“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)” Matthew 2:16-18
Christmas is Newtown, Connecticut
“Because they are no more.” Those words at the end cut right through me. The anguish of a mother refusing to be quiet, to dry her tears, refusing the traditional clichés or sympathetic words meant to bring comfort. There is only the soul of a parent being torn apart. When I first learned of this tragedy the first thing I thought of was Rylan and what if... If you have a child or grandchild, please let that thought wash over you for just a moment before you move on.
The events that have unfolded and continue to unfold in Newtown, Conn. have brought a different kind of pain than we are used to, death of the innocent, the children, and the future. So horrific are these events that we experience them not as another sign of moral decay, but as the unmasking of evil. Perhaps we thought we had eradicated evil with our prosperity, technology and political correctness. We were wrong. But if they won't save us, if they aren't the answers we've been looking for, then what hope does humanity have? Where will we turn? Where will we find what is good in life?
The Gospel of Matthew includes this ugly passage because it happened and it gives Jesus’ birth and Christmas the realistic flavor of life we understand. The Christmas story IS NOT about Santa, Rudolf or how “grandma got run over by a reindeer”! The Gospel writer doesn’t shy away from the broken, ugliness of life, even when it is this painful. When Emmanuel was born, not everyone was rejoicing. Herod’s paranoia and megalomania knew no bound and by this time he had lost all connection with humanity. Into this world, in the face of Herod’s power, Jesus was born. Into this world, into Newtown, Jesus has come again. But will we understand?
Whatever else you think about Christmas, the crass commercialism and pressure to make it a more politically correct holiday, if you believe the part about Jesus, and this is important, then the one thing you can’t say is that God doesn't care or God is indifferent to the problems of evil. In fact it is quite the opposite.
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." (John 3:16 Message)“Those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Matthew 4:16
“[Jesus said] 'I am the resurrection and the life ... Do you believe this?' This is a canyon question which makes sense only during an all-night vigil or in the stillness of smoke-filled waiting rooms. A question that makes sense when all of our props, crutches, and costumes are taken away. For then we must face ourselves as we really are: rudderless humans, tailspinning toward disaster. And we are forced to see him for what he claims to be: our only hope.” -- Max Lucado(1) Don’t shy away from the pain part of life, for they are also part of Christmas. In fact Christmas is the part of God's cure for evil. (2) Christmas Eve we will light a candle and sing Silent Night. This is not just a tradition, it is a statement. What is that statement? (3) Is it appropriate to sing "Joy to the World" in the face of such tragedies? Read over the worlds again.
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You ask, “How have the events of Newtown affected how I look at Christmas?”
I am reminded of the song title “We Need a Little Christmas” as an answer to your question and as a message to the world that it is not the crass commercialism referenced in the Christmas mentioned in the song that we as a society and as individuals need, but the kind of Christmas, and thus, the spirit of Christmas, referenced by the transformed and enlightened Scrooge when he says in Dickens’ “The Christmas Carol” — “…I will keep Christmas in my heart all year long.”
…might “the world become new” if such grace-dictated and grace-guided words and deeds became our way of life 365 rather than just one day of the year?
It can…one life at a time…God gave the first one in His gift of Emmanuel…we can, we must, we are called to live it, to share it, to pass it on…to “keep Christmas in our hearts all year long.”
Once again…”How,” you ask, “have the events of Newtown affected how I look at Christmas?”
My church held its annual Children’s Christmas Pageant Sunday evening with thirty-four children portraying characters from Joseph, Mary, and the Innkeeper to sheep, camels, and angels. Speaking parts belonged to the narrators but all sang with gusto the lyrics of three familiar Christmas carols…memories were formed for parents and pictures upon pictures were taken…but the most important memories formed during the practicing and the pageant itself were those of the children who, in participating in the “telling of the old, old story,” are learning “the old, old story” so that they not only know it but so that they can tell it, tell it to others.
It was very important for me to be a part of all the activities occurring before and during the pageant in the light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook so as to honor “those who are no more” by smiling with and applauding for our thirty-four pagaent participants…and…by using that time in God’s house to pray for those lost and those remaining in Newtown as well as those children and parents before me and all children and parents in our community.
“Joy to the world, the LORD has come”…Emmanuel has come…’God is with us’ no matter what…”Joy to the world, [hear Christmas’ message] — the LORD has come [to be and is ‘with us.’]”
The events in Newtown and in the halls of Shady Hook Elementary School have refreshed and renewed my heart’s belief in that Truth and in that comfort.
Amazing Gracie. Grace McDonnell. Seven years old with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was one of twenty children killed Friday in Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Amazing Gracie. Grace McDonnell. She loved Hawaii and sea shells and wanted one day to live on the beach. She was an artist, loved to draw fish, and had as a life’s dream, after watching the movie “Free Willie,” to one day see an Orca.
Amazing Gracie. Grace McDonnell. She loved colors drawing with them and requesting for her November birthday cake when she turned seven, a cake with purple icing. Colors and drawing were so synonymous with Grace that, with Sharpies in hand, her parents, overcome by the sight of Gracie’s white casket, drew and drew and drew upon it until not an inch of white remained on the casket…only the joy of Grace could be seen.
Amazing Gracie. Grace McDonnell. In the words of her mother, “She had no hate in her; she thought with no hate…we cannot hate; we will not hate because Gracie knew no hate.”
Named seven years ago, Grace McDonnell proved, in and through as well as apparently beyond her life, the aptness and appropriateness of her name.
“Amazing Grace” means much to me…so much that often when asked to sing it in church, I can’t because of tears that flow due to memories of my whispering the lyrics in my mother’s right ear as she lay in a hospital bed with life-support systems prolonging her life for a few more hours of family good-byes.
…but I know Grace McDonnell…I have listened to CNN’s Anderson Cooper call her Amazing Gracie…I have looked into her blue eyes as the news network showed the world only a few of the numerous pictures that her mother had taken of her in numerous venues and for numerous reasons.
I know Grace McDonnell…I have seen her smile…I have contemplated her potential as I often have that of Anne Frank…and I have once again realized that short as it is, Gracie McDonnell’s dash between her birth and death years is, as was Anne’s, life-transforming.
Because I know Grace McDonnell…because I have looked into her eyes…because I have seen her smile…because I have glimpsed her grace-filled heart…Grace McDonnell will forever live in my heart…and because I know Amazing Gracie, my tears, which will always accompany the singing of “Amazing Grace,” will now, however, be joined by a sustained-smile for Amazing Gracie — for her life; for how she bettered the lives of her family and friends; for how, without my really knowing her, she has touched my life; and for how, I can’t help but believe, she will continue touching untold lives in the days and years ahead.
How have the events in Newtown affected me this Christmas?
…because of them, I have received a present.
Grace McDonnell gifted me a smile…a smile which will be used to honor her — Amazing Gracie — every time I hear and/or sing “Amazing Grace.”