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It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
By Bob Chance | December 16, 2007
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty one has done great things for me- holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
Luke 1:46-55 / NIV
Introduction …
Late Wednesday afternoon, I was driving north on Georgia Avenue. We had Board meeting that night and I didn’t have time to go home for dinner and come back so I was going to get a quick bite to eat at the Leisure World Plaza and simply stay for the meeting.
The radio station in my car was playing Christmas music and the air was clear and crisp. The traffic wasn’t all that bad and the combination of the Christmas lights in people’s yards and on the balconies of their apartments led me to begin to feel the Christmas spirit. I began remembering some of the people who have been part of my life, with whom I shared Christmas’s past and the sheer memory of the people who had been such a deep and intimate part of my being brought joy and life to my tired and weary spirit. One by one I began remembering some of the most special in the world to me.
I. Special memories of old …
As I passed the apartment Mrs. Whipple lived in long ago I remembered one of the nicest and strongest women I ever knew. She was such a delight and such a positive person. Her husband had been career military and they had traveled all over the world. She had a wonderful little cuckoo clock on the wall that had come from the Black Forest. I was with her the day the doctor at Walter Reed told her that her cancer was inoperable and she had probably six months later. I can still remember the tears coming down her cheeks. I didn’t know what to say. I was a young twenty-six- or twenty-seven-year-old minister and I had no idea of what I could say to bring peace and sense to a devastating and senseless moment in time. We laughed 20 years later when she was still with us and had proven the doctors wrong. We never know how long we have, one way or the other, it’s all in God’s hands and whether we’re here or in the next life, God is with us – this I believe.
I passed Howard Orebaugh’s home and couldn’t help but think of all the special times we shared, as friends, with our families, as church members and I especially remembered our Christmas Eve gatherings at his home following the Christmas Eve Service. One year, I might have had an extra glass of two of the eggnog and when Mary finally got me to go home and we put our two little girls to bed, anxiously waiting for Santa to arrive. We had forgotten to do our part to help Santa and I’m telling you it was nothing short of a miracle that the little doll house that Santa bought for the girls ever got assembled.
Mrs. Rahn’s daughter had stopped by earlier in the day and after a nice talk with her about her beautiful mother I suddenly was flooded with wonderful Christmas memories about Mrs. Rahn and her house down in Takoma Park. In the “old days” Mary and I took the youth group caroling to the homes of the elderly and the shut-ins and Mrs. Rahn’s tree was always decorated in all blue lights – the old big style of lights and all blue and as we arrived with six or seven teenagers singing our glorious songs of old Mrs. Rahn’s face would light up, brighter than the tree itself and she would always be dressed so beautifully and so impeccably. We had taught the kids that as we went to each house the hostess or host of the house would have a plate of cookies and it was important to take a cookie or two at each house – lest someone’s feelings be hurt.
I was suddenly flooded with memories of all the wonderful people who have so enriched my life and the life of our church that I just knew I was the richest man on the face of the earth. Mrs. Rahn, Mrs. Whipple, the Orebaugh family, Virginia Hammes, Jean Hockman and more others than I can name all played special and beautiful roles in the world in which I have lived and they will always be with me, especially at this time of the year.
I remembered Bethel and the Bethel Christian Church 40 years ago and all the beautiful people there we had shared Christmas’s past with as well. Ewell & Evelyn Arrasmith, the Robertsons, the Dickens, the Crouches, the Thornburgs, the list went on and on. And, of course, Irene. Irene was/is one of the kindest, gentlest, most loving, gracious women I have ever known.
I remembered Oxon Hill, Mt. Rainer and all the special memories of growing up with my family. “Winter Wonderland”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and “Jingle Bells”, suddenly I was alive with the most beautiful and wonderful memories of my life that I could imagine. My dad could never wait until Christmas morning. Invariably, he would get my brother and me out of bed and tell us that Santa had arrived and we should celebrate right now – never mind that it was midnight or two a.m. in the morning. I’ll never forget the year I rushed down to the basement and saw under the tree that Santa had brought me a set of weights. I was around 13 or 14, I don’t know. I rushed over, grabbed the weights and lifted them up over my head. I suddenly realized there was too much weight on the barbell for me to hold up and as I lost my balance I started falling backwards – into the tree. Me, the tree, and the weights all came crashing down into one terrible pile of destruction. When it was all cleaned up there were two shattered tiles and two holes in the concrete floor – right where each weighted end of the bar bell came to rest.
