What the Christmas Story Teaches Us About Security

by Esther Epp Tiessen

The daily newspaper is a lot heavier and bulkier at this time of year — packed with wads of slippery Christmas advertisements and flyers. When I grab the newspaper out of the mailbox each morning, I usually toss the flyers directly into the recycle bin without even looking at them.

But last week my eye caught a flyer advertising a "gift of security" — a fancy home alarm system. "Give your family peace of mind this Christmas," the shiny piece of paper urged. "Install an alarm system that will make them secure."

I suspect that a lot of families will invest in security systems this Christmas. After all, we live in a society that is increasingly obsessed with the need for security. More and more homes have alarm systems. More and more people carry cell phones. Increasing numbers of video cameras watch us as we move about in public places. Airport procedures, border crossings and passport applications have all become much more rigorous.

The "war on terror" also reflects this obsession with security. We are told that the greatest of threats facing the western world is the threat of terrorism. And the way to make the world safe and secure from terrorists is to kill them. Our military forces, so it goes, are fighting to destroy terrorism so that all of us will live with more safety and security.

Distressingly, we as North Americans are learning that the war on terror is actually increasing the insecurity for others, as well as for ourselves. We have forgotten that our own security is intimately linked with the security of others. As Ernie Regehr of Project Ploughshares says, "Our well-being depends on others, as well as ourselves. We can't isolate ourselves within an armed fortress; instead we have to be active participants in transforming the world into a place where interdependence is not regarded as a threat but as the fundamental ingredient of community."

But back to the alarm system. There is something profoundly ironic about the marketing of security systems — and the pursuit of security at all costs — at Christmas time. Christmas is the story of a vulnerable baby entering a violent and dangerous world with no assurance of security. Yet a security company dares to promote an alarm system as the perfect Christmas gift!

The Christmas story teaches us something very different about security. The Jesus whose birthday we celebrate came into the world in total vulnerability. His birthplace was a stable and his bed a manger. His people lived under an authoritarian occupation. While still an infant, his family had to flee to a foreign land, because the King wanted him killed.

When Jesus grew, he chose vulnerability as a lifestyle. He carried no sword, possessed no worldly goods that required protection, and surrounded himself, not with bodyguards, but a ragtag bunch of marginal folks. He taught his friends that they should not harm their enemies but love them and do good to them. He told them that they would find security by serving others. He embodied vulnerability when faced with arrest, torture and even death.

For Christians, the message of Christmas is that our security is found not in alarm systems or military might or a war on terror, but in casting our fears upon the One who says that security is found in relationship, in sharing, and in reaching out to others — indeed, in vulnerability. Perhaps this message can be our Christmas gift to the world.