The ancient Greeks believed death occurred when the soul left the body. The concept of soul endures to this day as the mysterious force that animates the human body. I am a very old man. I am not afraid to think of departing souls. Unless death comes through suicide, no human being can know the time and place of his death. I hope my soul will depart in a moment of infinite peace. I would like to be in my garden when it happens, watching flower buds begin to blossom. Or in a church where there are no empty pews and where I have just sung The Holy City. Or on an open stage where I have sung old songs within view of one of the broad fields of the Saskatchewan prairie I know and love so well.
I think I was born with an old soul, one which in times past has animated the body of a caring human being. I am troubled in my soul by the falling away from religious beliefs, although I have almost accepted the Christian festival of Christmas has become a cultural observance characterized by unrestrained spending and gift giving. What I cannot accept is the trivialization of Christmas.
The Christmas fare being sold by the entertainment industry ranges from disrespectful to mawkish to ignorant. It is the right of every citizen to disbelieve, but those who do not accept the Biblical account of the virgin birth, a sinless life and the resurrection after death cannot deny the reality of the historic Jesus.
He was born in Bethlehem because his mother was commanded to be there by Roman census takers. He became an itinerant preacher, guilty of no crime, whose execution was, in fact, a judicial murder. The desire for his death, originated among the Pharisees in the temple in Jerusalem who accused him of blasphemy and sent him to be tried by Herod Antipas, the Roman puppet who governed Galilee. Herod would offend neither the Jewish establishment nor his Roman masters. He sent Jesus to be judged by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem. Jesus was found guilty of sedition and was sentenced to death. None of this historic account is trivial.
Crucifixion is not trivial. It is a brutal form of execution, which, by law, was never suffered by Roman citizens except proven traitors. Jesus was a Jew. He was whipped into a bloody ruin with a flagellum, a whip tipped with metal barbs. He was made to wear a cap of thorns and to carry a beam of the cross on which he would die to the hill of Calvary. At the hill of execution he was nailed through his wrists and heels to the cross on which he died in agony. None of this is trivial.
The brutality of this form of execution was a weapon the Roman Empire used to control the nationalists in conquered territories who threatened to revolt. In spite of Jesus being numbered among the revolutionaries, his blameless life and cruel death brought about the founding of a new religion. Religious beliefs everywhere deal with the concept of a soul that animates the living and survives after death. This is not trivial. Non-believers should avoid being disrespectful. They should understand that religions, perversions of religions and conflicts between religions have shaped the history of humankind. Those who cannot approve of any religion should respect all religions.
In the recent presidential election in the United States, the political contestants and their minions wallowed in disrespect. The only belief that seemed sacred to all was their constitution, which, among other things, boasts of the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My old soul tells me that happiness need not be pursued. It tells me that any human being who places a duty to the human race above personal pleasure will find that happiness comes unbidden. In respecting all that is worthy of respect, duty itself becomes happiness.
