Today I am adventing
I want to be Christmasing
And I am not
I am not immersed in Christmas
Where miracles happen
And love wins
It matters not how many Christmas movies are seen
Or carols sung
We are not to Christmas yet
The days are short, the nights so long
Gray clouds press to the grounds
And the air is heavy with the frozen tears of God
Covid still rages
Malignant powers still oppress
Liars still lie
The wealthy still grasp and hoard
No, I am not Christmasing
I am adventing
I am walking in that dark impatient time
Where resolution is yet to come
My soul resonates with Longfellow
Who, beloved wife burned to death,
Beloved son wounded by war,
Country divided,
Bowed his head in momentary despair.
And I too cry
"There is no peace on earth,
For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Not I am not Christmasing
I am Adventing
I am plodding toward Bethlehem in the darkness
and the cold
And yet
I do believe Christmas will come
I do believe that love will prevail
For Sacred comes, and comes, and comes again
God is always incarnating into this world
We do not have a God who is scarce
But a God who is present
A scarce God demands exclusion
A scarce God stays aloof, judging
And handing out retribution
And mercy when it comes, is portioned out meagerly to the
worthy
But a present God, one who incarnates
in all creation
in all people
in all hearts
in us
Ah! that is the
point of Christmas
But incarnation (Christmas) demands that we show up!
“Who among us will
celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor,
all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger;
whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in
the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness”
If we want Christmas
We will have to show up, not in the halls of power
Not in the mansions of the wealthy
But in the streets
With the homeless, and the desperate immigrant at the
border,
in the hospital, with the COVID or cancer patient
in the nursing home, with the lonely woman or man
whose children cannot or will not come
If we want Christmas
We will have to fight for it
Not with the weapons of hate
But with the weapons of love
We fight for Christmas
When we feed the poor
When we fight for housing, first
When we welcome the homeless to sleep in our pews
When we insist on the truth
When we think of the common good, and not just ourselves
We fight for Christmas when we seek unity and peace
And refuse to demonize, refuse to hate, refuse to exclude
Call me a fool (many do)
Call me naïve
But even while I am adventing, and stumbling my way
through the dark
I believe the light will come
And with Longfellow I affirm
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
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