Reflections on the miracle of Christmas

This year might be a good one to contemplate just how unlikely and yet inspiring the Christmas story is.

Christmas, of course, celebrates the birth of Jesus, who, Christians believe, came to Earth to save humankind from its multifarious sins and transgressions, to offer hope of salvation to those who believe. Yet the accretion of custom and the romanticization of the story sometimes keep us from seeing just how improbable, in terms of the ways of the world, this story is.

If one thinks as the world does, one might have expected such an important child, destined to be the savior of the world, to have been born in a royal palace, surrounded by servants and luxurious trappings. And surely such a personage would be born in one of the imperial political capitals of the world at the time.

Yet Jesus was born in a politically insignificant backwater of the leading empire of the time, Rome — a province acquired almost offhandedly and noted mainly for its capacity to irritate its rulers rather than contributing much to their splendor.

Instead of being born in a royal palace, Jesus was born in a stable or a cave, his parents having been turned away from every decent inn in town. His earthly parents were not notables even in their local region, but modest people. And because of the improbable story about being conceived by the Holy Spirit before the marriage of Joseph and Mary had been consummated, he came into the world with more than a whiff of scandal surrounding him. Even viewing him as respectable challenged the rightthinking people of his village.

His birth was not announced to the political leaders and luminaries of society, but to a band of shepherds — an important occupation in a land where sheep were important both economically and symbolically, but hardly a high-status occupation. The manner of the birth was not only an affront to respectability as understood by the rich and powerful of the Earth, it was seen as a threat to the powers-that-be of the day. The first reaction of kings and princes who heard about the birth was to want to kill the child.

The birth of Jesus, then, was both an affront to the powerful of the Earth and a direct challenge to their self-importance.

The child who would be proclaimed the Son of God came from the meek and lowly of the Earth and sent the message that God placed no importance on worldly power or riches, that He would place His hopes for universal salvation on a child who would grow to be an itinerant preacher — or, perhaps even less grandiosely, a storyteller — in a country of self-proclaimed prophets and preachers.

Whether or not one is a believing Christian, these insights into the nature of the God Christians profess — often enough only faintly understood or almost completely misunderstood by believers themselves — offer an important window into authentic Christianity.

If this year of uncertainty and vague fear is an occasion to help us understand that the truly valuable things of this life are not found in power and riches but in our relationships — in our capacity to cherish our families, love our neighbors, stretch out a helping hand to those less fortunate and seek reconciliation with those who would be our enemies, perhaps it will be a rich and blessed Christmas after all.

Ending homelessness price tag

Re “Cost to end homelessness: $8.1 billion a year” (Dec. 20):

The article states “the legislators who set state homeless policy don't have a clear understanding of where that money is going or how much more is needed.” The number of homeless stated in the article varies but the federal government recently estimated 172,000 people in California experienced homelessness this year. With the above information is it reasonable to spend the taxpayers' money on this proposal?

— Kenneth M. Bezich,

Rolling Hills

The fate of P22

Re “Famous mountain lion euthanized” (Dec. 18):

In many ways P22's ending days are symbolic of the fate of Los Angeles. With the population growth of the city, we are living our lives with the challenges of urban life, searching for livable space, time spent in transit, and climate change, facing the issues that P22 struggled with in his shrinking environment. There is a lesson for us from P22, we are residents of the larger world and can only exist if we understand our part in it.

Temecula's Glen Oak High School students protest

Re “Students protest critical race theory ban” (Dec. 17):

Critical Race Theory by its very name it can immediately be shot down from legitimate curriculum. CRT is just that... a theory. It is accepted by some, rejected by others, but regardless of which side of the issue you're on, children walking out of class making statements such as “teach us the truth” and “we have the right to make change and have our voices heard” demonstrates the woke brain-washing that is going on across the country.

Teach the history of our country based on facts of what happened, not subjective interpretations and future predictions, and when these students reach adulthood perhaps they will have the maturity and background to form their own views. And who knows? If our education system would re-focus on the fundamentals, maybe the California schools system could actually escape the embarrassing depths of being in the bottom ten nationally.

Karen Bass plans for homeless housing

Re “Bass accelerates L.A. housing plan” (Dec. 17):

Let's see how the new mayor can get financing for the tens of thousands of homeless people.

The last time Los Angeles approved a measure to do that, they were building $700,000 homes for the homeless. What a joke that was. Hopefully she can do it one town at a time and see how productive it works. San Pedro would be a great place to start as the new waterfront needs to be clean,safe to attract visitors from out of town.

Rent control is a terrible policy

Santa Ana has rent control and will soon have a new seven-member board to handle disputes between renters and landlords.

I can think of nothing more designed to increase rents and destroy the rental market.

“In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing,” wrote Assar Lindbeck, a Swedish economist.

When the costs of being a landlord outweigh the rents they're allowed to charge, bad things happen.

The first thing to go when money gets tight are building maintenance and services. Rentals then rapidly turn into decaying slums and the renters are even worse off. Santa Ana should just let the free market decide rental rates and not try to become a benevolent Big Brother to renters. They'll just make things worse.

— Burl Estes, Mission Viejo

Editorial board's anti-government stance

I've come to the impression that the editorial board thinks that no federal government is good government.

One wonders, indeed, what they think the acceptable activities of the federal (or for that matter, state) government are?

All they do is rail against any and all rules that might make someone do something they don't want to do.

— Elise Power, Garden Grove

Whether or ■ot o■e is a believi■g Christia■, these i■sights i■to the ■ature of the God Christia■s profess ... offer a■ importa■t wi■dow i■to authe■tic Christia■ity.