Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Christmas Thoughts

Christmas time again.  Time for traditions of singing, attending church, lighting candles, giving and opening presents along with family dinners and more.  We sing the carols like we do every year, without too much thought.  But have you ever stopped to consider some of the words we sing?

A song on the radio caught my attention on the way home the other day.  It's one of the verses of "O Holy Night."

"Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother. And in his name all oppression shall cease."

That's some radical stuff right there.  Law of love.  Gospel of peace.  The slave is our brother? Oppression shall cease?  No wonder we opt for Santa Claus and reindeer.  It seems that as long as we only sing it a few times around Christmas we can allow the feelings of the season and the busy-ness of traditions to wash away these revolutionary ideas.


Another favorite Christmas carol of mine, "O Come O Come Immanuel."


"O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice ! Rejoice ! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel."


Why are we singing about Jews in exile in Babylon?  This is what Isaiah and prophets were waiting for.  They were waiting for a Messiah to come and free them from exile.  Jesus is the answer to that cry.  But not in the way the crowds imagined.  Today we (Western, American Christians) find ourselves in a new kind of exile.  We are not in a place of prominence.  We live in a pluralized society in which the Christian story is one of many stories.  Some Christians weep and wail and demand "take back our country for God!"  But I suspect our freedom from exile is not about God taking back America.  What use does he have for a political kingdom such as the USA?  After all Jesus came to start a new kind of kingdom, one in which he teaches us to love one another under the law of love preaching the gospel of peace.  Chains are broken and slaves are free.  What kinds of chains?  Well, for my Evangelical friends this means the chains of sin which bind us.  And they're right!  For my brothers and sisters in Nigeria I suppose they are more concerned with the oppression of a persecutor coming to an end.  For those being abused, for those who are outcasts in society, for the poor and marginalized I think their hope is that the chains our society has created are falling off and they are being set free.  Now it's one thing to find this meaning in some Christmas carols, but what about looking in the Bible?

46And Mary said: 
“My soul glorifies the Lord 
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 
48for he has been mindful 
of the humble state of his servant. 
From now on all generations will call me blessed, 
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me— 
holy is his name. 
50His mercy extends to those who fear him, 
from generation to generation. 
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; 
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones 
but has lifted up the humble. 
53He has filled the hungry with good things 
but has sent the rich away empty. 
54He has helped his servant Israel, 
remembering to be merciful 
55to Abraham and his descendants forever, 
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Luke 1:46-55. Mary is praising God for a whole lot of things, not least of which is the fact that God is caring for the poor and marginalized.  He's filling the hungry with food while the rich go away empty handed.  "Now, Adam, don't make Christmas about social justice."  Trust me that's the last thing I want to do.  It would be a whole lot easier for me.  I want to sit back and indulge in the commercialism and quaint traditions that get packed in the attic after the holiday season, but the Scriptures are talking about something completely different.  The birth of Jesus is about so much more than we usually speak or hear about at Christmas.  This is the beginning of something new!  In Jesus everything changes.  He has come to be the savior of the WORLD.  My sins, your sins, our sins, societies sins, the brokenness of the planet.  The poor, the persecuted, the outcasts, the have-nots.  The whole of creation groaning.  All of it.  Jesus enters the world to be the savior of the whole mess.  This is some crazy stuff!  So why have we so domesticated it?  On Christmas Eve will I light my candle, sing "Silent Night" and hope that everything will go back to normal after the Christmas holiday?  Or, will the fact that Jesus has begun something new, that his plan of redemption is under way, that the kingdom of God (heaven) is on it's way and he has asked us to be a part of that process actually make a difference not just in my heart, but in my life, the way I live, the way I love others, the way you and I work together, the way I treat my "enemies", the way I steward creation.  Christmas is about something big!  Don't shrink it to a box that get's brought out once a year and packed away.  

1 comment:

  1. Without words, Adam. It is wonderful and heartfelt how you put your thoughts into these words.

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