For Christmas and America, let's resolve to treat one another with respect

I have written in the past about the old movie called “The Bishop’s Wife.” I love the story even though it was released in 1947. It is about the gift of Christmas and how we have the power to light the darkness of ignorance and to remove the shadow of despair, poverty and violence.

Cary Grant played an angel named Dudley. David Niven played a bishop named Henry Broughman and Loretta Young played Henry’s long-suffering wife.

Because Henry is unsuccessful in raising money to build a cathedral, he turns to heaven and asks what he should do next. Poof. Henry is visited immediately by Dudley, who claims to be an angel.

Of course, Henry does not believe it. He especially becomes annoyed when Dudley ingratiates himself into the household as Henry’s assistant and then earns the kindness of Henry's caring wife.

The movie gets interesting when Dudley annoys Henry to the point that Henry finally challenges heaven.

In the final act, just before Dudley disappears and is erased from everyone’s memory, the angel rewrites Henry’s Christmas eve sermon.

Christmas is bursting with goodwill, hope and a rebirth of self-discovery

Years later when I first saw the movie as a young man, I remember how moving the scene becomes as Henry reads the sermon and realizes that it is not the one he wrote. Henry does not know from where the sermon came, but realizes it was a gift beyond his own knowledge and capability.

In many ways that is what Christmas is about. We are receiving something that we do not fully understand, over which we have no control, but which is a gift nonetheless offered to each of us — regardless of religion or belief.

For some people life can be about growing and gaining wisdom, knowledge, understanding. For others it is a hard struggle just to survive. But what is received at Christmas, for those willing to accept it, is a gift bursting with goodwill, hope and a rebirth of self-discovery.

Let's resolve to remove the divides that separate us

We Americans celebrate different holidays. We include different stories in our histories. And we are bound together by a common understanding that the human mind and heart, while fallible, determine our future and can decide our fate upon this earth.

It is unfortunate that religion tends to divide people. Religious differences seem to be more important than similarities. There are those who believe that only their particular religious perspective is true, and thus all others are false. There are those who identify with no religion and are accused of being a source of discord and problems.

Yet, I would argue that people of goodwill and strong morals are not determined by their label but rather by the actions that they take.

At Christmas we should resolve to remove the divides that separate us. We should try to see the world from one another’s perspectives. We are not islands unto ourselves.

Of course, none of this is easy. But the gift given at Christmas can help us move beyond our limits and boundaries, so that we can build upon our differences to make a healthier and more just America.

The story of the birth of Jesus in powerful in many ways

To that end, the story of the birth of Jesus is powerful. It is a message about being human, about God caring, and about the power that lies within each of us to transform the world.

The story of the birth of Jesus is filled with allegory. It begins with a pregnant woman and her caring husband looking for shelter for her to give birth, but there is no room, no place for this outcast family.

Imagine what it would be like to be far from home, exhausted, in desperate need of a place to rest, to lie down, about to give birth to a child, and yet finding all the doors closed upon which you knock. Finally a cold, drafty, dirty animal shed.

God could have provided a miracle so that Jesus might have been born in a more appropriate place. Rather there is a clear message.

Like Mary and Joseph, there are those less fortunate, those who live with despair, those who do not know from where their next meal is coming, those who do not have a roof over their heads, or a place to reside even when they are about to have child.

The story of the birth of Jesus captures our hopes, dreams and possibilities for the future. This tiny infant, the most vulnerable person, is totally dependent, helpless and looks to adults for food and safety. That baby Jesus represents our own vulnerability and potential within each of us.

And so we live with a delicate balance. We hold the power to care or destroy, to build or to wreak havoc. To treat one another with respect or to cause hurt. We have the ability to stop destructive forces and to improve the world, not only for ourselves, but for people everywhere. Living more for others and less for ourselves is easy to say but much harder to do.

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As a community and as friends, let us resolve to treat one another with respect and to renew our commitment to bring hope and reason to an ever brighter America.

Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays.

Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, Shippensburg University Trustee, and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software to source and manage print and mail marketing. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Let's give America the gift of hope and reason for Christmas