie Johnston traverses the country in his trusty Outback to speak personally to crowds from one coast to the other.

All In The Family

I have always loved Christmas. My Dad said I was the most frustrating of his kids in that respect. He liked to find what a kid wanted most for Christmas, then give everything out except that one gift (which he had conveniently hidden in another room). After the kid’s face fell, thinking he just wasn’t going to get it, Dad would “remember” one more gift. He just LOVED the delight on the child’s face when what they thought was lost was there all along.

One year I wanted a bicycle. So Dad carefully hid it. With both irritation and pride, he would tell people how my face never fell because I was too busy gleefully organizing the rest of the kids into playing board games after presents were opened. He finally gave up on getting my face to fall and went to get my bike. Bringing it out, he said I looked back, said, “Thanks, Dad,” and went right back to the game with my brothers. Of course, Dad illustrated the story with a lot of wild hand gyrations and facial mugs. He concluded by telling people that what I seemed most to love was Christmas, itself.

That was true. I loved the music, the food, the lights, the enthusiasm – and all the trappings more than anything else. Most of all, that God, Himself, came as a little baby to make common cause with us mesmerized me. I mean, how cool is that?!

Even as a little boy I would get mad at people who made it out as if Jesus were just God in a Halloween mask – and never really suffered or felt the pains and pangs, sufferings and longings that all of us did. For a time, I thought that the eternal son became man so He could see what it was like. Then I realized that He already knew, as He knows all things. Rather, He became one with us – and the lowliest of us – to make common cause with us. He did not come to rule us (that was already beyond dispute as the Eternal Son), but to be with us, to live in solidarity with us.

I have come to understand in a very deep way that, from the moment of His Divine Conception, the Eternal Son emptied Himself for a time and became fully part of the family of man. That is incredible – and brings incredible consequences. From the moment of creation, the satan had waged unrelenting war on man. With the Divine Conception, for the satan to continue this war was to make war on God, Himself, for God had made Himself one with the family of man.

It came full circle on the first Easter Sunday when Our Lord was resurrected. In overcoming death itself as a man, Jesus gave us the means – and an invitation – to become part of the family of God. The Angels are part of the Household of God – and highly favored members of that Household. But we are invited to be members of the family in that Household, full heirs of the Kingdom.

Most of us have family members who suffer from some disorder or dysfunction, often self-imposed. We do not pray for the destruction of that family member, but for their reclamation into the circle around the hearthstone. Neither do we willingly allow them to hurt other members of the family, but protect those innocently vulnerable members. We know the little foibles of our kin and make allowances for such. In fact, some of those little foibles are what bind them even deeper in our affections.

I hate pious-sounding but trite – and often errant – sentimentality. One of the phrases which irritates me to no end is when someone says we are all “children of God.” That is not what the Bible says. Oh, we are all created by God…and we can all become children of God. But we have a choice. We can follow God (or the good implanted in us if we lack sufficient knowledge of Him – for no one is bereft of the knowledge of the good implanted in him) or we can become slave of our own appetites. As it is written in John 1:12, “…to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” Before Christ, all could be followers of God. With Christ, all can become children of God. (Nothing is lost

in God’s economy. All are alive to God – and all those who walked this earth before Christ came gained power to become children of God when He came.)

But you can become a child of the satan by rejecting God, either overtly or through your actions. Contrary to popular belief, the only kingdom the satan will ever have is this world – which is part of why he wars so relentlessly against those who embrace God. Choose to lie, cheat, steal and oppress others for advancement in this transient kingdom, and you have chosen a dark father, indeed. I sometimes think the major difference between the satan and those who make themselves his acolytes in this world (either consciously or implicitly) is that he knows that all this is ultimately doomed – and those who choose it above all else are doomed with it. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. How sorrowful to choose doom because it gives transient advantage!

Christmas is, first and foremost, a family celebration. It is a time of epiphany when the family of God and the family of man become one. But we are only given power to choose our place at the family table, not forced to sit there. Let us reflect this Christmas on the magnitude of the dignity and joy our Lord has won for us – and resolve to bring more people joyfully to the family table, without ever enabling the evil that assaults them. Let us pray that the Lord will make of each of us a divine spark, carrying the light of Christ far and wide throughout the world, giving new hope, new joy, new resolve, new love to all who encounter us. Let us resolve to bring more out of the cold into the warmth of the family of God. For He has given us power to become heirs in His Household.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Charlie Johnston

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