Titus 2:11-14

Christmas Eve - Year B

Titus 2:11-14

The first two verses seem appropos of Christmas while the last two come out of some post-birth story speculative theology.

Let’s focus on verse 12. How is the church training us to renounce foolish theologizing, the real impiety, and indulgent living? These are parallel terms - the impiety of self-indulgence. But back to the question, do you sense that there is any training, education, progress being made in clarifying deep values revealing G*D as our goal?

To move in this direction there needs to be a structure to our movement ahead, our training toward an end. How do we help one another bring together living upright lives and being filled with G*D until there is no way of telling which came first? How do we practice honoring G*D and N**ghb*r and S*lf? These are day-in/day-out issues that take personal discipline and communal support as well as correction.

Without training we fall prey to the strangest of proclamations. Here is a secular example of lying about reality and shading issues for short-term gain [Palestine's imagined identity]. Without training we imagine identities that aren’t there. This is anti-Christmas behavior, untrained behavior.

Christmas, the grace of G*D appeared, brings a picture of wholeness to all without artificially defining some people out. We are beckoned to draw nigh for hope refreshment and encouraged to now take this moment and grow it in ever wider circles within ourself and within the world. This is more than singing Silent Night in candlelight. It means we will commit ourselves to live-long training in living tomorrow today.