Christmas is often seen as synonymous with miracles despite the fact that we live in culture that is more likely to worship at the feet of science than religion. Often the believers among us feel out of step with a culture that prefers the shimmer of the material world. But still we long for miracles and we have to ask ourselves why.

What would you consider a miracle?

Webster’s dictionary defines a miracle as “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.” Something happens beyond the expected. It can’t be explained by what we already know. Even Webster’s acknowledges the essential meaning of miracles is to point us to God. I think that is why there is something in all of us that yearns for a miracle. Our secret hope is for a miracle?

Miracles are subjective in nature and yet to the recipient of the miracle they are very real and might be experienced as objective truth.

The Universe as a miracle

The universe itself is one huge miracle! Interestingly, science is more and more pointing to the miraculous nature of the universe. We can’t reasonably account for the massive statistical improbability that we even exist. Take a moment and consider the level of precision needed to create life and you will most definitely find yourself slap bang in the middle of miracle territory.

For example, Eric Metaxas wrote in his book, Miracles, “the more we have studied and measured the universe the more we have seen the conditions for life are far more stringent than previously thought. The number of variables necessary for life on a planet has exploded, while the number of planets that could conceivably support life has withered.”

He makes the case that we live in a fine tuned universe and one naturally has to ask how could that be? The odds are so staggeringly against the possibility of the Universe existing. He describes how if the earth had slightly less gravity, water vapor which has a molecular weight of eighteen, would not stay close to the planet’s surface but would dissipate into the atmosphere. Without water we couldn’t exist.

An unlikely collision

Perhaps the most incredible thing is how earth came about. Our planet existed but was smaller with a much denser atmosphere and then 4.25 billion years ago there was an improbable collision. Rushing through space was a mass bigger than Mars that collided with earth. If it’s trajectory for billions of miles had been a hairs breath different we wouldn’t be alive because without that collision earth as we know wouldn’t exist. The explosion blasted most of earth’s atmosphere into outer space making it possible for sunlight to penetrate the thinner atmosphere. The addition to earth’s mass increased its iron content, allowing algae to flourish. Metaxas says that the likelihood of the collision happening is like two bullets being fired from either side of the Grand Canyon and meeting in the middle perfectly head on so that they cancelled out each other’s momentum and dropped vertically together into the canyon below.

Believing these incredible odds were just an accident or coincidental requires more faith than acknowledging the presence of a cohesive design and by inference an author of that design.

Despite all of this, we still seem to yearn for evidence of God. Perhaps that is why the record of Jesus’ ministry is replete with miracles.

Signs and wonders

“Then Jesus said to him, unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” John 4:48.

In a way it’s sad that we need miracles to believe. What if the people of Jesus’ day had believed ‘just because?’ The trouble is, even when miracles do exist, we still have to have the humility to see them. If we are forever fighting within our mind for what is rationale, we might miss the miracle right in front of us. To perceive a miracle you have to be able to embrace the internal aspect of life. You can’t be stuck on the externals.

Yesterday, at Songja Ono’s Ascension Ceremony*, Gerry Servito shared how, at some point in the course of her illness, 21 year old Songja determined that she wouldn’t be defined by Cancer and the havoc it was wreaking on her body, but rather she would be driven by her desire to give and create happiness, regardless of her circumstances. That someone so young could achieve this immense fortitude of spirit is a miracle to me. She had true grit and great determination of heart. Songja allowed the internal aspect of life to win over her external circumstances. This is the reason we all testified to the “Victorious life of Songja Ono” at her Ascension ceremony.

Ironically, suffering can transform us. Not that we invite suffering, but sometimes good can come out of suffering.  If we know this it changes how we digest suffering.  What we don’t want is to suffer without any meaning to that suffering. Eric Metaxas said: “What we want to avoid is not suffering, but suffering without meaning.”

Finding meaning is a game changer. It’s what Songja found and what successful people find in challenging circumstances. Victor Frankl who suffered in prison camps during World War II declared: “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how’.”

This important statement reveals the significance of the internal or spiritual aspect of life. It also explains the limitation of science in its pursuit of truth. Science can help us understand how the Universe was formed and functions, but it is blind to the ‘why’, and as Victor Frankl discovered the ‘why’ is everything!

In our search for the ‘why’ we hope for miracles in order to give our faith wings. However, we have to be careful that we don’t put so much emphasis on the appearance of a miracle that we treat God like a vending machine!

The immediate reaction to this is “I don’t do that!” But in reality, from time to time, we inadvertently do. We pray for something – now that’s a good thing! I imagine that God, like any parent, is interested in hearing what is happening in our lives and what we need. He is not a disinterested party. His love is unconditional. He always wants us to be happy. The trouble is our love can be conditional and that’s where the vending machine comes in.

Treating God like a vending machine

Think about a vending machine. We have one at work. If I put money in and the machine doesn’t work, I get frustrated. If I punch in numbers and it selects the wrong item, I get really frustrated! When we treat God like a vending machine, we approach the situation with the attitude, “I put the money in, I paid my dues with offerings or prayer rituals, how come I don’t get what I want, or even worse, I get something I don’t want? If we can’t see the answer to our prayers, we lose faith because our faith is in the ‘proof’ we expect, or the miracle we want, rather than God, himself.

Putting God at the center of our lives

Rev. Moon often talked about putting God at the center of our lives. This can seem just an intellectual concept but it’s so much more than that. You can even test to what extent God is in the center of your life. You might be surprised!

