The miracle of Christmas…the incarnation…is not that the Eternal Christ fully or exclusively indwelled Jesus but that the Eternal Christ fully and completely indwells you and me.

The miracle of grace…salvation…is not that there is anything you must do in order to be but just be, the doing will take care of itself.

The Miracle of Christmas

Anything you “do” only indicates a misunderstanding of what Jesus Christ has done in his death for you. His death…the giving of his life…has forever underscored the eternal reality that between God and you…between you and God…there is no separation.

In fact, the “rending of the veil of the temple in two” (Matthew 27:51-52) – which was the symbol of division and separateness. Jesus’ self-giving life, which just happened to be death by Roman crucifixion, revealed a reality that has existed for all time – namely, there is NO separation between you and God…between God and you. His life and death has made that eternally clear, even if the Church in some of its expressions is still erecting barriers and additional veils.

That’s the point. Not that God could not get close to you and me until he had somehow satisfied his own delusional need to whip ass on something or someone in order to feel better about you and your screw-ups, as well as mine. That is the heresy of the Church.

And, it IS a heresy, even if your favorite preacher (or, priest, televangelist, or Church) is still proclaiming it.

No, my friend, Jesus’ death, and the validation of his self-giving life in the resurrection, unequivocally proclaims that “neither death nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor your screw-ups nor mine…nothing separates us from God. Thanks be to GOD for this victory we see and have in Jesus: (Romans 8:37-39).

To know this is to be Christ conscious, or aware of the real message of Christmas…of the Gospel. This awareness transforms everything. Even you.

Let go of the old scripts that have falsely led sincere people for eons. God did not punish Jesus so He could forgive you. What kind of God does that make him? Give up this old script. There isn’t a thimble’s worth of truth to any of it. It will not live and survive in the 21st century either.

No, it is not unorthodox to let go of what ain’t so. It is liberating instead. It is to enter into the full rest of God, as the writer of Hebrews so eloquently put it. I know this, for I and scores of others are discovering a new way to understand the “old, old story.”

Discover it for yourself and be free.

Be “more than a conqueror through Jesus” whose life shows you the way. That’s what Jesus means by, “I am the way…” (John 14:6). His way IS the way of freedom beyond ANY VEIL, even one the Church has erroneously constructed, that would lead you to believe that Jesus’ finished work on the cross wasn’t enough to destroy all “illusions of separation.” Even the illusions of separation that grip still many who sit in pews week after week.

Now, step up, and out of this outworn way of believing, and then step boldly into this New Year, and end the mindless groveling before a God who can never seem to be happy about much of anything, this neurotic deity that requires praise to feel better about himself.

Instead, celebrate the destruction, the eradication of all veils of illusion and separateness. Know that you are ONE with God.

If THAT is not the Good News, then there is nothing good about any of it.

Dr. Steve McSwain is an author and speaker, counselor to non-profits and congregations, an advocate in the fields of self-development, interfaith cooperation, and spiritual growth. His blogs at BeliefNet.com, the Huffington Post, as well as his own website (www.SteveMcSwain.com) inspire people of all faith traditions. Dr. McSwain is an Ambassador to the Council on the Parliament for the World’s Religions. His interfaith pendants are worn by thousands on virtually every continent, sharing his vision of creating a more conscious, compassionate, and charitable world. Visit his website for more information or to book him for an inspirational talk on happiness, inner peace, interfaith respect or charitable living.