Page Contents:
UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Linda Foshee
CHRISTMAS: THE BLESSED HUSH
Richard S. Gilbert
The “Other Wise Man” and the Real Magi
by Ken R. Vincent
THE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS by F. VERNON CHANDLER
_______________________________________________________
UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Linda Foshee
I am writing this on Thanksgiving Day. It is a workday for mea good way
to avoid overeatingbut I’ll be faced with tempting foods tomorrow when
many of us will gather at Our Home Church for a Thanksgiving meal.
Today, however, I must deal with the fact that the newsletter deadline is
fast approaching.
Television sounds drift through to me, sounds that I recognize as the Macy’
s Thanksgiving Parade. The parade marks the official start of the
Christmas Season but I wonder if someone forgot to tell the retailers! Even
before Halloween was over, the stores were decorated for Christmas. For
some reason the substituted words to a familiar carol are spinning ‘round in
my head: Angels we have heard on high tell us to go out and buy! Wasn’t
there a time when Christmas was less complicated?
I invite you to step back in time with me to the year 1849. Dr. Edmund
Sears sits working on his Christmas Eve message, desperately searching
for words to inspire his congregation. The debate over slavery,
compounded by the poverty around him, has all but broken his spirit.
Sears, a Unitarian minister, has seen the poverty first-hand. He had been
a force of caring in his community, reaching out each day to those Jesus
had called “the least of these.” The poverty and hopelessness of the
people he had touched in the slums sickened his heart and slowed his
progress on the sermon. It seemed that the world cared little for these
unfortunate people.
As Sears struggles, he thumbs through his Bible. The words in Luke speak
to his heart: “And there were shepherds living out it the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and they were terrified.”
Considering the passage, Sears picks up his pen and jots down a five-
verse poem that he titled, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” He decides to
end his Christmas sermon with the poem as a way of issuing a challenge to
his congregation.
Sears wanted them to celebrate Christmas, but he also wanted them to be
challenged to reach out to the poor, to address the nation’s social ills, and
to consider what they could do as individuals to best reflect the spirit of
Christ in their lives. Nowhere was this message more obvious than in the
second verse of the poem, a verse that has been discarded and all but
forgotten:
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing!
In 1850, the poem was published in the Christian Register. It’s believed
that Richard Storrs Willis, a Boston musician and composer, read the poem
and decided that the lyrics would fit to a melody he had composed a few
years earlier, a hymn tune titled simply “Carol”
During World War I, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear was sung by American
troops throughout France. Twenty-five years later, U.S. troops would take
the song to the front lines of World War II.
The lasting impact of the song is probably due in part to its last verse, a
stanza in which Sears begs the world to sing back to heaven the song of
hope, peace, love, and joy. Although the carol has been sung millions of
times since that Christmas Eve in 1849, the charge issued by the Reverend
Edmund Sears is as vital today as it was more than a century ago.
For, lo! The days are hastening on
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold:
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Have a lovely and meaningful Christmas Season!
Historical information drawn from Stories Behind the Best-loved Songs of
Christmas by Ace Collins, 2001, Zondervan.
CHRISTMAS: THE BLESSED HUSH
Richard S. Gilbert
In the blessed hush of this hour we settle down;
We close off from our minds the noises that jangle our nerves;
We open our ears and our hearts to ancient music that both soothes
and sustains us;
How we long for these few moments of quiet,
Away from workaday things,
The incessant ringing of the phone,
The steady hum of the computer,
The crackling of electronic machines which will not let us be,
The constant buzz of important talk.
For a time we repair to a quieter world of the spirit,
Where life is not a matter of getting things done,
Where life has to do with being alive in this moment,
And the experience of listening to story and song
Captures our notice and commands our attention.
To be sure we are about important things,
Our work in the world can be done by no one else,
We are a vital cog in the great scheme of things.
Just for a moment, let us put aside such important matters
And listen to angel songs and prophet voices;
Let us allow ourselves into the magic world of poetry and legend,
Which speaks a truth escaping our daily notice
Even as the cold penetrates our bodies,
May we be warmed by the spirit of expectancy
liven as icy winds chill us to the very bone,
May we be warmed by a rebirth of our love for one another.
In the blessed hush of this hour, may we listen to the stirrings of our
innermost self and be glad to renew our acquaintance. Hush. Hush.
