Went to a concert tonight and we all sang (lit by surrounding Christmas lights, cut-out snowflakes, etc.) the old Christmas hymn, 'Silent Night'. The artist said it was her favorite Christmas song... and, I was with her on that. It's been mine too.Then, on the way home, I took some time to really think through the lyrics (at least the first verse):
"Silent Night, Holy night; all is calm, all is bright.
Round yon' virgin, mother and Child,
Holy Infant, so tender and mild.
Sleep in Heavenly peace. Sleep in Heavenly peace."
I asked myself, "Self, why is this your favorite Christmas song?" And I got answers having to do with how it sounds like a lullaby, creates a peaceful mood, invites a sweet vision of the night of Jesus' birth... Then the committee went to work. It didn't really sound like Bruce and Umbridge's type of dialogue, so not sure who was spouting off up there, but here's how it went:
SELF 1: "Wait a second... SILENT night? What about the cows and sheep and maybe gross pigs, and all the rowdy folk in town for the census that night? What about the fact that labor (for most) is far from a silent process, and babies aren't born calm? What about chiming angels and fumbling shepherds?"
SELF 2: 'Hm - good points. But it was a HOLY birth; He sent a star - and witnesses. Maybe He also made everything really calm and peaceful so Baby Jesus was born in a sweet little nativity scene like what we commemorate... (And I REALLY like that picture, by the way)."
SELF 1: "Doubt it. Joseph was probably at his wits end with trying to find a decent place for him and Mary. Wouldn't doubt if he came close to letting that inn-keeper have it. Their donkey was probably hawing for water after the long trip, and granted, Mary had a virgin birth, but she was still human. No way she would have been calm after riding hundreds of miles on a DONKEY, having contractions, and not even being able to take a warm bath. No way."
SELF 2: "Well - Joseph and Mary were really sweet, humble and gentle people. Maybe they were just able to hold it together really well. Plus - stop it! You're wrecking the cozy image of Jesus' birthday."
SELF 1: "Maybe it's time to picture something new about His birth. Maybe it's time to embrace a new kind of beauty: the kind where Jesus comes down to a REAL earth with REAL pain and REAL people and REAL, authentic, imperfect circumstances. The kind where joy and grief exist, not separately side by side, but intermingled with one another; a tangle of light and dark, so you can't tell where one starts and the other ends. Maybe that was the point. God with US - not hovering above us in a fluffy net of safety and pampered ideals. Personally, I bet the manger smelled - and the cow in the corner? Bet he took a crap sometime during the night. And I bet at least one of those shepherds had halitosis, and another - poor social etiquette. My bet is that everyone was WAY too wound up to get any kind of shut-eye that night."
SELF 2: "Hm. I think I see where you're going with this. The picture is less sentimental and ideal that way. Less emotional on one level. But more powerful, more poignant. And, in fact, it doesn't lack emotion. Not at all. Still... we won't know for sure how it really happened until we meet Him. The Bible doesn't talk about crapping cows."
SELF 1: "Yeah, but the point goes beyond that. How about your life? Are you ready to proclaim the beauty in joy and grief intertwined - even if the meshing gets more intense? Are you ready to look for the mark of Christ amongst noise and discomfort; not just when 'the hay smells sweet'? I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but finding the beauty of Christ in present, imperfect REALITY might not always be as easy as it is now. It might help you to expand your picture of His coming to include His presence and Hand on the really tough stuff too. I mean - right in the process of going through them; not just looking back."
SELF 2: "I think you're right. And I know about birthdays that mesh joy and grief. Thanks for completely wrecking my favorite Christmas song."
SELF 1: "No problem. A small sacrifice in light of a greater knowing. Sleep in Heavenly peace (while you still can)."
SELF 2: "Hmph. :-) You too."
6 comments:
That song brings back a childhood memory for me each time I hear it.
Every Christmas Eve we would go to Grandma's house and although I don't remember a whole lot, I do remember vividly the whole family singing Silent night. For years I couldn't sing it without crying.
I get that whole conversation...let me add that He was willing to enter into our reality, our pain, and become a part of it. The Bible says he was a man of sorrows. He knew all of that before He came, and came He did. For us.
Halitosis? I want to be able to say it, but I don't know what it means....
Loved this post..thanks for sharing.
Thanks for asking, Coffeegirl! ;-)
HALITOSIS: A condition of having fetid breath.
FETID: Putrid.
PUTRID: Rotten and foul-smelling.
Thanks, now I really can't wait to use it....:)
I love the reality of it all. It makes it all so much more powerful. Thanks for so clearly painting a more realistic picture for us all.
Thanks for one of your best posts ever. It's hard to imagine it expressed any better; can't wait to buy your book. Picturing all the messiness and chaos of that night is so appropriate because Christmas is about Jesus coming into our REAL lives and eventually taking our REAL icky sin upon himself. God became fully man, one of us. Though we must strive to revere and fear God as the transcendent king that he is, I think it's also necessary to be in touch with the humanity of Jesus. SELF 1's points make Christmas more amazing and wonderful, not less. I think we can have more intimacy and connection with that view of that night, rather than a serenely peaceful night, because we can identify with it. Working with reality is always better than working within unrealities. I just know there's a perfect Screwtape passage that goes here. Everybody go read Screwtape.
This discussion of how we represent Christmas reminds me of . . . well, now that I think about it, I think I'll do my own blog post about that.
And another thing. The depiction of the adult Jesus in movies drives me crazy. He was a real guy, not a zombie or a hippie on 'ludes. How about a little emotion? Humor? Also, he wasn't a tall skinny white guy. Check out this articleabout some peoples' attempt to get a better idea of what Jesus looked like.
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