Jeremy L. Berg

“Do you hear what I hear?”

Yep, if what you’re hearing is crying kids, a cranky parent (i.e, me), crowded malls and cringe-worthy Christmas tunes on the radio (you know, that one with all the synthesizers or the one that keeps repeating “Simmmmmply haaaaaaaving a wonderful Christmastime”). Let’s be honest, it’s hard to hear anything amidst all the noise our culture throws at us each December.

May I suggest we all move mountains to carve out a quiet hour or so this week (after the kids are tucked into bed) to light a candle, open up your bible or read this week’s lectionary and simply marvel at the miracle of the incarnation and all that it means. Maybe start with some spellbinding quotes (see a few below).

We must stand firm and not let this rat-race world steal our Christmas peace. Turn off the TV. Resist one more sentimental Hallmark channel movie about a lonely widower who moves to a mountainous village to start over (as a struggling author or veterinarian or shop owner) who falls in love with the local girl who just couldn’t seem to get away from home. In just 90 minutes, they manage to rescue some orphaned puppies, revive a dilapidated church, restore the soul of the town and rediscover the true spirit of Christmas. Yada, yada, yada. Humbug. :)

Instead, let’s listen to some traditional Christmas carols and reflect on the words (maybe for the first time) of these ancient treasures. Consider this hauntingly beautiful song I just discovered based on a hymn from a 6th C Latin carol called “O Savior of Our Fallen Race.”  Or, chew on and savor each phrase of this lyrical feast for the heart:

Come, Desire of nations come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the Woman’s conquering Seed,
Bruise in us the Serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness now efface:
Thine image in its place;
Adam, from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.

Next, grab a hot drink, bundle up and take a winter walk down the block and see if Christ doesn’t make himself present upon a midnight clear or, perhaps, under a canopy of scattered snow flurries. Be a child again and let them slowly land on your tongue. Listen to the snow crunch under your feet and let the sight of your breath rising up to Heaven remind you of the One who came down into our cold and dark world to give us New Breath by way of a New Birth. Let the pure white powder remind you that because He took on our sins of scarlet, we are declared white as snow!

Well, I’m off to my first of several kids Christmas programs of this week! We’ll see you on Christmas Eve. Enjoy some quotes and the lyrics of this ancient carol and video below:

“The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.” ―Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation

“Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In The Manger

“For me it is the virgin birth, the Incarnation, the resurrection which are the true laws of the flesh and the physical. Death, decay, destruction are the suspension of these laws. I am always astonished at the emphasis the Church puts on the body. It is not the soul she says that will rise but the body, glorified.” ― Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.” ― Augustine of Hippo

“The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God.” — C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

O SAVIOR OF OUR FALLEN RACE

“O Savior of our fallen race,
O Brightness of the Father’s face,
O Son who shared the Father’s might
Before the world knew day or night,
O Jesus, very Light of light,
Our constant star in sin’s deep night:
Now hear the prayers Your people pray
Throughout the world this holy day.

Remind us Lord of life and grace
How once, to save our fallen race,
You put our human vesture on
And came to us as Mary’s son.
Today, as year by year its light
Brings to our world a promise bright
One precious truth outshines the sun:
Salvation comes from You alone.

For from the Father’s throne You came,
His banished children to reclaim;
And earth and sea and sky revere
The love of Him who sent You here.
And we are jubilant today,
For You have washed our guilt away.
O hear the glad new song we sing
On this, the birth of Christ our King!

O Savior of our fallen race,
The world will see Your radiant face
For You who came to us before
Will come again and all restore.
Let songs of praise Your name adorn,
O Christ, Redeemer, virgin-born
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Spirit evermore. Alleluia!”