I was listening to the radio on the way home yesterday, and was amused to hear the following slogan:
"Start your Season of Miracles with a new Big-Screen TV from Wall-Mart!"
Is that what the season of miracles has come to, a big screen TV? I find it interesting how commercialism has crept its way into every aspect of our lives, from birth, to death, and for every moment in between, there is something to be marketed, and someone to market it.
And yet, in so many ways, commercialism did not have to creep in to this supposedly holy season, it was welcomed by many with open arms. For commercialism is not foreign to Christianity or any of the other named religions of the world. These named religions are the sociological shadows of true religion, the spirit of God within us, and the choices we make as we attempt to do that which we believe is the will of that very same God. Just as the hucksters on Madison Avenue attempt to catch your eye with shiny trinkets, so do the named religions attempt to lure in the unwary, with promises of material riches, the second coming of a material kingdom or threats of eternal punishment, just for believing (or not) their particular ideology.
But there is a better way.
If everyone remembered that we are all children of the same God, the world would be a better place. If we could remember that He is greater than any name we choose to call him, whether that name is Allah, Brahma, Jehovah or whatever, then we would be that much closer to the Brotherhood of all Mankind. If we could learn to love just one new person each day, then we could make ourselves a part of an astounding movement of social change. If we could only channel that love into acts of unselfish kindness and service to our fellows then we would find ourselves truly in the Kingdom o fHeaven.
The Kingdom of Heavenis within all of us.