II. Christmas is about remembering.
Yes, we all have our special memories of Christmas don’t we? Christmas is a time when we open the door to the deepest and most special parts of our heart where the ghosts of Christmas past – some good and some bad – come and are remembered.
Christmas is about remembering.
It’s about remembering the people with whom we have been honored to walk the planet.
It’s about remembering the special times that have made us who we are.
Christmas is about recalling the days when life was simpler, somehow easier and less polluted with stuff we’d all be better without.
Christmas is about remembering all the people, all the times, all the circumstances that are so special to us.
Christmas is also about remembering the very first Christmas, the story told in the scriptures.
A poor carpenter from Galilee, Joseph and his young wife, a virgin, had made the long journey to Bethlehem to be registered for a census, as ordered by the governor and while there Mary gave birth to the Christ child, the savior, the babe in the manger who would deliver the world from poverty of the soul and who would become the center of a new faith of people who would tell his story, share his teachings and do their best to live by his teachings.
Christmas is about remembering the shepherds, the angels, the wise men, the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and Mary and Joseph fleeing for their lives to avoid the wrath of the wicked King Herod.
III. But, Christmas is about so much more than just remembering. It’s about living, today, here, now with the people God has blessed with today. Christmas is about today – even more than it is about yesterday or long ago.
As special as our memories are, as sacred as they are, they are only prelude to realizing the gift of life we have today – here, now, in the flesh, right here, right now.
Christmas at its best is about cherishing the people sharing life with us this year, this time and this place.
We can’t go back and relive yesterday. We can’t change anything from the past.
But today is here. The people I share my life with today are the ones with whom I share the privilege of being.
Christmas is about now:
Christmas is about this place, this year, and these people
That we are honored to share our lives with.
Christmas is about finding meaning in more than recalling the beautiful story of the birth of Christ in a far away place long ago. It’s about finding meaning in the presence of Christ in our lives, in this time and in this place today.
Christmas is about coming back to the peace and the joy and love that Christ’s birth in our heart brings to our daily living.
Christmas is about taking the incarnation of Jesus and re-experiencing his birth, his place and his love in our soul for the living of the rest of our life.
Christmas is about remembering the poor, and the less fortunate that they too might enjoy a season of abundance.
Christmas is about working for peace in our world, peace between us as friends, peace between nations and peace throughout the world.
Christmas is about bringing the lion and the wolf and the lamb to lie down together in peace.
Christmas is about feeding the hungry, bringing justice to the poor and blessing one another with the love of the savior.
Christmas is about re-connecting with the humble story of the birth of mankind’s savior and knowing that our richness is not found in our things but in the blessings of God that abound in our lives.
Christmas is about so much more than just remembering. It’s about living, here and now and with a new and blessed sense of sharing life with the people we have with us today.
Closing …
This week, it came upon me with a new sense of clarity and purpose. More than “It came upon the Midnight Clear” it came upon the early evening clear, loud and clear, pure and clear, clean and clear, fresh and clear.
“Bob,” Debbie asked for the 14th time on Thursday. “I need the name of the sermon for the bulletin.” Debbie was off on Friday and she was anxious to get the bulletin done before she left Thursday. The usual Friday crunch was the Thursday crunch, at least for Debbie this past week.
“Umm, … call it “It came upon the way to Leisure World”. I could sense the total puzzlement coming from Debbie’s office. OK, OK, call it “It came upon the 6 p.m. clear”. No, that didn’t work either. Alright, just call it “So much more than remembering”. I’ll explain it later.
May this Christmas be a time when you remember all the special Christmas’s past in your life. May you conjure up the people, the places, the times, the experiences that have been indelibly etched on your memory. Memories are special and they play an important role in being recalled and cherished. The memory of the special aroma of the sugar cookies being baked in the basement of my grandparents’ Arbutus home and the brown bags and the wonderful taste of the cookies makes me gleam with joy.
At the same time, my prayer for you is that this year’s memories, this year’s experiences, the people you have with you this year, not only add to your special memories but give you new love, new joy, new peace. May you re-experience or experience for the first time the joy of coming to the manger and kneeling before the savior and may it be the most powerful call for the rest of your days.
It Came upon the Midnight Clear
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
‘Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
(A new verse to the old old song, with apologies to Edmund Sears) …
May it also come upon the daylight so clear
The glorious song that is new,
From the people walking in your midst,
To share their joy and peace and love with you.
To touch their harps of gold;
‘Peace on the earth, from long long ago,
May Joy and love abound in your heart,
As daily the sacred memories unfold.
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”
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