Christmas is not a reminder
that the world is really quite a nice old place. It reminds us that the world
is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where
children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling
weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart. Christmas is God
lighting a candle, and you don't light a candle in a room that's already full
of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that's so murky that the candle, when
lit, reveals just how bad things really are. The light shines in the darkness,
says St. John, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
N.T.
Wright, For All God's Worth
________________________________________
What happened to those
shepherds
who heard the angels sing?
Who saw the darkness
dispelled by light and heard good news for all
What happened to those
foolish ones who haphazardly left their flocks
And stumbled through the
darkness
To where the baby lay?
Did they dream wild new
dreams?
Were their lives transformed?
Or did they merely wander
back into the hills
Pick up their staffs, and sit
once again in the cold stillness
The ardor of the moment
cooling
The light fading?
And watch sheep?
What happened to those odd
assorted souls who happened
by the scene
and awkwardly watched the
sight of a motley crew
of socially sketchy folk
gathered around a mother and
child?
Were they too touched by
angel fire?
Did they too wander
aimlessly, pondering these things that had come to pass?
The good news of great joy?
Or did they shrug and scurry
on unchanged.
What happened to the cousins
and aunts,
the family gathered upstairs
in that warmer cleaner space?
Were they oblivious to the
wonder underneath their feet?
Or did grace rise and touch
the room in which they ate
And argued as families do?
What happened to merchants
and kings
And magi from afar
As they heard the experts
opine about that star
“Out of you Bethlehem… out of
you shall come a ruler.”
What happened?
Did that star, those
prophetic words mean something?
Or nothing
Did the signs and wonders
invoke hope, or fear?
Did they stay trapped in
their old beliefs and systems?
Did their stomachs clinch and
the bile rise?
Or did they catch a glimmer
of something new?
Surely the only stories are
not those
Of mad kings plotting infant
deaths
Of magi fleeing in the dark,
another way
Surely stories of refugee
flights in the darkness
and violent oppression are
not all we have
Surely someone became kinder
Someone loved
Someone forgave
Someone felt moved to
generosity
Surely someone felt hope
And someone gazed into the
now silent skies,
And remembered the angels
singing
For all that happened
And all that did not happen
The world slouches on its way
Still Christmas comes and
goes, and comes and goes again
Still the air is filled with
the sound of singing
And lights twinkle as the
stars
Still people gather
And make much of a baby’s
birth
And celebrate
And still when all is said
and done
The world returns to its ways
Still the powerful plot and
the poor suffer
Still fear and hate lead to
violence
Is this all that we have?
An empty celebration that
when all is said and done
Leaves the world the same
dark place
No! it isn’t
Yes, the world is indeed “a
shockingly bad old place,
where wickedness flourishes
unchecked,
And yet at Christmas the
light came into the world
A light in the darkness
A light to show us the way
A light that at times may
seem fragile and weak,
flickering
But never goes out
The light of hope, and peace,
and joy
The light of love
which is kindled and flames
in our hearts
so that sometimes we are
kinder
and sometimes we love
and forgive
and give
And sometimes
Even as the light shines in a
world murky with darkness
We gaze into the now silent
skies,
And remember
And hope
And love
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