Recently a friend was lamenting something that all-too-many of us Christians have found ourselves lamenting over the past few years: Given the human propensity for inhumanity toward one another, Earth hardly seems the place God would make a home -- particularly as a vulnerable child out in the cold. Surely the Divine has better things to do and better places to do them.
In short, we despair. A lot.
Some weeks ago, I was talking with someone who was confused. "You're a Christian? But you're young, relatively healthy, sharp and quick witted. Why would you need to go to church?"
In short, we despair. A lot.
Some weeks ago, I was talking with someone who was confused. "You're a Christian? But you're young, relatively healthy, sharp and quick witted. Why would you need to go to church?"
Church was where the old and the poor and the disabled went -- people who were desperate. People who needed consolation.
And let's be honest here: She wasn't all that wrong.
The "Holiday Season" is upon us. That period on the secular calendar that marks the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's our annual cultural festivity around all things "Good Fortune" brings. If you've got prosperity, dear family, loyal friends, or even just a fleeting optimistic outlook on life, then you're in. Gifts, parties, good deeds -- these name that Season and its worship at the altar of the god of Good Fortune called "I'm not desperate".
It is a lonely season for those who've
been passed over by wand of the Giftmas Fairy, those can frankly look
around and notice that life is terrible. The secular holidays are a
celebration of all that is good in the world. When the mandatory
joyfulness exceeds the real levels of what's actual worth celebrating,
the disparity creates a gap. Those who notice the gap aren't unreasonable in reacting with sorrow.
This is why, for Christians, Advent is such an important season.
Advent is filled with readings like this from Isaiah 29:
The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD,
and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
For the tyrant will be no more
and the arrogant will have gone;
All who are alert to do evil will be cut off,
those whose mere word condemns a man,
Who ensnare his defender at the gate,
and leave the just man with an empty claim.
For goodness sake, Lord, let me go shopping in peace! It's not that you don't see where some people
would find that kind of scripture enormously helpful. But you've got
to be pretty far into the hole before you’re hungry for some good old
fashioned messianic promises.
Hence the
contrast between secular holiday tunes and Christmas carols. The
secular songs celebrate the things of this world -- good things.
Friends, family, snowy weather, gifts, sleigh rides, camaraderie.
Things worth appreciating, certainly. A good Christmas carol, in
contrast, picks up on the desperation. It finds everything that's lacking even after you've counted your earthly blessings.
Consider "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen",
which wishes tidings of comfort and joy not because all is well at home,
but because Christ our Savior came to save us from Satan's power.
"What Child is This?" isn't content to sit around the manger with
gurgling baby Jesus, but reminds us "nails, spear, shall pierce Him
through, the cross be borne for me for you". When you need to wake up
your Lent, any proper Christmas song will do the trick, and vice versa.
Mall traffic or no mall traffic, you can't go so very wrong with "O
Sacred Head Surrounded" for all your elfin-overload recovery needs.
So, if you're like my friends -- folks who find themselves despairing this Season -- let me offer you a little spiritual help in the comfort of those hymns (brought to you by the Lutherans, those folks who know how to survive under harsh circumstances):