There are so many movies in contemporary culture that are tickling the theories of time travel and alternate realities that it becomes hard to keep up with all the fabled fantasies. They ponder an age old question, "What would it be like if we could step outside of time?" For my own sake, I'd have been happy if we stopped making time-traveling moves after the Back To the Future trilogy because I was quite sated with those stories. The rest are just footnotes to its originality in my opinion.

And yet, there is something more to be said, not about the fiction of time travel, but the reality, that is to say, the spiritual reality. 

When we truly enter into Christian worship (Mass, various liturgies, or even sometimes our daily prayer), we enter into something that is truly "outside of time." Whenever I am able to let go and be present to God's love for me, I frequently find myself encountering memories of my past as if they are right there in front of me. I might also experience visions of my future or gain clarity on what path to take. For a moment, my past, present and future come together in a way that feels entirely God-driven. The ancient Greeks would call this "Kairos." 

And it shouldn't be a surprise to us that this is possible because we believe that God is both in-time and out-of-time. God is the fabricator of all being and therein both gives time and space its dimensions and permeates the entire continuum like a transcendent scaffolding. 

Recently, I was giving a presentation to parents of our Religious Education students and a simple phrase stood out from our text book which helped to explain mystery of Christmas with respect to its iridescent timelessness. I offer it to you now not as a off-ramp to overly complex philosophic notions of time, but because it addresses a central question that I myself have often had about Christmas. What do we really mean when we say "We are preparing for Christ's coming at Christmas?" Are we really expecting something unique to happen on Christmas day and why I am so disappointed when it turns out to be just another day? 

The response of faith that I shared with the parents is that we celebrate Christ's coming in History, in Grace, and in Glory. First we recall the History - the past. Jesus did come! He was born! It was an event of incredible significance in the history of humanity. The story is compelling and overwhelming. It teaches us not to dwell on the fantasies of the mighty, but the simplicity of the meek and humble.

We also celebrate that Christ comes in Grace. That grace might be today, it might be tomorrow, or it might happen on December 25. There is no way of telling when God wants to make His point to us a little more strongly, more poignantly, or when we might be open to receiving God a little more fully. But when it happens, it becomes an eternal present in both senses of the term. It becomes a present - like a gift wrapped with a bow - and it becomes the present - as in the moment now in which our conscious mind lives and dwells. 

Finally, we prepare ourselves that Christ will come in Glory. When all of history has played itself out and we find ourselves at the end of time and space, there we will once again meet the cosmic Christ (Colossians 1:15-17) whom faith tells us will judge the living and the dead. This endpoint, this omega, is the great hope we have that all existence that has been and all that is still to come will be fulfilled and held in the tender embrace of Christ. 

This triad - History, Grace, and Glory - represents a sort of timelessness or better spoken, time-fullness that we can enter into this Christmas. It can embrace us in a way that helps elevate us out of the challenges of our current situation and at the same time drives the problems of "now" to a resolution with sublime satisfaction. 

When we yield our very being to Christ of the past, present, and future, Christmas becomes something more that just shiny lights and a tinsel facades. Christmas allows us to transcend time. And for my money, its better than any time-travel movie that has been made or ever will be, Back to the Future included.  

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