Christmas Message-1965 by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States
Diocesan Press Service. December 10, 1965 [XXXVIII-1]
If I should tell you that I know a family on which the anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Von Beethoven burn candles in the windows of their house, read from some biography of that composer, and then for hours plays music he gave to the world, you would likely say, "That is powerful influence. For any man who, nearly a century and a half after his death, can elicit such discipleship, and such devotion, must have been a durable personality indeed!" But when I say I know a man on the occasion of the anniversary of whose birth millions of people burn candles in their windows, and millions read from some account of his life upon this earth, and millions give gifts in his name--you would say, "That is Christmas!" And you would be right! For it is a lordly story with the slow pace of agrarian life, the regularity of taxes, and brutal thrust of tyranny, the promise of a singularly brilliant star, the trials of a chosen family, and the baby lying in a manger! Few indeed are the hearts that such an appealing picture cannot move to once-a-year deeds of deep compassion and joyous thanksgiving.
But--dare we look ahead? Dare we lift our eyes to discern the "shape of things to come" for this innocent child the temptations, the call to son-ship, the dialogue with the world in the interest of the Kingdom's demands, the conflict it inevitably produces, the rejection by the good people of the world, desertion by his closest friends, and death as one who blasphemed and stirred up the people against recognized authority. The thought occurs to us, "What a shame! That sweet innocent children have to grow up into men and women...whose will-to-power disclaims...yea, destroys...the innocence with which they began their life." How much kinder to leave the babe in the manger, unharmed, uninformed, and uninvolved!
One year, it has been said, the Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, surprised the congregation by reading one of the Passion narratives on the Sunday before Christmas. The congregation thought the good doctor had made an "absent-minded" mistake. But, when questioned concerning it, Dr. Selbie pointed out that he had not made a mistake. He had read the Good Friday story as a reminder of what lay in store for the baby whose birth the worshipers might otherwise have celebrated sentimentally! Later, someone commenting on the story, said: "By the same token, it might be appropriate for us to read the Passion narrative on Easter, and the Easter story on Good Friday! If we did so, we might be saved from the twin heresies of unrelieved pessimism and unwarranted optimism."
The message of Christmas is the joyous proclamation that "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son..." The brutal fact is that when love moves into a sinful world it meets a cross! Were it only a brave and good man who is the symbol of this tragedy we would be forced to greet the Christmas story with unrelieved tears. But it is because the symbol of this tragedy is God incarnate...freely choosing to take upon Himself the limitations of human flesh...that moves the story beyond tragedy into the realm of joyous hope! This is why, even in a world of peril of its very existence, we can say, and mean it, too, "Merry Christmas!" "God rest you merry gentleman, let nothing you dismay!"
John E. Hines