Christmas Message from the Presiding Bishop-- 1972
Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1972 [72190]
The Rt. Rev. John E. Hines
In an article commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, music critic Howard Taubman recalled how -- in an honest effort to understand the "now" music that moves so many young people -- he had listened one Sunday to a program called "Fanfare ", devoted to rock. He had already asked himself the 200th anniversary question: "Is Beethoven still relevant?" And he had admitted that to a music critic such as he himself, the Beethoven symphonies, concertos and sonatas had become such an "oft-told tale" that for years he had avoided them.
On Monday morning -- following his Sunday of exposure to rock -- driving through the country he had tuned in on a performance by the American pianist, John Browning, of Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata. And, he records, "if there was any Beethoven I had had enough of, it was the Appassionata. But," he said, "it immediately seized me. Never mind the performance, which was good enough. It was the music, relentless in its momentum and fierce in its intensity . . . . Here spoke a sovereign dramatist in tone, pouring his revolutionary fervor into fresh musical molds . . . . Here was an uncouth, rambunctious fellow, telling it passionately and violently for what he knew in his bones was a new day and a new world. "
In a much more profound sense, that is the way the Christian story affects people of sensitivity and compassion. To be sure, it comes annually, with such repetitious frequency that -- especially where its pristine brilliance is marred by commercialism and exploitive sentimentality -- some tend to say, "So what's new?"
With each passing era ideas and images compete -- for relevancy -- against the fabulous story of God and Man -- as it bursts upon the consciousness of men in the form of the Child of Bethlehem -- of whom God Himself was to assert, " This is my beloved Son, " -- a child which was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel -- yea, in all the world. Yet, as the music critic said of Beethoven, "Today, 200 years after his birth, he still remains the most popular of all composers. Conductors ultimately are judged on 'their' Beethoven; pianists carry no credentials until they have conquered the 'Appassionata' and the last sonatas. His colossal 'Missa Solemnis' takes not only his own God but all gods and rolls them into a universal kind of religion."
Today, nearly 2000 years after His birth, Jesus Christ remains the unmatched interpreter and redeemer of human life. Prophets and teachers are ultimately judged on "their" Jesus Christ. Saints carry no credentials until they have conquered -- or been conquered by -- His "Appassionata. " His colossal "Missa Solemnis" is an authentic self-offering through which salvation is possible for people of faith. Nothing is more historic. Nothing is more relevant -- than the Christ of Christmas!