Post 16-Dana, On Christmas

                                                   People who walk in darkness, have seen a great Light. Isa 9:2

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Dana Wrote:

Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 11:49 AM

John,

     Well “‘tis the season” once again.  Time to spend lots of money on things people will forget just as quickly as they panic, then stampede out into mercantile hell, to buy with money that they don’t have, a return gift in obligation of that which they hadn’t planned.  Time to brush up on the old hand-to-hand combat techniques, so necessary in order to venture into Wal-Mart presently, because nothing says “Happy Birthday” to Jesus like knocking the teeth down the throats of those who grab the last big screen HD TV off the shelf first.  

      As a kid growing up in the 50’s and 60’s I was privileged to experience Christmas a different way.  A profusion of colorful electric Christmas lights everywhere glowing brightly out of the darkness symbolizing the “light of the world,” phonograph records of joyous Christmas music, and the general participation of all in America transformed the holiday to this young soul into a literal “Winter Wonderland.”  It didn’t seem near as rushed and stressful and manic as it has become.  There was a genuine feeling of “peace on earth and good will” towards all.  Even during World War One, German and allied forces laid down their arms, and climbed out of their trenches to meet in no man’s land to exchange gifts of tobacco and chocolate and brandy with men who they shot at the day before. 

       And it was seemingly everywhere.  The same Christmas Carols we sung in Sunday School, we sang in our public school classrooms and convocations, and heard on the radio and at home on the hi-fi.  The music was inseparable from the surrounding events, and it was wonderful. Large commercial establishments all had their version of the Nativity set up prominently.  It was neither shameful nor divisive to mention that the holiday centered on the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in Israel two millennia past.  Everyone seemed to want to get into the Christmas spirit whether they truly appreciated the “reason for the season” or not.   I guess Jesus wasn’t a bad guy then.

      Somehow Satan hijacked Christmas somewhere in the following years.  What were we doing—sleeping? Preoccupied with the cares of this world? Lusting for other things?  In place of the heartwarming “Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” we awoke to find that the evil dragon of Revelation had gotten his mitts on the throttle and had driven the train right off the tracks and into the sewer of depravity in which it now so sadly resides.  You can have the lights, and you can spend the money, but all of that religious nonsense just throw in the trash, soon to be joined by all the ripped and torn wrapping paper of another Christmas gone by.  Spend spend spend, Hark the herald credit card companies sing.

      It snuck up on me, the day I heard a familiar Christmas song on the radio, and looking around me at what Christmas had become, instead of joy, I suddenly felt a saddened sense of loss, similar to what I feel when I think of my departed parents, grandparents, friends and pets that have left me behind in this life.  I just wanted to weep.  An ocean of whiskey, enough to float a ship wouldn’t have quenched the sorrow.

      Late one Christmas Eve, after my son was in bed, and all the presents were wrapped and neatly placed under the evergreen tree, I ventured out onto the dark front porch and into the freezing air, and I stared off into the eastern night sky.  In the weariness of my soul, I looked for a star; prayed for a much needed star.

      Perhaps because of my love of Handel’s “Messiah,” or perhaps because I just love the Biblical book, I try to make that divinely inspired portion of the libretto to “Messiah,” (the book of Isaiah) my devotional Christmas read.  Read many times before, this particular time Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone….” (ESV) really spoke to me, probably out of context, but at the time it rang intensely personal.  In it I saw myself, and since it is one of the paramount and familiar “Christmas” passages in Scripture, it sort of flipped on my internal Christmas lights.  And what a display it was! Theretofore I only thought I had loved Christmas.

     That verse served to remind me that no matter what kind of faux-Christmas smokescreen the devil sought to put up as a façade and a distraction, a great light had indeed penetrated it, and in my time of darkness, it shone on me. 