Richard S. Gilbert, L.H.D. is a life long Universalist.
The “Other Wise Man” and the Real Magi
by Ken R. Vincent
Author of: The MAGI: From Zoroaster to the “Three Wise Men”
A little over a hundred years ago, Prof. Henry Van Dyke re-introduced the
Western World to the real Magi in a beautiful fictional book, The Story of
the Other Wise Man. Knowledge of the Magi as priests of the Zoroastrian
religion had been forgotten after the Moslem conquest of the Middle East
but had re-emerged during the 19th century. Prof. Van Dyke’s Other Wise
Man, like the more famous Three Wise Men who brought gifts to honor the
Baby Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, were Magi. Theirs was the only
religion in the ancient world other than Judaism to worship one God, and
their prophet Zoroaster had predicted the coming of future saviors from
“the nations.” The Magi believed that Salvation is attained through Good
Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.In The Story of the Other Wise
Man, the fourth Magi is delayed in his attempt to join the others in their
search for the Savior because he repeatedly interrupts his journey to care
for the sick and needy. At the end of his life, he experiences a vision of the
crucified Jesus who assures him that in performing good works for “the
least of my brethren, you have done it to me” (Matthew 25:31-46).
Like many scholars of his time, Prof. Van Dyke was fascinated by the real
Magi. Although early Christian artwork had pictured the Magi accurately in
priestly Persian attire, their appearance became transformed by later
legend into opulently clad Kings. But St. Matthew doesn’t call them Kings;
he calls them “Magi”. Modern translations of the New Testament often use
“Wise Men.”
Prof. John Hinnells of the University of London notes that St. Matthew, who
is thought to have written his Gospel in Antioch, Syria, would have been
familiar with the beliefs of the Magi, whom history locates in that community
in the First Century. More than any other Gospel writer, Matthew cites texts
from the Hebrew Bible to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, but in this
instance, Matthew tells us that priests from a religion other than Judaism
followed the Guiding Star to Jesus. Why?
One answer given is that the Zoroastrians were known to be astrologers.
Remember that Balaam, another non- Jew in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers
24:17), predicted that “a star shall come forth out of Jacob and a scepter
shall rise out of Israel….” But many other religions of the First Century
practiced astrology. A related answer sometimes voiced is that the Magi
were Chaldaens; Chaldaea, another name for Babylon, was where Western
astrology was invented. At the time of the birth of Jesus, the religion of the
Magi was the dominant religion in Babylon.
But the primary importance of the Magi was the enormity of their influence
in the world of the First Century. Their religion was dominant in the first
Persian Empire prior to Alexander and in the Parthian Persian Empire,
which was much larger than modern-day Persia (Iran) and included
(modern-day) Iraq, the eastern half of Syria, southeast Turkey, Armenia,
and half of Turkmenistan. The Zoroastrian Persians were once rulers in
Palestine and remained “next-door neighbors” of Roman Palestine at the
time of Jesus’ birth. Additionally, their main language was Aramaic, which
was the language of Jesus. Some Magi even resided in pre-Islamic
Southern Arabia where the frankincense and myrrh were grown and
traded. So it was the Magi who worshiped the one God of Light, called
Ahura Mazda (the Wise Lord), who were at the birth of Jesus. St. Matthew
was declaring to the non-Jewish world, especially the world of the East,
“Jesus is your Savior too!”
The Magi at the Nativity of Jesus was not the first communication between
the Zoroastrian and the Jewish religions. By the time of Jesus’ birth, the
Jews had been acquainted with the religion of the Magi for over 500 years!
Indeed, the Magian Kings Darius, and Xerxes are mentioned fondly in the
Hebrew Bible; the good Persian King Cyrus the Great was responsible for
allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile with the
treasures from their Temple. It is likely that the Magi would have known of
the Jewish prophecy of a savior similar to their own.
We in the West forget that early Christians lived and modern Christians still
live in Africa, India, and the Middle East. Indeed, before Islam, 10% of the
Middle East was Christian. The Zoroastrians and their priests, the Magi
(now called Mobeds), are still with us too. In fact, there are 15,000 in North
America. No other religion has as much in common with our Judeo-
Christian heritage.
So at Christmastime, after you read the story of the Magi in the Chapter 2
of Matthew, skip over to Chapter 25 (vs.31-46). Remember the Other
Wise Man and his prophet, Zoroaster, who also taught the supreme
importance of good works and who predicted the coming of other saviors.
