Silent Night No More

Christmas Eve is often memorialized by the song that every Christian loves, "Silent Night."  We romanticize the heck out of the birth of Jesus but let's be honest here, it was not a silent night.  It was not a night where all was calm and bright.  As a matter of fact, the world was in turmoil. People from all over the known world were on the move because the emperor had decided that he needed to make sure that everyone was paying their taxes.  There is nothing worse than to be a despot without having the money to throw wild parties or to send your army to conquer lands that are not yet in your control.  So everyone who did not happen to already be in the town their ancestors came from had to drop what they were doing and go there.  This caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people, not that the emperor cared.  So both Joseph and Mary found themselves on their way to Bethlehem to be counted.  Mary was ready to give birth, but that was not the emperor's problem either.  So the couple set out for  Bethlehem, the town of  David, the king.  Its name meant "House of Bread."   We know what happened next.  They arrived at the town and there was no room for them to stay at any of the places where traveler's rested.  They ended up in a stable, a cave really, and there Jesus was born.  The silence of the night was then broken and the world would never be the same again. 

In the fields there were shepherds watching their flocks of lambs at night, keeping them safe.  It was not cool to be a shepherd as your duties kept you from the temple and you were considered to be unclean.  So the silence of that Silent Night was broken by the sound of angels proclaiming that God had come to earth, that a savior had been born.  The good news was first revealed to those who had no say in the world, shepherds of all people.   They were a simple people, they believed what they had heard and went to see the Child.  

The silence was broken and the world was forever changed because of this Silent Night.  The old world would pass away and this birth of Jesus would usher in a New Way.  We would be taught by God Himself as to how we would live.  The old rules would soon no longer apply.  The silence of the olden days would be broken forever as God fulfilled His promise to send a savior.  

It would be thirty years before Jesus would begin to preach. This time he used to give us an example.  He worked beside his step-father, Joseph., and learned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.  Here is another fact.  The job of a carpenter was also looked down upon because there was a lack of wood in Judea because it was a desert community.  So, Jesus worked humbly and quietly at his trade.  

Since the Saviour's birth, there can be no more silent nights.  We have to make a choice.  Either He is the Son of God as He says He is or he is a pious fake.  Some people say that he was not the son of God, but he was a good man and a good teacher.  This is not right. Jesus is who he says he is or he is an evil madman.  There can be no other choice.  

So, who do you say Jesus is?  Or will you remain silent?

A Christmas Story

I am sorry, it just could not be done, not even in a bastion of learning such as Saint Joseph and Saint Ann School in Chicago was back in the 1960's.  

How could a young boy or girl hope to master number lines, adding negative numbers or even diagramming sentences when Christmas was so near.  How could we be expected to remember the seven cardinal acts of mercy or the spiritual acts of mercy?  No, at this time of year the excitement of bright lights and wrapped packages and the looming Christmas break held every child’s attention.  While the good sisters taught us about the Advent season our eyes were focused on homemade cookies, tinsel, and those mysteriously wrapped packages now appearing underneath the Christmas tree.  And the tree itself filled the home with the rich scent of pine unless of course, your family had an aluminum tree because then you had to imagine the pine scent as the colored light changed and caused the tree to change color. No child, not even the teacher’s pets had much interest in reading, writing, or arithmetic as the nights grew longer and the time to Christmas came closer.  All of our eyes were turned to the sky not waiting for the Christmas Star, oh no, we were waiting for that mystical and magical ingredient of the season – called snow.  Because every kid had some way to propel themselves down a neighborhood hill.  For some it was a sled, for others, it might be the top of a garbage can, a hunk of cardboard or a plastic saucer.  It didn’t matter what vehicle you had or what hill you went to, you just wanted to experience the wind in your face as you slid down your favorite high spot. And who could concentrate on school work when in the afternoon you knew that the work would cease and that cupcake feast and present exchange called the Class Christmas party put all academic pursuits on hold until that time that seemed so far away called “after the New Year.”  Then finally the bell cheerfully chimes it permission to leave and donning scarves, coats, hats and boots we would leave the school, and soon the school would be silent and abandoned and as the echo of the kids excited voices faded the only thing that could be heard at SJSA was the sound of desks being moved so that the janitor could buff the floors to a lustrous shine to greet the returning revelers at the end of Christmas break.  .   Those days before Christmas at SJSA were very magical ones.  The sisters were released from their perpetual vow of not smiling and the crankiest among them adopted a Christmas countenance.  Meanwhile, in our homes things were made ready for visiting relatives. Children coming in from the slopes were warmed with hot cocoa and depending on their likes and dislikes perhaps a marshmallow or maybe some whipped cream would dot the surface of the chill chaser.    Yes, when we were young the Christmas season lasted a long time.  There was the anticipation of what was to come and that was for a child is what put the joy into the season. On Christmas eve, as the sky began to darken, excitement stirred in our hearts.  In our house there was ritual that was carefully followed every year. We would be allowed to open one of the beautifully wrapped packages before we went to bed. Every year we wondered what treasure would we behold once we opened that package.  Would it be the toy we had asked Santa Claus for?  No, no, it wouldn't.  Every year we would open that package and the contents would always be pajamas.  By the time I was eigh I got the idea but always hoped for something else.  Wearing our new pajamas we would cluster at the kitchen table where we were given hot chocolate made with real milk and whipped cream.  I suspect there may have been a sleeping pill in it too because no sooner would we be done with the treat than our eyes would start to feel very heavy and without being told, on this one day of the year, we went off to bed to dream of the treasures that would be ours the next day.  Chrismas Eve was a night filled with joy. It was the joy of innocence  Today I challenge each of you to become joyful as a child as you prepare yourself for Christmas. Let your heart anticipate the joy of Christmas day as we remember that the joy of giving to others will fill us with the same feeling for the Christmas season as we had when we were young.