A Christmas Reflection

Happy Holidays

Friends, I want to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays!

I myself am a Catholic, and Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s not our most holy day, but it is up there, despite the grimly commercial turn it has taken over the decades.

I know most of you aren’t religious, and plenty of you have been traumatized by religion and its adherents, so I will avoid being preachy. But even for those of my friends who think these are silly bedtimes stories meant to placate the masses, I hope you can find in them something true and hopeful for the human experience.

Either way, I’d love to share a bit of my heart.

To me, the Christmas story itself rings true with a kind of compelling beauty—power emptying itself into vulnerability and poverty to show humanity what love really is. The way this emptying weaves itself into family and gatherings and generosity toward one another, and increased generosity toward the poor—seems like exactly the way we should respond to a cold universe that is also shot through with love and hope.

I find it notable that as the baby born in Bethlehem grows, he shows such compassion to the vulnerable and excoriates the powerful. Anyone who knows my politics can imagine why I like that! (Where do you think my politics comes from?!) And then the story later culminates in love conquering all—hatred, fear, oppression, even death—it really is just something I cannot take my eyes off of.

I will admit, my affinity for the holiday isn’t just about the message of the nativity. I’ve also got a real soft spot for Christmas kitsch—the upside of the commercialization, I suppose. My first word was “light,” and by high school I had taken over my decidedly un-festive family’s decorating. And with the “big dark” upon us, as well as a much deeper and more menacing darkness on the national political horizon, the joy of walking and seeing the colorful illuminations in my neighborhood with my wife and kids is palpable. I hope you find those little joys, whatever they may be—and whether they be related to the holiday or not.

Finally, I also love traditional music, and some of the Christmas hymns are among my favorite—and I love that that they are everywhere right now.

I’d like to share parts of two with you today.

One has its roots over 1200 years ago in medieval monastic life. The version we know today has changed and is a bit more modern, but it is usually sung in E-minor, one of the few Christmas hymns that still sounds more like a traditional chant, which is part of why I love it. This part is a few verses in:

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

The other is from Oh Holy Night, the less-well known second verse:

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And is His name, all oppression shall cease

I hope wherever you find yourself, you find space to rejoice, that in some way that love puts death genuinely dark’s shadows to flight, and we can all find a way to work together to end oppression in the year to come.

PS. Yes, of course I scheduled this in advance! I’m not writing on Christmas. I’ll be enjoying my family and eating way too much food. Happy Holidays!!!