THE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS by F. VERNON CHANDLER
In much of Europe, the Christmas season is a time of festive lights,
decorated trees, special holiday shopping markets, feasting, merriment and
parties.
Downtown Heidelberg, Germany is noted for their Christmas market where
vendors erect numerous decorative stalls to sell various Christmas gifts
and other delicacies. Along the main walking street, colorful lights line the
store fronts and most every store window has a beautifully decorated
Christmas tree. The air is filled with the smells of cinnamon and mulled
German wine. The sounds of recorded Christmas music gently flow from
the various stalls and shops.
Much of the Christmas celebrations in Europe are not too unlike what can
be found in cities and towns throughout the United States. The only major
difference between Europeans and Americans at Christmas is that
Europeans feel quite safe when walking their city streets after dark!
When we trace the origins of much of our modern day Christmas culture,
we find various sources. The ancient Romans held a festival called
Saturnalia in December. Beginning on December 15, the Romans
observed seven days of feasting, revelry and merrymaking in honor of
Saturn. Variations of the December Saturnalia festival eventually migrated
throughout much of Western Europe and were always associated with
indulgence of food and drink. From the ancient Persian religion of
Zoroastrianism, we find the celebration of the god Mithra, god of light. This
celebration of light was later associated with the winter solstice which
marked the beginning of lengthening daylight.
The origin of Santa Claus and gift giving can be traced to the altruistic
bishop named Saint Nicholas who lived in Asia Minor, now known as
Turkey, during the fourth century.
Many years later much of Western Europe shared legends of a gift bearing
Saint Nicholas riding through the skies on a horse, often accompanied by
an elf who whipped the children who misbehaved.
The Dutch called Saint Nicholas SinterKlass and it is from the Dutch that we
have Santa Claus in America. The Yule log came from Scandinavian
mythology. In December a huge log was found and hauled into the house.
The log was lit afire in honor of Thor, the Viking god of thunder and war. It
was believed that Thor would bless the family with prosperity during the
following year in reward for this ceremony.
The Christmas tree, mistletoe and holly have German origins. These
evergreens were brought into homes during the cold months of winter with
the belief that they enhanced fertility.
Probably the only aspect of modern Christmas culture that can be
attributed to America is the increasingly materialistic aspect of this holiday
time. Indeed, the Christmas shopping season, which now begins just after
Halloween, is a "make or break" time for many American businesses. For
most of western civilization, the modern Christmas season is a joyous time
of feasting, decorating, partying, and gift buying.
But what about those folks who can't participate in the festivities of our
modern Christmas culture? It was a Saturday night in December 1994 and I
was sitting in my study struggling to write a Christmas sermon for the
inmates at the nearby state penitentiary where I was employed as chaplain.
I was feeling quite frustrated. How could I write and deliver a joyful
Christmas message to a congregation of inmates, many who were serving
long sentences and for whom family no longer existed?
There was no chapel at the prison. We used the visitation room for our
chapel programs. Sunday worship services were scheduled to begin and
end prior to the start of visitation at 9 a.m. As such, many inmates had to
choose between having breakfast and going to chapel. There was a
solitary artificial Christmas tree with a couple of branches missing,
decorated with donated ornaments, in the visitation room. A few other
festive Christmas decorations of snowmen, reindeer, and Santa Clauses
adorned the walls of the room.
I often wondered if the tree and decorations did more emotional harm than
good for the inmates. The decorations reminded each inmate of what he
was missing" outside the wall. "
I went back and re-read the Christmas story from Luke again. Joseph and
the pregnant Mary were required to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to
Bethlehem to participate in a census. It was just Joseph and Mary. They left
their families behind in Nazareth.
Once arriving in Bethlehem, they found that there is no lodging to be had
or perhaps Joseph simply did not have funds for some of the more
expensive rooms that might have been available.
At this point, Mary begins to have labor pains. The only shelter they can
find is in a stable. Among the sounds and smells of farm animals, they
make their way along the stable pathway that is no doubt littered with
animal manure. Mary's labor pains increase. Joseph desperately looks
forsome place for Mary to lie down other than the manure covered ground,
but he is not successful. From what we can discern from Luke's account, it
appears that Mary gives birth while lying on the dirty ground. After the baby
Jesus is born, Joseph locates a nearby feeding trough filled with fodder. It
is in this manger that the newborn baby is laid to rest.
