And The Tiny...

Houses with rooms and shops
in the tourist hub of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Architectural oddities abound in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, a term still widely used, officially as well as unofficially. The skinny building is an extreme form of what are called "tunnel" houses. They often have no windows at the sides, and can have an impressive depth. Though dark, the houses of this kind are cool, so very suitable for the region's tropical climate. However, there is one more feature of interest beyond the thick skein of phone, Internet, cable TV and electricity wires that mar the street scenery around the city, and that is that the price of the skinny house would probably exceed the cost of a reasonable apartment in most big cities in the US or Europe. Property owners can get huge prices, such is the demand - and the ability to pay big money -  given the rapid growth of the  economy at about 6 per cent a year.

The Meaning of Christmas

Those who greet Jesus at Christmas shall be called 'The Holy People' (1). Why 'holy'? Surely only God is holy? Perhaps it's that, with Christmas, in the first and ever since,

Light shines forth for the just
and joy for the upright of heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord;
give glory to his holy name.(2)

Those who are holy, whether human or divine, are just, upright or full of integrity. It is that fullness of integrity that enables one to be  'holy', and a definition of holy is 'being separated, apart from, beyond what anything less than what dignity demands as right and true'. When there is no impurity in the mix the outcome is  a perfect state.

A king rules by integrity
and princes rule by law;
each is like a shelter from the wind
a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in dry places.(3)

And Christmas is a time when we get an inkling of the perfect state that should be:

Once more there [is] poured on us
the spirit from above;
then shall the wilderness be fertile land;
integrity will bring peace,
justice give lasting security.
Happy will you be, sowing by every stream,
letting ox and donkey roam free.(4)

We also get some insight into the goodness of God,  who, by becoming human,  is prepared to do what is incomprehensible by any measure other than love. This is the summation of the 'good news' of  Jesus, at once true man and true God, that Paul makes in his letter to his young colleague Titus, when he writes (in this edited form):

When the kindness and love of God for mankind was revealed...it was for no reason except his own compassion that he saved us. He did this so that we should become heirs looking forward to inheriting eternal life.

That relationship with God who loves us demands that we be focused on fulfilling God's wish that each person follow a way of life that has integrity at its heart.

(1) Isaiah 62:11-12
(2) Psalm 96:11-12
(3) Isaiah 32:1-2
(4) Isaiah 32:15-17, 19-20