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COMMENTARY
December 22, 2004
Merry Christmas
The world is a mess but I don't mean that in a hard way. It has always been a mess there have been moments in history when it was even messier than it is now. As Lucretius said it's "the way things are". But not everything is bad or getting worse; some things are good or getting better. I have outlived many evils; we will outlive more. And at my back I hear the breath of hope in the wings of angels: their words Fear not! My thought for Christmas this year -- never original it has all been said -- is that Christmas is for children. And we are all children. We are all living the infancy of our race very near the beginnings of our immortal lives -- growing or regressing still far from complete. Still in the cradle of this earth that we shall always remember where first we were exposed to love. Old men are children: ask them. Old women are children: ask them all. Visit them in their infirmity covered with the disease of age and listen to the souls within. Every one of them looks out upon our world through the eyes of a child through the same eyes with which they were born. We play at being adults we play at houses at being mom and dad; just as we played at being babies and children and adolescents in our turn. We have tried to take responsibilities upon ourselves to play at being mature. We have often failed. It is out of our reach though we still try to master it. Even the Saints are children to this way of looking at things: though unusually mature for their age. Though we try we can never quite put aside childish things. Look around you: look at these people pretending to be grown up. They see through us we see through them. The oldest man still craves the same as the youngest child: to be seen to be loved to be cared for; and in his heart he cries out for attention. Christmas is for us for all the children of the world -- all the low-born children. The star of Bethlehem shines over us all. It does not cease to gleam when anyone averts his eyes. It will continue to shine upon your old age and over the cribs of your children's children. In the deepest darkness it will still be seen: that God so loved the world. It is the kind of thing to say aloud and to continue saying no matter who frowns or disapproves. Our birthright is tied up in the words Merry Christmas. These people who think they are adults: Are they? What kind of adult would be willing to sue or pressure a committee to stop people from acknowledging Christmas to remove the cr?che from every public place. But their tantrum will soon pass as the tantrums of all previous persecutors of Christians great and small. I think we are winning incidentally. This "Happy Holidays" nonsense is beginning to let up. I have heard more people say "Merry Christmas" this year than last. There is still much fighting ahead to reclaim our Christian inheritance from the clutches of the prince of this world; our right as freeborn men and women to affirm our Saviour in a public place. But every time a Christian says Merry Christmas is a small victory over the darkness; and every time a Christian is told Merry Christmas by his non-Christian neighbour is a victory for love and amity. We do win sometimes. Never forget that. And in the end we are going to win all. And why pray am I so hopeful? For unto us children a child is born. And he is the Christ the Messiah King of Kings. ("And the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace.") For he has come down from heaven carried in the Virgin's womb. It has happened it will not unhappen. Take that in. The cavalry has arrived; the choir of angels. Heaven and earth stand witness to the Christ who redeems all human history in the nursery of this world. Our bonds are loosed the shroud of death is pulled from our eyes and of care from our aging bodies. And the news continues to spread from Bethlehem: that our Lord is come and we are saved. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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