As my imagination pictured the actual scene of the first Christmas, it
dawned on me that the inmates at the prison probably knew and
understood the true "spirit" of that first Christmas much better than those of
us who are caught up in the spirit of our modern Christmas culture.
The true spirit of that first Christmas was one of loneliness, despair,
hopelessness, homesickness, degradation and humiliation. There was the
physical pain of childbirth for Mary and there was Joseph's emotional pain
in not being able to do better for his wife and son. And there is no mention
of a meal or food in Luke's account. Might we assume that both Mary and
Joseph also knew the pains of hunger during that night in the stable?
Once I made this connection, I felt a burst of energy and I rewrote my
Christmas sermon. In my new sermon, I tried to help the inmates realize just
how much they had in common with Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the
Bethlehem stable. There was nothing joyous and festive about that first
Christmas.
The true spirit of that first Christmas was more akin to the spirit you find
among inmates in prison; the homeless huddled under a bridge or waiting
in a soup kitchen line at a homeless shelter; the unemployed family facing
eviction from their home or apartment; the lonely man or woman in a
nursing home for whom there are no family visits; the man or woman who
can't afford needed medical care; the man or woman who is hungry and
has no money for food; the man or woman grieving the loss of a loved one.
If you wish to truly share in the spirit that was the first Christmas, stay away
from the shopping malls, the festivities and the partying. Go to where
humans suffer. Go to where humans are marginalized from society. Go to
those places where loneliness, despair, grief, hopelessness,
homesickness, degradation and humiliation are paramount.
Find those humans who suffer and try and be with them in their suffering.
Give of yourself to those who suffer. Here you will find the true spirit of the
first Christmas. And if you can truly connect and help with the suffering of
another, you will find an inner joy and meaning that far exceeds that which
can be found in the festivities, partying and materialism of our modern
Christmas culture.
(F. Vernon Chandler is a Unitarian Universalist minister, a military chaplain
and a former editor of the Universalist Herald. Vernon and Nataly Chandler
currently reside in Heidelberg, Germany. )
UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Linda Foshee
CHRISTMAS: THE BLESSED HUSH
Richard S. Gilbert
The “Other Wise Man” and the Real Magi
by Ken R. Vincent
THE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS by F. VERNON CHANDLER
_______________________________________________________
UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Linda Foshee
I am writing this on Thanksgiving Day. It is a workday for mea good way
to avoid overeatingbut I’ll be faced with tempting foods tomorrow when
many of us will gather at Our Home Church for a Thanksgiving meal.
Today, however, I must deal with the fact that the newsletter deadline is
fast approaching.
Television sounds drift through to me, sounds that I recognize as the Macy’
s Thanksgiving Parade. The parade marks the official start of the
Christmas Season but I wonder if someone forgot to tell the retailers! Even
before Halloween was over, the stores were decorated for Christmas. For
some reason the substituted words to a familiar carol are spinning ‘round in
my head: Angels we have heard on high tell us to go out and buy! Wasn’t
there a time when Christmas was less complicated?
I invite you to step back in time with me to the year 1849. Dr. Edmund
Sears sits working on his Christmas Eve message, desperately searching
for words to inspire his congregation. The debate over slavery,
compounded by the poverty around him, has all but broken his spirit.
Sears, a Unitarian minister, has seen the poverty first-hand. He had been
a force of caring in his community, reaching out each day to those Jesus
had called “the least of these.” The poverty and hopelessness of the
people he had touched in the slums sickened his heart and slowed his
progress on the sermon. It seemed that the world cared little for these
unfortunate people.
As Sears struggles, he thumbs through his Bible. The words in Luke speak
to his heart: “And there were shepherds living out it the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and they were terrified.”
Considering the passage, Sears picks up his pen and jots down a five-
verse poem that he titled, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” He decides to
end his Christmas sermon with the poem as a way of issuing a challenge to
his congregation.
Sears wanted them to celebrate Christmas, but he also wanted them to be
challenged to reach out to the poor, to address the nation’s social ills, and
to consider what they could do as individuals to best reflect the spirit of
Christ in their lives. Nowhere was this message more obvious than in the
second verse of the poem, a verse that has been discarded and all but
forgotten:
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing!
