Same but different?

Dear one,

This morning I awoke with John Wesley’s “Christmas Hymn” echoing along the corridors of my mind:

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled."

This morning, December 7, I also awoke with the awareness of these words:

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Some among us still recall those words, as President Roosevelt then rallied and led a shocked nation on into a second World War. As a consequence, he also inadvertently encouraged altered patterns of Yuletide festivities: the Christmas celebrations of 1941, 1942, 1943, and at least 1944 were no doubt markedly different (even allowing that the country had been emerging from the 1930’s Depression). Gift-giving was not a lavish affair, and many Christmas tables had empty place settings never again to be filled.

Christmas 2020 will not be those of 1941-1944, but equally, it will not be that “Christmas” we have grown to expect. With the promise of a corona vaccine, perhaps at some moment during 2021 we will put much of this year behind us; and yet, just as World War II changed American lives and perceptions, so too the covid virus has wrought change. If we can, nonetheless we dare not view ourselves as we did even a year ago. An invisible virus has humbled us.

This noted, the message John Wesley expressed in his 1739 “Christmas Hymn” has not changed. When he wrote, three American Colonies were in the midst of a severe diphtheria epidemic, and all of the Colonies were subject to a rabid measles outbreak. Moreover, 1739 saw another round of European wars and peace treaties—and in the midst of disease, wars, and their temporal cessations, Wesley wrote of a new-born king unlike any the world had known. Peace and mercy mild characterize His Kingdom: in Him the Great War between a Loving Creator and His rebellious creation has been settled; or, as the Apostle Paul penned:
“[Being] justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:1-2).

This is the Peace we need—freed from the diseases of body and battlefield—but as always, will we receive this gracious gift?

This Christmas: different but the same? I wonder.
Stan