For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. - Galatians 5:1 A friend and I played what's your favorite Christmas song? yesterday. The list was too long, and we couldn't agree on some: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas almost had us parting ways.
We did, however agree on most; and near the top of both lists, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The song comes out of the Dark Ages and is rich in depth, meaning and emotion.
From the seldom sung third stanza:
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
It is Christmas night as I write this. It strikes me that this night is the most silent of the season - presents opened, meals eaten, hugs given, family parted. Now quietness, silence. And a time to reflect.
As a child I used to be very sad at this time. Christmas was over. The magic ended for another year. But that is not the case. Christmas is not really over, because Christmas is actually about beginnings.
Christ came for a reason. He did not step into this earth to give us nativity scenes (or plays). He did not come to be reminisced in song or story. The incarnation is not the story of what was. Christmas is about what is.
Christ came to set us free! He came to put death's dark shadows to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel - God is with us!
And you are free.
I am free.
The gloomy clouds of night dispersed.
Because the story does not end in a manger.
God, thank you for beginnings.
For now...
D