In 1850, the poem was published in the Christian Register. It’s believed
that Richard Storrs Willis, a Boston musician and composer, read the poem
and decided that the lyrics would fit to a melody he had composed a few
years earlier, a hymn tune titled simply “Carol”
During World War I, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear was sung by American
troops throughout France. Twenty-five years later, U.S. troops would take
the song to the front lines of World War II.
The lasting impact of the song is probably due in part to its last verse, a
stanza in which Sears begs the world to sing back to heaven the song of
hope, peace, love, and joy. Although the carol has been sung millions of
times since that Christmas Eve in 1849, the charge issued by the Reverend
Edmund Sears is as vital today as it was more than a century ago.
For, lo! The days are hastening on
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold:
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Have a lovely and meaningful Christmas Season!
Historical information drawn from Stories Behind the Best-loved Songs of
Christmas by Ace Collins, 2001, Zondervan.
CHRISTMAS: THE BLESSED HUSH
Richard S. Gilbert
In the blessed hush of this hour we settle down;
We close off from our minds the noises that jangle our nerves;
We open our ears and our hearts to ancient music that both soothes
and sustains us;
How we long for these few moments of quiet,
Away from workaday things,
The incessant ringing of the phone,
The steady hum of the computer,
The crackling of electronic machines which will not let us be,
The constant buzz of important talk.
For a time we repair to a quieter world of the spirit,
Where life is not a matter of getting things done,
Where life has to do with being alive in this moment,
And the experience of listening to story and song
Captures our notice and commands our attention.
To be sure we are about important things,
Our work in the world can be done by no one else,
We are a vital cog in the great scheme of things.
Just for a moment, let us put aside such important matters
And listen to angel songs and prophet voices;
Let us allow ourselves into the magic world of poetry and legend,
Which speaks a truth escaping our daily notice
Even as the cold penetrates our bodies,
May we be warmed by the spirit of expectancy
liven as icy winds chill us to the very bone,
May we be warmed by a rebirth of our love for one another.
In the blessed hush of this hour, may we listen to the stirrings of our
innermost self and be glad to renew our acquaintance. Hush. Hush.
Richard S. Gilbert, L.H.D. is a life long Universalist.
The “Other Wise Man” and the Real Magi
by Ken R. Vincent
Author of: The MAGI: From Zoroaster to the “Three Wise Men”
A little over a hundred years ago, Prof. Henry Van Dyke re-introduced the
Western World to the real Magi in a beautiful fictional book, The Story of
the Other Wise Man. Knowledge of the Magi as priests of the Zoroastrian
religion had been forgotten after the Moslem conquest of the Middle East
but had re-emerged during the 19th century. Prof. Van Dyke’s Other Wise
Man, like the more famous Three Wise Men who brought gifts to honor the
Baby Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, were Magi. Theirs was the only
religion in the ancient world other than Judaism to worship one God, and
their prophet Zoroaster had predicted the coming of future saviors from
“the nations.” The Magi believed that Salvation is attained through Good
Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.In The Story of the Other Wise
Man, the fourth Magi is delayed in his attempt to join the others in their
search for the Savior because he repeatedly interrupts his journey to care
for the sick and needy. At the end of his life, he experiences a vision of the
crucified Jesus who assures him that in performing good works for “the
least of my brethren, you have done it to me” (Matthew 25:31-46).
Like many scholars of his time, Prof. Van Dyke was fascinated by the real
Magi. Although early Christian artwork had pictured the Magi accurately in
priestly Persian attire, their appearance became transformed by later
legend into opulently clad Kings. But St. Matthew doesn’t call them Kings;
he calls them “Magi”. Modern translations of the New Testament often use
“Wise Men.”
Prof. John Hinnells of the University of London notes that St. Matthew, who
is thought to have written his Gospel in Antioch, Syria, would have been
familiar with the beliefs of the Magi, whom history locates in that community
in the First Century. More than any other Gospel writer, Matthew cites texts
from the Hebrew Bible to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, but in this
instance, Matthew tells us that priests from a religion other than Judaism
followed the Guiding Star to Jesus. Why?
One answer given is that the Zoroastrians were known to be astrologers.
