A Song of Defiant Joy

How dare we celebrate the joy of Christmas when there is so much fear, injustice, and suffering around us?

How can we sing “Silent Night” when the loudest and ugliest voices around us drown out the angels’ song with daily contradictions to the values of the Kingdom of God which Jesus described and lived?

Do the little candles we light on Christmas Eve make any difference in the darkness of our world?

We’ve Never Seen Anything Like It!

Our current President (the adjective is a reminder that according to our Constitution, the White House is always a temporary residence) often says, “We’ve never seen anything like it!” And in one sense, he’s correct. We’ve never seen anything like a President who…|
…was reelected as a convicted felon after inspiring an insurrection to deny the “peaceful transfer of power,”
…tore down a wing of the White House without prior approval,
…declared his intention to use the office of take out “retribution” on his political opponents,
…ordered the National Guard to take over the Capital and some of our major cities and sent ICE agents to detain and deport thousands of people with no due process many of whom have no prior indictments or convictions,
…used his hand-picked Board to attach his name like graffiti to the Congress-established memorial to an assassinated President, etc, etc, etc.

He’s right! We’ve never seen anything like it before! But he’s also wrong.

We Have Seen All This Before!

It’s the predictable pattern of authoritarian regimes throughout history and it’s right there in the Christmas gospel.

Luke frames the birth of Jesus “in the days when Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists and Quirinius governed Syria.” (Luke 2:1-2)

Matthew sets Jesus birth “during the rule of King Herod.” He makes the vicious, insecure, puppet king a dominant player in the story. (Matthew 2:1)

In the end (which, of course, wasn’t really the end!) Pilate sentences Jesus to Roman execution because they told him, “If you release this man, you aren’t a friend of the emperor! ” (John 19:12)

From beginning to end, the gospels set the peace, hope and justice of the Kingdom of God in direct contradiction of the authoratarian kingdoms in our world.

A Defiant “Nevertheless”

I recently heard an online interview in which the nationally-respected author, Brian McLaren, declared, “Joy is an act of defiance.” He encouraged his listeners to, “enjoy the good things in life and not let a few billionaires and would-be trillionaires steal all of your joy; they’ve stolen so much already.”

McLaren reminded me of Karl Barth, who wrote his commentary on Paul’s prison letter to the Philippians under the shadow of Hitler’s regime. Barth affirmed, “Joy is a defiant ‘Nevertheless’ that Paul sets like a full stop against the Philippian anxiety.”

Biblical joy is not an attempt to hide from the hard realities of our lives or escape into a mythical world where sugarplums dance in our heads.  It’s not a denial of what the world has come to, but a defiant confidence in what has come to the world in the birth of Jesus. My friend and colleague, Magrey deVega, said, “The church’s calling is one of melodic defiance. Our task is neither to fight nor to cower, but to sing.”  

Our candles are a small reminder that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  (John 1:5)  It’s a vivid witness to the words of Indian theologian and poet, Samuel Ryan:

A candle-light is a protest at midnight.
It is a non-conformist.
It says to the darkness,
‘I beg to differ.’

And So We Sing!

This week we join Christian people around the globe in lighting our candles as we sing Silent Night. We prayed in the candle-lit silence. Then, in the congregations I served, we stood, lifted our candles and sang Issac Watt’s carol of defiant Christmas joy.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Nevertheless, rejoice with defiant joy! The Lord has come!

Merry Christmas!

Jim