Tis The Season

Tis the season. Yes, this is the holiday season. It is the season of gratitude, joy, love, hope and peace. It is a time each year when many share meals, exchange gifts, decorate homes and businesses, and get ready for Santa’s visit. It is also the time of year when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the one in whose name Christianity was born, grew and continues to thrive today. Tis the season, indeed.

While I honor and enjoy the traditions of the holiday season as much as anyone, I am more keenly aware this year that the season is for something more essential. Tis the season for awakening. Tis the season for the birth of the Christ consciousness in the hearts and minds of humanity. Tis the season for us to release the false notion that only Jesus was the Christ. Tis the season for us, you and me, to realize that each of us is Christ in expression. Tis the season for us to know that we are here, at this time and in this place, to be the fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah’s prophecy, to bring the reign of peace and goodwill upon the earth. Tis the season for us to accept that we are the ones anointed to be the Christ in the world, here and now.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, said –

“The world needs the Christ consciousness. The need implies that the attainment is near at hand. There are men and women who gaze up into the heavens for Christ, as did the early disciples, instead of looking within their own heart and mind. Only believe in the omnipresent Christ and you will behold Him sitting on the right hand of Power within your own being!” ¹ 

“The salvation of the world rests with those who join Him and thereby bring peace and goodwill to all men. When the light of Christ comes to any man, it does not confine its rays to his consciousness alone but those who sit in darkness and negation see and feel its power.” ²

The world needs us to awaken to the Christ that is our truth. When we awaken and live in the light of the Christ, others around us are touched by that light, and are encouraged and supported in awakening to their own light. The light of Christ shining in us, as us, is, “The Light of the World” (Matthew 5:14); “The true light that enlightens everyone” (John 1:9); and the fulfillment of the prophecy, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 2:9).

This awakening is the only hope for humanity and for our world. Only when we awaken to ourselves as the Christ are we able and willing to awaken to the understanding that all others are the Christ as well. When we awaken to that truth we know ourselves as one with all humanity, indeed, with all creation. When we truly know our oneness, and only then, will we begin to treat each other as ourselves and live as our teacher and way-shower Jesus taught us when he said that the greatest commandment is to love God, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Knowing our oneness means that we know that all people are our neighbors, not just the ones who look like, think like us, act like us, and share our religious or political beliefs.

If we are to receive salvation in its truest sense, we must welcome and embrace the Christ consciousness as our own. Tis the season. Tis the season for the birth of the Christ in our heart and minds. Tis the season for healing. Tis the season for coming together in care and compassion for each other. Tis the season for love.

Tis the season not just for some of us, but for all of us. As Mr. Fillmore said, our salvation, which we understand as freedom from the belief in separation and the pain and suffering that results from that belief, depends upon our own awakening. Tis the season for the dawning of the light of Christ upon our conscious awareness.

My prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we embrace ourselves and each other as the Light of the Christ and begin to treat each other as that.

Tis the season! This is the time. It is Now! “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1)

¹ Atom Smashing Power of Mind

² Keep a True Lent