Remember that Balaam, another non- Jew in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers
24:17), predicted that “a star shall come forth out of Jacob and a scepter
shall rise out of Israel….” But many other religions of the First Century
practiced astrology. A related answer sometimes voiced is that the Magi
were Chaldaens; Chaldaea, another name for Babylon, was where Western
astrology was invented. At the time of the birth of Jesus, the religion of the
Magi was the dominant religion in Babylon.
But the primary importance of the Magi was the enormity of their influence
in the world of the First Century. Their religion was dominant in the first
Persian Empire prior to Alexander and in the Parthian Persian Empire,
which was much larger than modern-day Persia (Iran) and included
(modern-day) Iraq, the eastern half of Syria, southeast Turkey, Armenia,
and half of Turkmenistan. The Zoroastrian Persians were once rulers in
Palestine and remained “next-door neighbors” of Roman Palestine at the
time of Jesus’ birth. Additionally, their main language was Aramaic, which
was the language of Jesus. Some Magi even resided in pre-Islamic
Southern Arabia where the frankincense and myrrh were grown and
traded. So it was the Magi who worshiped the one God of Light, called
Ahura Mazda (the Wise Lord), who were at the birth of Jesus. St. Matthew
was declaring to the non-Jewish world, especially the world of the East,
“Jesus is your Savior too!”
The Magi at the Nativity of Jesus was not the first communication between
the Zoroastrian and the Jewish religions. By the time of Jesus’ birth, the
Jews had been acquainted with the religion of the Magi for over 500 years!
Indeed, the Magian Kings Darius, and Xerxes are mentioned fondly in the
Hebrew Bible; the good Persian King Cyrus the Great was responsible for
allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile with the
treasures from their Temple. It is likely that the Magi would have known of
the Jewish prophecy of a savior similar to their own.
We in the West forget that early Christians lived and modern Christians still
live in Africa, India, and the Middle East. Indeed, before Islam, 10% of the
Middle East was Christian. The Zoroastrians and their priests, the Magi
(now called Mobeds), are still with us too. In fact, there are 15,000 in North
America. No other religion has as much in common with our Judeo-
Christian heritage.
So at Christmastime, after you read the story of the Magi in the Chapter 2
of Matthew, skip over to Chapter 25 (vs.31-46). Remember the Other
Wise Man and his prophet, Zoroaster, who also taught the supreme
importance of good works and who predicted the coming of other saviors.
THE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS by F. VERNON CHANDLER
In much of Europe, the Christmas season is a time of festive lights,
decorated trees, special holiday shopping markets, feasting, merriment and
parties.
Downtown Heidelberg, Germany is noted for their Christmas market where
vendors erect numerous decorative stalls to sell various Christmas gifts
and other delicacies. Along the main walking street, colorful lights line the
store fronts and most every store window has a beautifully decorated
Christmas tree. The air is filled with the smells of cinnamon and mulled
German wine. The sounds of recorded Christmas music gently flow from
the various stalls and shops.
Much of the Christmas celebrations in Europe are not too unlike what can
be found in cities and towns throughout the United States. The only major
difference between Europeans and Americans at Christmas is that
Europeans feel quite safe when walking their city streets after dark!
When we trace the origins of much of our modern day Christmas culture,
we find various sources. The ancient Romans held a festival called
Saturnalia in December. Beginning on December 15, the Romans
observed seven days of feasting, revelry and merrymaking in honor of
Saturn. Variations of the December Saturnalia festival eventually migrated
throughout much of Western Europe and were always associated with
indulgence of food and drink. From the ancient Persian religion of
Zoroastrianism, we find the celebration of the god Mithra, god of light. This
celebration of light was later associated with the winter solstice which
marked the beginning of lengthening daylight.
The origin of Santa Claus and gift giving can be traced to the altruistic
bishop named Saint Nicholas who lived in Asia Minor, now known as
Turkey, during the fourth century.
Many years later much of Western Europe shared legends of a gift bearing
Saint Nicholas riding through the skies on a horse, often accompanied by
an elf who whipped the children who misbehaved.
The Dutch called Saint Nicholas SinterKlass and it is from the Dutch that we
have Santa Claus in America. The Yule log came from Scandinavian
mythology. In December a huge log was found and hauled into the house.
The log was lit afire in honor of Thor, the Viking god of thunder and war. It
was believed that Thor would bless the family with prosperity during the
following year in reward for this ceremony.