We think we are centered on God but what does that mean? When our faith is dependent on a certain outcome to be convicted, then we are putting our faith in ‘things’ rather than God. Those things then become the center. For example, we lose faith if our prayers for someone’s health isn’t answered or we don’t get the job we want.

Having a life centered on God means to be in relationship with God. The things we ‘get’ from God are peripheral. We want a relationship with God whereby the way He would love is the way we love. The way He would behave is the way we behave. His philosophy of living would be our way of living. When you are in relationship with someone that relationship is not driven by what they give you or how they rescue you from trouble. They might not even have the means to rescue you. Rather it’s about who they are in relationship with you.

We tend to put conditions on our relationship with God, which actually damages our faith. We decide what the miracle should look like. If we are only happy when we get what we want, where is the gratitude? The greatest miracle is not necessarily some dramatic rescue or parting of the waves. It might come in an unexpected package, just as Jesus did. It was a miracle that Jesus could be born and grow up to become the man who could show what it means to have a life centered on God.

If we return to Webster’s definition, “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs”, we can see that Jesus’ birth reflects that description. King Herod heard rumors of Jesus’ birth and wanted to kill him but didn’t succeed. Joseph could have rejected Mary when he discovered she was pregnant. In fact we are told he was contemplating a quiet divorce. In keeping with Jewish tradition she would have been stoned to death but a miracle happened. Joseph received a message from an angel who said, “Fear not, the child is conceived by the Holy Spirit and the child will grow up to save people from sin.” The Divine intervention of this dream motivated Joseph to protect Mary and Jesus.

The hero of the word

Jesus’ life was as much a miracle as creation itself. In John 1:1-14 it tells us that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. But God’s original desire for creation was lost and so no-one could deeply understand God’s heart or love. This is why we need the miracle of a man and a woman who can understand God’s heart and embody the word.

In a sermon Rev. Moon explained:

“In the Bible, there is a verse that reads, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” (John 14:6) Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. This reveals that, although God’s word was not attained due to the fall of Adam and Eve, because man lives on this earth, God will again bestow this word upon humanity.

Because the word God spoke at the time of creation is connected to humanity, humanity has cherished that word as the one unchanging goal, the one hope. For that reason, a substantial being of the word must come in order to attain it. (It’s not meant to be in a book – it’s meant to be lived.)

Where must the substantial being who can represent God’s word go? You should know that the course of the providence is the 6,000 years of God’s toilsome efforts to look for this one person.

That is why Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth (the word) and the life,” (John 14:6). This explains that Jesus was the substantial being of God’s word whom God had been hoping for.

What kind of word was the word of Jesus? It was the word Jesus announced by appearing as the one fruit of the heart of God, who had wished to speak to human beings during the course of history. He was to demonstrate God’s fretful heart before humanity and all creation in place of God. The one who came as the hero of the word for the accomplishment of this was the very Jesus you believe in today.

With the appearance of Jesus, the word that had been buried in God’s mind could be transferred to Jesus’ heart. You must know that this is the most joyful good news for humankind.”

The miracle of Christmas is that God’s words, ideas, heart and intention were finally realized on earth. Jesus lived a life with God at the center and his purpose was to teach us how to do the same.

For most of the people in Israel at that time, the appearance of Jesus as a miracle and God’s answer to their prayers seemed like getting the wrong candy bar from the vending machine. Jesus didn’t come wrapped in a package that the people of Israel recognized and for this reason, tragically, they rejected him.

The perfect way to experience God

We don’t always recognize how God is working His Divine intervention in our lives. We lose heart and hope. But there is a solution. If you truly want to experience God then the perfect way is to become the Divine intervention in someone else’s life. There is nothing more powerful than feeling the living God working through you. That is the greatest gift of all and how we learn to embody the word in our lives.

A friend of mine, Sarah, recently had her home broken into. It was a horrible experience and she couldn’t help wondering why this happened. She was afraid of being robbed again. The next day they called a company to install a security system. The technician was meant to have a day off that particular day but when he heard their circumstance he decided to come over to their house to help them, instead of going to a doctor’s appointment.

While the technician was working, my friend felt something was wrong. She asked him how he was doing. He replied that he had made a doctor’s appointment because he was feeling so anxious. Sarah said that she felt God nudging her to reach out to him. She plucked up her courage and offered to pray for him. Sarah warned him, “I pray out loud but I do believe it can help.” To her surprise the technician agreed to receive the prayer.

Several weeks later, they had trouble with the security system and my friend called the company again. Unexpectedly, the same technician who had helped them before answered the phone. They got chatting and he said that he was still trying to figure it out. Somehow her prayer had miraculously worked and he still felt the benefit. I was so glad my friend had decided to be courageous that day and invited Divine intervention into someone’s life.

Jesus came to teach us how to love. Just as God’s love flowed through him, God’s love is meant to flow in our lives. This incident reminded me of something Lao Tzu said:

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

Christmas is a time when we think of miracles because of the miraculous birth and life of Jesus Christ. But this season is also our chance to create miracles through having the courage to invite Divine intervention into the lives of people around. Maybe, it’s playing Secret Santa or paying off someone’s layaway (as seen on TV!) or maybe it’s asking God to show you what needs to be done in the world and having the courage to offer it just as the men did in this video. https://youtu.be/zqdNRePTze0

There is no greater joy than being a channel of God’s love in another’s life. I encourage you to bring the joy of the Christmas season to those in your world.

*An Ascension Ceremony is held to be supportive of someone as they transition to the spiritual world upon their death. It has many elements associated with a typical funeral but celebrates the person’s life in a joyful manner and acknowledges death as a second birth to our eternal home.