Hush the Noise and Cease the Strife

What an odd Christmas we are about to have. Most of us will abstain from the usual round of social gatherings, family visits, and gala Christmas Eve church services overflowing with packed pews, familiar carols, heart warming pageants, and maybe even a good sermon.

It doesn’t seem right. It isn’t right. On the other hand, the Christmas story is set in the dark of night, far removed from family, under uncomfortable circumstances. In spite of medieval claims that Mary had a painless birth, I suspect she endured what all mothers endure in childbirth. No doubt Joseph was about as helpful as most fathers, which is not much. Matthew said they fled to Egypt as Herod’s forces sought to kill them. In Luke, they returned to Nazareth as soon as Jesus could be circumcised, and Mary could sit on a donkey for several days of travel. Neither says Merry Christmas.

In this year, when our lives, and ways of life, are restricted and threatened, we might both listen to the Christmas story and participate in it with Mary and Joseph. Like them, we’re in places we’d rather not be under conditions we’d rather not endure. We could join with the shepherds in wonder, curiosity and doubt. In the subdued quietness of this Christmas, the angels from on high might be more clearly heard. “It came upon a midnight clear” contains the line, “Yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long; beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled two thousand years of wrong; and warring humankind hears not the tidings which they bring; O hush the noise and cease your strife and hear the angels sing.” The noise of Christmases past has been hushed. This is a quiet Christmas. Listen for the angels.

It’s been a year of strife: political and economic strife with limits on our freedom of movement. Too many put their hope in authoritarian leadership. Too many are living on or over the edge of hunger, homelessness, and unemployment. Too many are losing all they’ve worked for. Too many are grieving the death of loved ones. Too many fill hospitals to overflowing. Too many belittle the seriousness of he pandemic. It’s too much strife.

It’s been a dark year, but it’s provided an unusual and unasked for opportunity: time and space to hush the noise and cease the strife and hear the angels sing. Of the father’s love begotten lies the king of angels, a helpless baby, given human life by the flesh and blood of his mother, dependent on Mary and Joseph for everything. That flickering light of new life cannot be overcome by darkness. He is the Word of God made flesh.

Deprived of the social connections we want and need, we may have a greater opportunity to hush the noise and cease the strife and hear the angels sing. Come with the shepherds to the manger. Leave bearing the light of Christ, not for ourselves only, but for the whole world.