     It would be easy to end things here, on such a warm and fuzzy note, but the bigger issue of this tome, is that Christmas is something worth fighting for.  We cannot let it go. That said, yes, yes, we all know that December 25^th is not the confirmed date of Jesus’ birth (Jesus was probably born closer to April on our calendar, or perhaps later). It is also true, Christmas as we celebrate it, had its origins in pagan revelry from days long gone by, but the Church reformed it; “Christianized” it, if you will.  While it remains, not an actual, verifiable historical date, like George Washington’s or Martin Luther King’s birthdays, it does remain for Christians, a powerful symbol of God’s breaking into history as the old carol states, “…to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray,” and to redeem His people from their sin.  We wrested it from the heathens long ago, and we cannot allow Satan to take it back.

     So, I propose saying to everyone we meet these days, “Merry Christmas!”  Political correctness is not a Christian ideal—in fact we have a long history of being thrown in jail for saying that which is unpopular to ruling establishments.  Just ask Peter and John.  Put up and encourage others to put up a nativity scene.  Most of all demonstrably enjoy Christmas.  The holiday is not the world’s to regulate.  Fear not, the only hope we have in this world or life began on Christmas Day in a manger some 2000 years ago in a stable in Israel, and it is ours to share.

     And share it we should.  It’s not wrong to give gifts at Christmas—crass commercialism aside, just don’t hit anybody in the store.  The wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus.  St. Nicholas (the real-life inspiration for Santa Claus) was a genuine man of God and the Church, who gave to the underprivileged at Christmas. It’s a great tradition!  

     In fact, to the degree you can, let me suggest you give an unexpected gift to a non-Christian, or even better, to an undeserving non-Christian—an irate boss, or a crabby neighbor—such is not hard to find—they’re everywhere.  It will blow their mind, and it won’t do you any harm either.  Who knows, through such a gesture, they might even come to see that great light.  And, as a witnessing tool, let me say that I would be more prone to listen to someone had they given me a gift first.  Just saying….

     No Christmas would be complete without a story, and so we’ll finish with that.  One of the great Christmas carols of old, which we never sing any more, is “Good King Wenceslas.”  Historical details are a bit sketchy, so I’ll make no definitive claims to his being or hierarchical rank. The song portrays him as a kindly Czech king, and more critical data lists him as Wenceslaus I, the Duke of Bohemia, who lived somewhere during the 900’s AD.  But since it’s Christmas, I’ll throw my lot in with screenwriters James Warner Bellah, Willis Goldbeck, and Dorothy M. Johnson who wrote for the classic John Ford western, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence,”

“…When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

     The legend has it that the good king noticed a poor man gathering firewood upon the “Feast of Stephen,” or December 26, the day after Christmas.  Touched by the man’s plight, Good King Wenceslas and his page gathered up food, drink and more firewood and ventured out into the frigid European winter to deliver some unexpected Christmas cheer.  During the journey, the page nearly succumbed to the cold.  The King encouraged him to walk in his (the King’s) footsteps, and upon so doing found warmth in those very imprints in the snow, and hence, could complete the trek.

     Fanciful?  Possibly.  True? Maybe.  Roman Catholic tradition acknowledges the phenomena of warming footprints in the snow, and attributes them to several of its canonized Saints.  Not trying to turn this into a Protestant-Catholic debate—after all, it’s Christmas, but just to illustrate that there are people who attest to such goings on.  It’s still a good story, and if the inner child in all of us (Jesus said we should be like children) can get back to a place of “wonder,” it’s a wonderful story, with an admirable and appropriate point.  Might we expect the miraculous, if we, at Christmas, devote ourselves to turning the aforementioned crass commercialism into a blessing for the less fortunate among us?  Might we take as a Christmas admonition the last lines of the “Good King Wenceslas” carol, as John Mason Neale published them in 1853,

“Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.”

Something upon which to ponder.

     Have yourselves a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading the blog. Do let’s be kind and generous to those who do not share our joy.  May Christ’s great light shine on us all.

“…tidings of comfort and joy.”

Dana