Thoughts on Christmas 2014

Prince of Peace.  Thoughts on Christmas, 2014.

John calls him the Word.  Luke calls him the Savior.  Isaiah calls him the Prince of Peace. 

Often a name means to signify whom someone is, how one will live, what one will bring to the world.  The names by which we know Jesus tell us just how this world is different because of him.  But how do we know him? 

This world is so full of war and suffering, you might think his birth made no difference at all.  And yet you may have personal experience that tells you things are different in your life because of his presence.  And there are stories that tell us just how different things can be when Christ’s presence is felt.  Even in the midst of war, peace can break through when the prince of peace comes.

In 1944, World War II had been raging for too many years.  But life still went on.  That Christmas there was a small family – a mother and her son – who lived near the German-Belgium border, preparing to sit down to their Christmas dinner.  Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  There were three American soldiers, freezing and one was seriously wounded.  They were the enemy, but they were human beings, so this woman took them in.

Soon there was another knock on the door.  There were four German soldiers, lost and hungry.  The woman invited them in, but set the rules: there would be no killing in her house on this night.  They all handed their weapons over to this woman for safekeeping.  The German and American soldiers sat down at her table and broke bread together that night.  The next morning, the Germans helped the Americans get back to their lines safely.

Christ’s coming didn’t end the war, but here were nine human beings whose lives were forever changed because of him.

This one is a story I heard on the radio years ago.  I will tell it the best I can remember it.  There were many Jewish children in Europe during World War II who were orphaned or separated from their family.  Many of them survived by staying hidden … for a very long time.  Finding food and shelter, especially in the winter was challenging and risky.  One little girl got caught outside the home of a German man and his family. I don’t remember if he was a soldier or if he was some kind of official in the Nazi party, but he had every reason to nab this child and have her sent off to the camps.  But it was Christmas Eve.  She froze in her tracks; he stood looking at her for a moment. Then he said, “It’s Christmas; go.”

One little Jewish girl lived to an old age, to tell the story of how she was saved on Christmas.

Then there was the Christmas truce of 1914.  This is one of those stories that you think sounds too good to be true.  It’s been told many times, a book has even been written about it, in an attempt to get the facts straight.  I don’t actually know if I have all the facts right, but here is the gist of it.

World War I was a hellish war.  Fighting in the trenches – I can’t even imagine what it was like.  The men who were there might have reached the breaking point, physically and psychologically, but on Christmas Eve 1914 a flash of humanity broke through.  German soldiers began singing Christmas carols from their trenches.  They wished their enemies a Merry Christmas.  Soon they all – German and British – began coming out of the trenches and moving toward one another.  They agreed among themselves (without getting permission from their commanders) that on Christmas there would be no killing, and they spent the next day celebrating together.

Peace on earth, good will toward men … of all nations, races, and creeds.

At the birth of the Christ child two thousand years ago, shepherds out in the fields nearby saw angels. And they heard the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth.”

May the Prince of Peace be present in our lives, be present in our world, on this night.  And may the light and the love he brings change us forever.