Many causes large and small could easily leave the feeling
that there was no time for Christmas, this year or other years. The distractions of life can all too easily
make the sources of lasting value appear as distractions.
I am again reminded of the words of Charles Dickens. He spoke through the mouth of young,
idealistic Fred, in answer to his Uncle Ebenezer’s rodomontade against
Christmas. The not yet but soon to be
converted miser thought his daily work focused on important matters, all the while
missing out on the sources of joy in life.
Fred reminded his Uncle, as a prelude to a change of heart, how
Christmas symbolized humanity’s worth in life’s lasting values, to which
worldly wealth can serve as a facilitator but never a replacement.
There are many things from which I
might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, . . . Christmas
among the rest. But I am sure I have
always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the
veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can
be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant
time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and
women seem by one consent to open their shut up hearts freely, and to think of
those people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave,
and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put
a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will
do me good; and I say, God bless it!
(Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol)
And so this year, in 2013 Christmas came, inevitably,
inexorably, as it has for some two thousand years, and many blessings with
it. The good and bad and indifferent
that hitched along for the ride could not affect the driving core of Christmas,
its fundamental, joyful message of hope of salvation for all, to one degree or
another as each opens up—or not—to receive it.
It is in the driving arriving context of Christmas and the
mission of Christ that it is appropriate to look to one of my favorite
Christmas carols. I confess that this is
difficult to do without the music, essential to the power of the carol’s
message. I refer to the “Carol of the
Bells,” a joyful Christmas message woven by Peter J. Wilhousky into the driving
music of Mykola Leontovych’s Ukrainian song of Winter and the approaching
Spring.
I love this carol for many reasons. One is that its origin of uniting Winter with
Spring embodies the message that Christmas derives its meaning from
Easter. Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed
One, because of His ultimate sacrifice and victory over death and hell, a
mission for which He was chosen before the world was created. Having fully accomplished His mission, as a
resurrected God, Jesus declared, “I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the
Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins
of the world” (3 Nephi 11:11). That is the reason for and fulfilment of our Christmas joy.
Here are the lyrics.
Importantly, as you read the words, feel their rhythm, central to the
message:
Carol of the Bells
Hark how the bells,
sweet silver bells,
all seem to say,
throw cares away.
Christmas is here,
bringing good cheer,
to young and old,
meek and the bold.
Ding dong ding dong,
that is their song
with joyful ring
all caroling.
One seems to hear
words of good cheer
from ev’rywhere
filling the air.
Oh how they pound,
raising the sound,
o’er hill and dale,
telling their tale,
gaily they ring
while people sing
songs of good cheer,
Christmas is here.
Merry, merry, merry, merry
Christmas,
Merry, merry, merry, merry
Christmas,
On, on they send,
on without end,
their joyful tone
to ev’ry home.
Ding dong ding dong. . . dong!
The lyrics, like the tune, are repetitive, incessant, and by that technique insistent in
rhythm. On, on they come. They demand attention. Like bells, they are loud and piercing. As someone knocking at the door, their
message—and presumably the messengers—will not be denied. The tune is joyful, but not light and
airy. Rather announcing a joy that comes
from the soul, heartfelt, it is not the celebration of a party, but the
celebration of a triumph, lasting and permanent, ever reaching out to more
people, to every home.
So each year, onward Christmas comes, no holding it back,
even as Jesus came into the world, as prophesied for thousands of years. There was nothing to hold Him back or deter
His mortal mission of redemption, not the jealousy of Herod “the Great,” the
pusillanimity of Pilate, the hatred of the leaders of the Sanhedrin, nor the
darkness of priestcraft and its traditions.
All was turned by God to assist in achieving the mission of the Christ.
And since then, onward marches the calendar, each year
Christmas arrives, symbolic that the day of the Savior’s return, as prophesied
by Himself and His prophets, inexorably approaches. As Christ announced, only He and the Father
know the precise day and time, but it is certain and each day closer. The arrival of Christmas each year is a
reminder to me, that the time of rejoicing is coming, the hope and assurance of
which justifies rejoicing today, and every day.
Christmas will come again next year. Ready or not, I am glad of it and will
welcome it.
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