Devotional Advent Part 4

In 2019 musical artists Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple and Matt Berninger released a song called “Seven O’Clock News/Silent Night.” This song was a cover of a song by the same name written and recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966. Both the 1966 and the 2019 versions are not so much songs as much as an audio collage combining a rendition of the well-known Christmas carol “Silent Night” with a simulated newscast of concerning contemporary events. The song begins simply with the Christmas carol but then, as it progresses, the sounds of the bad news grows louder and louder, progressively overtaking the calm strains of “Silent Night.” It as if the two songs were both asking in their own way, “What difference does Christmas really make in the tumultuous, polarized, and seemingly broken era of the 1960s? And what difference does Christmas really make today?”

The Christmases of 1966, 2019, and 2023 were and are not the only tumultuous and polarized Christmases in the history of the world. In fact the very first Christmas, perhaps right around 4 B.C. was even a more tumultuous and polarized time than our own. Don’t be fooled by the creche scenes or images of serenely-faced shepherds on those Christmas cards, or by the thousands of pieces of artwork down through the ages: Jesus was not born into a Silent Night world, he was born into a tumultuous, polarized and broken world, marked by political and religious in-fighting among Jews, international conflict with Rome, and political oppression.

In response some turned to Jewish nationalism in the hopes that political force and violence might secure justice on earth. