Stephanie Mott: Good Tidings of Great Joy

By Stephanie Mott

“A great many of us, myself most definitely included, have placed our faith into battle after battle where we have tried anything but love.”

The 10^th Verse of the 2^nd Chapter of the Gospel of Luke says, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

However, the United States is currently on a runaway train, racing toward an increasing inevitable crash in a place that is more like frightening senselessness and imminent pain. This, of course, for all people who have historically been marginalized and oppressed (and murdered, and enslaved, and incarcerated, and separated from their children, and turned away from the table).

So, whatever happened to good tidings and great joy?

The answer to this question might be found by looking another question, “Just what was this great joy intended to be?

The answer to that question is love. Unconditional, never-ending, world-encompassing love.

Jesus referred to this kind of love throughout the Gospels. Here are a few examples.

Matthew 26:37-40 – “³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

John 13:34-35 – ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Matthew 5:44 – “⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

So, what happened to the love?

We let go of it. We lost sight of it.

A great many of us, myself most definitely included, have placed our faith into battle after battle where we have tried anything but love.

A great many of us have endured racism, ethnicism, ableism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ageism, and on, and on, and on.

Many have sold away love in search of prosperity and power. And along with love; we have auctioned off humility, and mercy, and justice.

The increasing cries and crisis of some impending apocalypse have become louder and louder, and the hope for the world is distinctly at an in-my-lifetime low.

Where does this leave the world?

Good tidings of great joy.

The peoples of the world still have the ability to turn this thing around.

We know what’s wrong! We know how to fix this!

Unconditional, never-ending, world-encompassing love.

It is the only possible solution for a 2000-year-old problem.

The forces that bring us to the end-of-the-world  – at least the world as we know it – are not and have never been those who seek to separate humanity into people who are more worried about each other than about coming together as one.

The forces separating humanity ARE the people who are more worried about each other than about coming together as one. We can not be divided if we are truly united. And the power of unity is love.

There are two possible endings for the runaway train.

One of them will save the world.

Good tidings of great joy, indeed.

Stephanie Mott is a transsexual woman from Topeka, Kansas and a nationally known speaker on transgender issues. In addition, Stephanie is the executive director of Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project and a commissioner on the City of Topeka Human Relations Commission. She can be reached at stephanieequality@yahoo.com