The Advent--Of Secularism and Skepticism

My husband and I drove through a monsoon of rain yesterday morning in order to attend the first Christmas program ever for the lower school at Episcopal Collegiate School where our grandchildren attend. We settled into our seats, anxiously awaiting the appearance of our kindergartner who in past programs as a preschooler would sometimes look anxious or perhaps not sing with his classmates. This year his confidence had grown, and he marched onto the stage smiling while dressed as one of the cattle surrounding Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. His granddad and I were proud. Our granddaughter, on the other hand, has always been vivacious and out-going, trying out for any possible part, always yearning we think for the part of Mary but never receiving it. In this program, since she was in the oldest grade represented--fifth, she had several speaking roles as narrator and as an angel. Again, we were proud.

I think back, however, to a recent class I attended at church to celebrate the beginning of the Advent season. I was looking forward to hearing the story of Christ's coming and subsequent birth from an adult point of view. After all, isn't this why we attend church? We want to be reminded why we are believers. In the lesson the story of Mary's annunciation was treated as pure myth and legend with statements like, "Fairy dust was sprinkled, and poof, you're pregnant." The idea of the census during the time of King Herod, the arrival of the wise men, and all elements of the traditional story were systematically debunked.

Yes, I know that theologians who are liberal disagree over the historical evidence of Christ's birth, and even the idea that baby Jesus was the Christ child from the time of His birth. Some prefer to believe that God adopted Jesus at the point of his baptism when the dove flew into the sky. Conservative theologians believe in the birth of Jesus as written since they believe the Bible must be read as a literal and historical text. Since I come from years of teaching in a conservative church, I cannot surrender my belief in the latter interpretation. I believe one can find ample evidence from the scholars to support a literal interpretation if they leave their skepticism at the door of the stable.

Yes, the Enlightenment did much to persuade the educated of the day that religion was simply for the masses who were not capable of seeing, touching, and knowing the truth. Logic overtook belief with questions raised like, "Now, did you ever know anyone who was impregnated by a spirit?" As for me though, I--like Virginia--still choose to believe in tradition and truth as written in our authority, the Bible.