“ WONDER AND RAGE”
The Christmas Season in the West officially ends this Wednesday, January 6, on the Day of Epiphany, the day that the church celebrates the arrival of the Wise Leaders, the Magi. Although the culture has left Christmas behind, and passed on to New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day, we would do well to linger a little longer with the season. We should linger because it emphasizes both the wonderment and the rage of the Christmas season.
As Howard Thurman emphasizes so well in his fine book “The Moods of Christmas,” Christmas is a time when we are invited to consider the wonder of life and the wonder of our lives. Whether we believe in the literal truth of the biblical stories of Christmas or not, they invite us to consider what is at the heart of life – Christmas invites us into the questions of the meaning of our lives. The biblical stories assert that love and justice are at the heart of life, not in a sentimental way, but in a realistic way: a teenage girl pregnant before marriage, a baby born on the streets, the holy family fleeing for their lives as immigrants and political refugees.
In the midst of these contemporary issues comes the wonderment of the star. I’ve read about the Star of Bethlehem, but I usually dismissed it until this year when Jupiter and Saturn lined up so closely together in the night sky. On a couple of nights, they looked like headlights on a car, so I can get a sense of the astrological magi watching this and seeing it as an omen. It was cool to experience this and get an idea of what the magi saw many centuries ago. The star of wonder became just that for a few moments. Christmas asks to reflect on this aspect of life, that it is a wonder. Christmas asks us to think about movement towards love and justice in our lives and in the rest of the year also. We won’t be able to sustain the “Christmas spirit,” but we can seek to keep the values of love and justice at the center.
The Christmas story does not allow for easy sentimentality, however. In Matthew’s gospel, the story closes out not with wonder and worship, but with genocide. When King Herod hears about the news of the birth of Jesus from the magi, he does not respond with joy and worship but rather with rage. He sends soldiers to kill the boys of Bethlehem. The soldiers carry out those orders, causing Matthew’s story to end with Rachel weeping for her children. Matthew knows how the world works, and he urges us – as the angels urged the magi – to go on another route to find home and to find ourselves.
As the Trumpdemic rages against his election defeat, I am drawn back to this Christmas story. I am drawn to it, not because it gives me comfort in the present age, but because it seems so precisely to understand the rage of the powers of the world in reaction to the values at the heart of the Story. I am not comparing Biden to Jesus, but in many ways, Biden represents the return to some sort of decency in American politics. A return that may allow us to consider how to act with love and justice in American culture. Biden’s and Harris’ election does not guarantee love and justice, but it at least opens the door to the discussions.
The Trumpdemic rage, like Herod’s rage, is very dangerous and may yet prove to be even more destructive than it already has been. The Day of Epiphany takes on more importance this year than usual. On this day Wednesday, January 6, the Congress will be asked to certify the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and as of now, it looks to be a big fight. Trumpdemic does not look to have the votes in Congress, but we’ll all be glad to get by January 6 (and maybe the 7th if the debate goes long enough) and then hold our breath until January 20. In these crazy days, may the wonder of Christmas sustain us, and may we be spared the rage of Herod. Whatever way it goes, may we keep our eyes on the prize, as did those magi of old, who close out the Christmas season in awe and wonder. Let love and justice center our hearts and imaginations – may that be the 2020 Christmas legacy for us.
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