Christmas Eve Meditation

When Isla and I got engaged about two months after we met, I contacted an immigration attorney to investigate the process of getting her the necessary documentation to enter the United States as my wife. Silly me – I thought it was a simple matter since she would be married to a born and bred American. Not so, the attorney assured me. As a matter of fact, it could take as much as two or three years, or more sometimes. I let him know that I was already old and  I wasn’t inclined to wait for three years. Besides by that time she might wise up. There was a long pause and he spoke in his most professional voice. “There is another way to do it. Now let’s be clear, I cannot advise you to do it this way. Do you understand what I am saying?” I assured him that I did understand and he told me about another process, not exactly the preferred legal process. Then when he finished he added. “You understand that I cannot advise you to do it that way. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Sometimes people tell you something by their extreme efforts to not tell you something. We went to the Christmas program at Citrus College again this year. It is a marvelous production, worthy of Broadway. I want to go again next year. But, their efforts to make it about the “holidays” rather than Christmas, and not to mention the birth of Jesus were so extreme as to be obvious and called attention to what they were trying not to call attention too. The choir even had an arrangement of “Joy  to the World,” that did not contain the line, “the Lord is come.” The play that was the second half of the program labored to develop the theme of the value of preserving holiday traditions, most important of which was belief in Santa Claus. Now I understand that Citrus College would want to present a program as universally acceptable – not a lot of leaning into the Jesus thing. I’m fine with that. The play was light and fun and fully enjoyable right up to spoofing Harry Potter and the appearance of __ Mo and Curley Joe, the three scrooges. But they reiterated the theme so often, that the holiday seasons is all about precious traditions, that it began to feel like the were trying to cover up something else they found embarrassing. Rather like the lawyer saying, “You understand that I’m not recommending this course of action,” they kept saying, “You understand that we are not talking about the birth of the only begotten Son of God, here.” Me thinketh thou protesteth too much.”

I have a live recording of a folk group I like, and one of the songs is introduced as a “non-denominational” gospel song. What is that? I listened to the song and couldn’t imagine how the denominational version of the song would be different. She did that just to make sure that her audience knew she was making every effort to be inclusive even though she was venturing into potentially offensive territory, gospel in a folk concert. I think she protests too much. She called attention to her discomfort and to the very thing she was hoping to de-emphasize.

But, not here, not tonight. Here we will rise up and proclaim boldly, “Joy to the world, the LORD is come!” Let earth receive her king. Do you understand what I am saying to you. The reason the world is embarrassed by the birth of Christ is because they are embarrassed by the cross of Christ. Those of us who know that it is through that cross that we have received grace upon grace, celebrate his birth with purpose knowing that God entered our space on that silent night and began the redemption of reconciliation of all people. For us, “Happy Holidays” doesn’t get it. Didn’t work for George Fredrick Handel either. That’s why the lessons he chose for his Christmas oratorio were larger than birth narratives – also suffering and death narratives and resurrection and glorification narratives. Because when you know and own that part of the Christ story it makes the babe of Bethlehem story all the precious. “O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”