The Christmas story is a story about a supernatural event, a miracle — God, Himself, bursting into history. Angels, God’s messengers, supernatural beings, announce a new reality — a reality beyond nature and beyond human understanding — God, Himself, has come to earth in human form as a baby.

The Christmas story proclaims that God, a being outside of nature, intervenes in human history to save mankind and to exercise His authority on planet earth.

Suddenly, the glory of the Lord shone all about them.

But, the idea that a force outside of nature, God, can burst into history at any moment has a dark side. Apocalyptic thinking relies on such a view of God, and such thinking often leads to deadly results. According to an article in New York Times, “Waiting for Armageddon,” 50 million Americans believe that these are the “last days” and that, once again, as at that first Christmas, God will intervene in history: Christ will suddenly appear in the sky, in glory, and history will be forever changed.

These “last days,” according to these believers, may involve mass deaths, nuclear annihilation, incredible wars and destruction — but, in the end, God will intervene and everything will be OK. Such irresponsible and irrational thinking almost glories in anticipation of the negative; such thinking hampers motivation to do the hard work needed to create a positive future — the hard work needed to build a more just, a more safe, a more wonderful world.

Such irrational thinking begins with a literal belief in the Christmas story — with a belief that a force outside of history, outside of nature, burst into reality some 2000 years ago — and projects that story of the supernatural to a scenario where supernatural intervention saves mankind from the annihilation of the “end times.” This is a very dangerous way to think.

Certainly irrational thinking, religious radicalism, is a huge threat to the survival of future generations, to the survival of the earth itself. Thoughtful Christians need to find an understanding of their Christian faith that is worthy of a 21st Century understanding, one that does not promote irrational thinking and religious radicalism. Finding a way to understand the Christmas story is a good start. There needs to be an understanding grounded in an appreciation for awe inspiring mystery, but also grounded in a reality worthy of a 21st Century understanding.

A 21st Century understanding of the Christmas story, it seems to me, should inspire us to contemplate that human life itself is mysterious, beyond our understanding, and perhaps, even beyond our capacity to understand. A 21st contemplation of the story of Christmas must deal with the concept of human destiny. The Christmas story is the story of the birth of a baby, a baby who grew into his potential. We don’t need choirs of angels to know that every baby has a great potential beyond our comprehension — a potential to do good, a potential to help raise humanity to new heights of compassion, justice, truth and love. The Christmas story is a story of great hope; it says that in every baby the human race can start anew.