Peaceful Story Amidst the Chaos
The story we just heard is as spectacular as it is simple – a Christian story but one with a universal message. As Howard Thurman would say, we light the candle of God’s Grace which has come to ease our heavy burdens.” It is a nice and peaceful story amidst the chaos backdrop of our lives. But I am sure that the First Christmas was anything but peaceful and serene. I imagine that Mary and Joseph and all of the characters of the story were anxious and afraid and apprehensive with how the story was unfolding in their midst. They too needed peace from all of the mayhem of their day.
I want to share one of my favorite stories. It is a story that I have told a time or two but never on Christmas Eve. It seems appropriate for the world that we are living in and I suspect the world that Jesus was born into.
Chirpie the Parakeet never saw it coming
— Problems began—clean cage….BUT PHONE RANG
— Bird owner GASPED, put down phone, vacuum off, opened bag
— Chirpie was still alive but stunned—covered with soot and dust—rushed to the bathroom
— Realized Chirpie was soaked and shivering—did what any compassionate bird owner would do
— Reached for the hair dryer and blasted the bird
— Few days after the incident—reporter who initially wrote about the incident asked the owner how Chirpie was doing
— “Well,” she replied, “Chirpie doesn’t sing much anymore—He just sits and stares.”
— The reporter added in his article, “It’s not hard to see why…sucked in, washed up, and blown over…That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart!”
Poor Chirpie. I suspect that Mary and Joseph just like many, if not most of us, feel like Chirpie these days – sucked in, washed up and blown over. We are ready for the year 2020 with all of its fears and deceptions and economic frustrations and racial tension and political folly and the pandemic — to disappear.
Life Goes On
As one of Howard Thurman’s meditations puts it, we need to be reminded that no matter what burdens we carry, life goes on. During these turbulent times when we are attacked by despair, when hope seems but a barely dim light in the distant future, we need to be reminded that life goes on. We need to hear the Christmas story to remind us of the peace and grace that is available to us.
Howard Thurman once said, “There is no need to fear evil. This is every need to understand what it does, how it operates in the world, what it draws upon to sustain itself. … The real target of evil is to corrupt the human spirit. Therefore the evil in the world around us must not be allowed to move from without to within.”
And it won’t. Our spirits will not be corrupted. We light our candles as a sign that we will not succumb to fear. Friends, this has been a hard year for most of us. We need Christmas Eve and the rest and respite it can offer. We need candles of grace to ease our burdens. I need that rest and respite as much as anyone.
The Power of Grace is Ours
So let’s enter this Christmas story ready to remember that “life goes on,” that the evil and hatred and the violence around us will not and cannot be the final world. Sure, Chirpie doesn’t sing much anymore — today — but I have faith that even Chirpie will learn to sing even better than before. I have faith because that is the story of Christmas. The Good news of this Holy Night is that we have been given the power of Grace to ease our heavy burdens. The even better news is: that power is now ours to give to a world in need.
When all is said and done, and when life goes on after this magical night, we remember that the work of Christmas has just begun. In the words of Howard Thurman and our prayer for this night:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
A-men.