WLSU: Useless Christmas

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Usually this time of year, as we prepare for Christmas I try to write something about how you should go easy on yourself, about how the holidays are stressful enough without you having to add to that with a lot of judgment and self-criticism. I always make a point of saying how much I hate New Year’s resolutions because, one, you’re going to fail at them anyway, and two, becoming a better person should not actually be your main goal. And of course all of this rests in the reality that God loves you no matter what, and it would do your heart some good to rest in that a little bit.

But not this year.

No, this year the other shoe drops. You’re not working hard enough. You could be doing more. It’s the end of the year and what do you have to show for it? Did you really give it your all? If Jesus showed up at your door today, how disappointed do you think he’d be on a scale of 1 to 10? Maybe you should be going all out to make Christmas perfect and set yourself up for a new you in the new year. You understand that God would love you more if you were just a better person, right?

Ok, fine, I don’t actually believe any of those things. But I wonder what it felt like to read that. Did you buy any of it? That the God who made all things out of an abundance of love and who oversees vast galaxies of life loves you less because you are flawed? Do you really believe that self-improvement is the key to belonging to God? Do you believe that the way you get through these holidays is at the forefront of God’s mind? Do you believe that good behavior could make God love you more?

If so, then hear me in the kindest way I can muster as I tell you that that is ridiculous. That is conditional love. And conditional love is bad theology. Conditional love is not love. God is love. And love is unconditional. And unconditional love is apparently scandalous to both religious and non-religious people alike. People across the spectrum of belief seem to worship the idea that love must be earned, that your value and belonging in this world must be tied to your accomplishment and earning. My Christmas message to you is that that is garbage. You belong and you have value and you are loved beyond measure right now just as you are in your very imperfect body with your very imperfect life.

On Christmas we celebrate the time that Jesus showed up. Christians sometimes notice that when Jesus showed up, he expressed frustration about a lot of things around him. He was not always just pleased with everything he saw. But if we’re going to acknowledge that, it’s worth also noting what did and did not anger Jesus.

Jesus got angry when people in positions of power used their power to exploit others for their own benefit. Jesus got indignant about people being judgmental and self-righteous. And Jesus got annoyed at religious people who were more interested in being good than in being loving.

You know what Jesus never expressed anger about? People not trying hard enough. There is never a moment in the Gospels that Jesus looks around and says, “I was really hoping for a little more hustle.” Jesus never talked about people’s achievements or accomplishments. He never commented on how much they weighed compared to last year. He never gave them grief for struggling during the holidays. Come to think of it, Jesus never really judged anyone for struggling at all.

I know we have work to do. I know there are some things we want to accomplish, and some things we probably really need to accomplish. No denying it. But we have to stop thinking that our work and our accomplishment will somehow make us more lovable, more loved. That’s not how love works. God’s love for you is not based in your usefulness. Disconnecting your usefulness from your belovedness would be a fantastic Christmas gift to yourself.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is that Jesus shows up as a baby. I love this because babies are useless. Truly and utterly useless. Babies accomplish nothing. Babies achieve nothing. Babies have no skills, no talents, no virtues. It’s wonderful. We love them with an overwhelming, indescribably, unfathomable love that they did nothing to earn. How perfect is that?

In one of our Bible studies at Church of the Redeemer we are currently reading The Gospel According to Luke. Luke takes great pains to make clear that Jesus is Lord and messiah and Son of God even when he is a baby. Some believers around Luke’s time wanted very much to prove that Jesus somehow became the messiah or became the Lord or the Son of God only after accomplishing certain things in his life and ministry. But Luke said, no, Jesus was all he ever needed to be even when he was a useless little baby. Even when he had done nothing, he was everything. This is not a mistake or a minor detail. It’s the Gospel.

You do not have to be useful to be loved.

I support accomplishment and effort and work, because I believe that helping others and giving something of ourselves in order to contribute to the betterment of community is holy and beautiful. Such work can help us experience peace and joy in meaningful ways. Being of use can be deeply gratifying.

Usefulness is great. It can also be an idol. I use that word intentionally. It’s not just that idols are things we worship even though we shouldn’t: It’s that we allow the things we idolize to define us. And you are not meant to be defined by your usefulness. You are defined by God as beloved. Period.

It’s ok to be proud of yourself for the good things you have done this year. It’s ok to want to develop new good habits and fine tune parts of your life in the next year. It is a gift to this world when you break a sweat helping people. It’s also ok to rest in your uselessness from time to time. Rest in your uselessness. You are loved. You are loved even then in ways you cannot imagine.