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The Truth & Work of Christmas…  by Howard Thurman

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the Kings and Princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins.

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry

To release the prisoner,

To teach the nations,

To bring Christ to all,

To make music in the heart.

Thoughts from Rev. Beu…

My family and I love this time of year.  We used to be disciplined, forcing ourselves to wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas decorations and start playing Christmas music.  But then we wondered, “Why be a slave to the seasons?”  So we aren’t.  We decided to walk on the wild side and put everything up early and keep it up late.

The truth is, though, Christmas has always been our favorite time of year.  Not so much because of the presents we’ve received, though that certainly hasn’t hurt, but because of the sheer beauty of the season.  Personally, I’m one of those people who believe it is nearly impossible to have too many Christmas lights.

When I see the Christmas tree all lit up, the Victorian carolers holding lights in their moving hands, and when I am carried away on wings of eagles listening to majestic Christmas music, I am reminded of a lesson I learned in seminary.  I shared a class with Eric, a doctoral candidate in Religion and Literature who had renounced his Christian identity.  Eric argued that things like virgin births, angels appearing to shepherds as they watched their flocks at night, and wise men with gifts following a star, were just pleasant stories to say:  Gee, this baby’s birth is important to us.  With pomp and circumstance, Eric argued that these events did not happen as recorded, and hence, the Christian tradition was essentially false.

My professor and mentor, Dr. Harry Oliver responded wryly: “I see.  So the tradition that inspired Michelangelo’s statue of David and his work in the Sistine chapel, the tradition that produced thousands of years of hymns and music glorifying God, the tradition that produces so much beauty around Christmas time, that tradition is false.  Eric, no tradition that inspires such beauty is false.”

Every year at this time, I feel in my soul how true that last statement is.  But there is no need to forget the beauty and truth of Christmas simply because we are in a new year.  And so I challenge each of us to keep the beauty of Christmas alive throughout the year.  Remember the feelings of caroling, or being caroled to, recall the joy of our Christmas Eve service, and Christmas parties, (and dare I say it) our white elephant gift exchange.  Remember…and keep the truth of Christmas alive throughout the year as we sink into the everydayness of our lives.  For the real truth of Christmas is in the work of Christmas; and that, my friends, has just begun.

Yours on the journey, B. J.