During the summer of 1998 I visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. While the actual birthplace of Jesus probably is Nazareth, it doesn't really matter, for this church exudes the beauty of birth. Depicted are a dozen or more wall-size nativity scenes, each articulating the cultural tradition of the artist. In one, the serene Madonna is Japanese; in another the bewildered Joseph is Latino; in yet a third, the innocent infant is African American.
In yet another home of art, this time the Upper Room Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, the same theme of diversity is portrayed. The artistic medium varies as the culture. In one Native American Nativity the three wise men bring corn, nor gold or myrrh. In a Spanish Nativity, all the biblical figures are children, including the wise men, who bring fruit or meats.
Recently, the National Catholic Reporter, seeking to update the image of Jesus, held a contest for the indicative painting of Jesus for the millennium. The winner was entitled "Jesus for the People," a painting of a dark-skinned Jesus by a Vermont artist who used a woman as a model. Janet McKenzie of Island Pond, Vermont, said of her work: "At first glance, he is a black or African-American Jesus, but looking more deeply you see many people in it."
The painting shows a robed and haloed Jesus. Against a pale pink background are a yin-yang symbol, intended to represent perfect balance, and a feather, symbolizing the Native American spirituality about which McKenzie learned during a stay in New Mexico. As Sister Wendy Beckett, the British nun who hosts a public television series on art, said, the painting "is a haunting image of a peasant Jesus - dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence."
But as the National Catholic Reporter's editor who conceived the contest put it, "If everybody looks at it and says, 'Very nice,' that means it will have failed." In that sense it has not failed, for it has stirred worldwide controversy. Unfortunate that too often too many people seem not so much concerned with what Jesus taught as what he looked like. That would really stir controversy.
What captivates me about this extravagant diversity of portrayals of the Nativity is the extraordinary calm emanating from each one. What they all had in common was a sense of calm - a blessed peacefulness. Whatever the details of Jesus' birth, we do know the historical context was a violent one. Here, in the rush of a turbulent history was the hushed reverence for new life born into the world. That sense of calm carries over for me into the adult life of the prophet from Nazareth. My sense of him is Jesus - the gentle Jew - Jesus, the man for others.
While the world is caught up in the hectic rush of the Christmas season and the unknown of the new millennium, it is time to let calmness prevail. The Christmas story is a narrative of calm beauty in the midst of the tumultuous world. It breaks in upon our compulsive busyness as a welcome reminder of what is of ultimate worth.
And that is what endears this season to me - when my world - our world - is caught up in the rush of historical events, personal haste and the hectic pace of the season - is a moment of calm - the gentle word spoken when one is tempted toward judgment - the forgiving hand on the shoulder when one is angry with another - the non-anxious presence when tension is in the air - the sense of perspective that gives us a sense of proportion as to what is really important and what is truly trivial. When so many seek to take the world by storm - by noise, by violence, by anger, by superficial glitz - may we seek to bless the world by calm:
And so, let us endeavor -
In so far as in us lies -
Ever to be gentle in a rough and tumble world;
Always to be a little kinder than necessary;
So that we may not so much take the world by storm
As bless the world by calm
Here on this Holy Night.
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