COMMENTARY: A Christmas List for Us Christians

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Here, a few weeks in advance, is my Christmas wish list: I wish we Christians could put down our culture-war swords and doctrinal spears and proclaim a message more befitting the Prince of Peace. I wish we Christians could stand down from our institutional concerns and see the human […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Here, a few weeks in advance, is my Christmas wish list:

I wish we Christians could put down our culture-war swords and doctrinal spears and proclaim a message more befitting the Prince of Peace.


I wish we Christians could stand down from our institutional concerns and see the human family for what it is: the wonderfully diverse beloved of God.

I wish we Christians could put aside our harsh attitudes toward whatever threatens us and hear the gentle stirring of life.

I wish we Christians could listen as our prophets chastise those who are overly proud of their “righteous deeds,” as they offer “comfort” to exiles, and as they declare God’s determination “to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.”

I wish, in other words, that we Christians could allow Christ into Christmas.

Our obstacle isn’t commerce. Some merchants venture beyond excess, but most are just folks trying to earn a living, and they are responding to people’s need for hope and love. If our religion’s seasonal gift is one more angry church convention, one more diatribe against someone else’s morality, one more pronouncement from our shelter of right opinion, why are we surprised when people stand in line for a genial Santa, dream of pleasing their children, gaze wistfully on Currier & Ives simplicity, and yearn for “peace on Earth”?

Our obstacle isn’t non-Christians in our midst or their desire to be spared our triumphalism. At ground level, most people seem to have made their peace with religious pluralism. This is a nation that values freedom and diversity more than it values protecting our Christian claims to special privilege.

Our obstacle isn’t the seasonal faithful who hear “Joy to the World” while shopping and suddenly remember church. What better time to remember?

Our obstacle is ourselves, and it doesn’t need to be that way. If we are distracted by changing times, then we are in good company with Joseph and Mary. If we feel the pressure of too much family, too many expectations, too much need and too little money, then we can understand why that “silent night” occurred in a time of dislocation. If the world seems dangerous to us, we can feel solidarity with auto workers who are losing their jobs, with soldiers and their families, with those battered by hurricanes, drought, hunger and a weak economy, and with shepherds in a field outside Bethlehem staying awake to listen for predators.

In my Christmas wish, we Christians would put aside any self-concern that might cause us to claim choice rooms in the inn and thereby miss what is happening out back in the stable. We would stop listening for the trumpet heralding our triumph and hearken instead for the sounds of God’s victory: Mary’s humble Yes, Joseph’s humble Yes, shepherds’ humble Yes.


Instead of worrying about creche placement, we would take food to the hungry and hold wide the door to strangers. Instead of deciding whose sin to hate today, we sinners would yield to love and awe. Instead of feeling prickly about getting our way in church politics or national politics, we would gather silently for the “dawn of redeeming grace.”

The world aches for good news and tidings of joy, not the noise of our partisan causes and our intolerance. No crusade of our making can compete with angels “singing sweetly through the night.”

MO/JL END RNS

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” was published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of Tom Ehrich, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

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