The Christmas tree, mistletoe and holly have German origins. These
evergreens were brought into homes during the cold months of winter with
the belief that they enhanced fertility.
Probably the only aspect of modern Christmas culture that can be
attributed to America is the increasingly materialistic aspect of this holiday
time. Indeed, the Christmas shopping season, which now begins just after
Halloween, is a "make or break" time for many American businesses. For
most of western civilization, the modern Christmas season is a joyous time
of feasting, decorating, partying, and gift buying.
But what about those folks who can't participate in the festivities of our
modern Christmas culture? It was a Saturday night in December 1994 and I
was sitting in my study struggling to write a Christmas sermon for the
inmates at the nearby state penitentiary where I was employed as chaplain.
I was feeling quite frustrated. How could I write and deliver a joyful
Christmas message to a congregation of inmates, many who were serving
long sentences and for whom family no longer existed?
There was no chapel at the prison. We used the visitation room for our
chapel programs. Sunday worship services were scheduled to begin and
end prior to the start of visitation at 9 a.m. As such, many inmates had to
choose between having breakfast and going to chapel. There was a
solitary artificial Christmas tree with a couple of branches missing,
decorated with donated ornaments, in the visitation room. A few other
festive Christmas decorations of snowmen, reindeer, and Santa Clauses
adorned the walls of the room.
I often wondered if the tree and decorations did more emotional harm than
good for the inmates. The decorations reminded each inmate of what he
was missing" outside the wall. "
I went back and re-read the Christmas story from Luke again. Joseph and
the pregnant Mary were required to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to
Bethlehem to participate in a census. It was just Joseph and Mary. They left
their families behind in Nazareth.
Once arriving in Bethlehem, they found that there is no lodging to be had
or perhaps Joseph simply did not have funds for some of the more
expensive rooms that might have been available.
At this point, Mary begins to have labor pains. The only shelter they can
find is in a stable. Among the sounds and smells of farm animals, they
make their way along the stable pathway that is no doubt littered with
animal manure. Mary's labor pains increase. Joseph desperately looks
forsome place for Mary to lie down other than the manure covered ground,
but he is not successful. From what we can discern from Luke's account, it
appears that Mary gives birth while lying on the dirty ground. After the baby
Jesus is born, Joseph locates a nearby feeding trough filled with fodder. It
is in this manger that the newborn baby is laid to rest.
As my imagination pictured the actual scene of the first Christmas, it
dawned on me that the inmates at the prison probably knew and
understood the true "spirit" of that first Christmas much better than those of
us who are caught up in the spirit of our modern Christmas culture.
The true spirit of that first Christmas was one of loneliness, despair,
hopelessness, homesickness, degradation and humiliation. There was the
physical pain of childbirth for Mary and there was Joseph's emotional pain
in not being able to do better for his wife and son. And there is no mention
of a meal or food in Luke's account. Might we assume that both Mary and
Joseph also knew the pains of hunger during that night in the stable?
Once I made this connection, I felt a burst of energy and I rewrote my
Christmas sermon. In my new sermon, I tried to help the inmates realize just
how much they had in common with Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the
Bethlehem stable. There was nothing joyous and festive about that first
Christmas.
The true spirit of that first Christmas was more akin to the spirit you find
among inmates in prison; the homeless huddled under a bridge or waiting
in a soup kitchen line at a homeless shelter; the unemployed family facing
eviction from their home or apartment; the lonely man or woman in a
nursing home for whom there are no family visits; the man or woman who
can't afford needed medical care; the man or woman who is hungry and
has no money for food; the man or woman grieving the loss of a loved one.
If you wish to truly share in the spirit that was the first Christmas, stay away
from the shopping malls, the festivities and the partying. Go to where
humans suffer. Go to where humans are marginalized from society. Go to
those places where loneliness, despair, grief, hopelessness,
homesickness, degradation and humiliation are paramount.
Find those humans who suffer and try and be with them in their suffering.
Give of yourself to those who suffer. Here you will find the true spirit of the
first Christmas. And if you can truly connect and help with the suffering of
another, you will find an inner joy and meaning that far exceeds that which
can be found in the festivities, partying and materialism of our modern
Christmas culture.
(F. Vernon Chandler is a Unitarian Universalist minister, a military chaplain
and a former editor of the Universalist Herald. Vernon and Nataly Chandler
currently reside in Heidelberg, Germany. )
Holidays
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