In my three score and nearly ten on this planet, I cannot recollect anything like it, except in hearing the stories my parents told about the roaring twenties and the massive depression which followed...until the start of World War II.
And yet....and yet, we soldier on, keeping hid the pain and fear in our hearts, whilst we wonder what's next, as we wander.
Christmas, that's what. And it really isn't about the presents and the parties, nice though they may be. It's about an unmarried couple going home and having a baby in the most humble of circumstances - an event that changed the world, an event well worthy of a lifetime of reflection.
That's what I'm going to concentrate on this Christmastide - thinking about the simplest and most powerful story on which my faith is based and is the core belief for a world-wide community of faith, in its multitude of patterns. (You may celebrate another story, but no doubt we still have much in common in terms of the people we are trying to become as we trudge on down life's path.
That's what I'm going to concentrate on this Christmastide - thinking about the simplest and most powerful story on which my faith is based and is the core belief for a world-wide community of faith, in its multitude of patterns. (You may celebrate another story, but no doubt we still have much in common in terms of the people we are trying to become as we trudge on down life's path.
On Christmas Eve, the choir of King's College at Cambridge University in Cambridge England will present their "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols."** This year, they will premiere a new carol by D Muldowney, with words by Bertold Brecht. Here is the first verse, as translated by M. Hamburger:
The night when she first gave birth
Had been cold. But in later years
She quite forgot
The frost in the dingy beams and the smoking stove
And the spasms of the afterbirth at dawn.
But above all she forgot the bitter shame
Common among the poor
Of having no privacy.
That was why in later years it became a holiday for all.
Not quite the scene we celebrate in our songs and stories and perhaps a bit hard to accept, but worth full consideration.
This year, my presents are fewer and more modest, and most of my gift budget is going to two local charities which house and feed the homeless. In these days and times, that seems right - to participate in efforts in our community to help others.
It's not bad to go back to the basics; it's positively invigorating. We won't get through these troubles alone, so keep your various communities close, and we'll get through them together, somehow.
In spite of all, a happy Christmas to you and yours...and a productive 2009.
Cheers!
Cheers!
**You can probably find it on a public radio station near you or on the BBC's Radio 4 web-site, beginning at 10:00 am, Eastern Standard Time or 3:00 pm in London.
2 comments:
Hi Nick,
I couldn't let another Christmas go by without once again reading and commenting on your annual Christmas screed.
I agree that it is the basics to which we must turn in times of angst. And perhaps it has always been so. We may like to think (and I believe it to be mostly true) that mankind improves itself over time. We may zig and zag a bit, two steps forward and one step back, but we slog on to a higher order of being. Sometimes it is not evident, however, and the setbacks appear to suggest the end of civilization is at hand. As you point out, however, we soldier on, because, when all is said and one, there is no alternative. We must keep going. How to maintain one’s hope for a better world, however, is the trick.
I think Christmas gives us that hope, or at least a major portion of it. The nativity story does indeed resonate with the idea that in a world of crap there’s hope. And the music of Christmas, with the Kings College performance leading the charge, can do much to move our spirits to embrace that message. At least it does for me.
To that I would also like to recommend the Christmas music of John Rutter – pretty much any of his Christmas-tide offerings can’t be beat when it comes to moving one’s bodily molecules to a state of Christmas bliss. Shoot, I’d probably go out and do some caroling of my own, belting out off-key renditions of the sacred and ancient carols we know and love, if I didn’t think the neighbors would call the police. Ah well, doing something worthwhile is never easy, I suppose.
At any rate, I’d like to wish you a happy Christmas as well, Nick. I wish you peace in the coming year.
Terry
Dear Reader: You should know that the message above comes from someone I've never met but who takes time each Christmastide to write a comment on my holiday effort.
Until Google made it possible for me to add my own comments to those of others, I have not been able to express my appreciation to Terry for his taking time to read and to comment on the screed du jour. I appreciate his thoughtfulness - once upon a time, I knew his name, but it has slipped away, another reminder of the ageing process, but I know he graduate from a high school in the Twin Cities area.
Anyway, perhaps down this road of life, he'll contact me so that I can express my appreciation directly.
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