A WORD FOR TODAY, December 17, 2020
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, December 17, 2020
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2, WEB
Phillips Brooks was a clergyman who lived during the time of the American Civil War. He supported the dissolution of slavery. Despite his desire to be nothing more than a parish priest, Phillips Brooks was an author, an Episcopal Bishop and a man whose character and eloquence made him highly respected. He spoke about Abraham Lincoln’s life as the dead president’s body lay in state in Philadelphia, powerfully sharing the feelings of those who loved the man and the president.
“It is the great boon of such characters as Mr. Lincoln’s, that they reunite what God has joined together and man has put asunder. In him was vindicated the greatness of real goodness and the goodness of real greatness. The twain were one flesh. Not one of all the multitudes who stood and looked up to him for direction with such a loving and implicit trust can tell you to-day whether the wise judgments that he gave came most from a strong head or a sound heart. If you ask them, they are puzzled. There are men as good as he, but they do bad things. There are men as intelligent as he, but they do foolish things. In him goodness and intelligence combined and made their best result of wisdom. For perfect truth consists not merely in the right constituents of character, but in their right and intimate conjunction. This union of the mental and moral into a life of admirable simplicity is what we most admire in children; but in them it is unsettled and unpractical. But when it is preserved into manhood, deepened into reliability and maturity, it is that glorified childlikeness, that high and reverend simplicity, which shames and baffles the most accomplished astuteness, and is chosen by God to fill his purposes when he needs a ruler for his people, of faithful and true heart, such as he had who was our President.” Phillips Brooks in Philadelphia, April 1865.
The Civil War was a difficult time for America, and the death of President Lincoln was a thorn in the already scarred flesh of the country and the man, Phillips Brooks. In December 1865, just months after Lincoln’s burial, Brooks visited the Holy Land in the hope of finding spiritual renewal. On Christmas Eve, he rented a horse and traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. He was refreshed by the spirit of the first Christmas in that place. Three years later, as he wrote his Christmas Eve sermon, he wrote the hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Two lines from that hymn stick out as I read it, both pointing at the reality of what Christmas has become for us. I know there are many Christians who have difficulty with the holy-day, knowing that so many of the customs and traditions that we love have older, pagan roots. After all, we do not know the actual day of Christ’s birth, the date December 25th was selected as a way of overcoming the continuing Christian celebration of Saturnalia, a pagan holiday. Until the fourth century, Christians were not allowed to celebrate the birth, and they were discouraged from participating in the fun, Roman celebrations. However, human nature as it is tended toward the excitement and joviality of those pagan celebrations. So, the leaders allowed for the immersion of Christian thought into those traditions, making what was old new again.
We might think that there is no place for these connections, but Jesus constantly took the things of the earth and gave them new and sacred meanings. Fishermen became fishers of men. Farming became an image of the Kingdom of God. Baptism takes ordinary water and makes it holy. We use everyday bread and wine in the Eucharist as a foretaste of the Feast that is to come. Jesus did not say we had to throw away the old; instead we are to embrace the old with a new heart.
Phillips Brooks wrote, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Human nature may tend toward the fun and frivolous, but we are also created with an inbred spark of God’s light. If we look at those pagan traditions that have become a part of Christmas, we’ll see why they were so easily adapted to our faith: they stand for many of the same things. In a later verse, Brooks wrote, “The dark night wakes, the glory breaks and Christmas comes once more.” The pagan traditions might have had a spark of truth, but they were buried in the darkness of the world before Christ. Christmas sets those sparks free, brings the glory of God into the world and offers the true peace and joy of life in God’s kingdom.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.
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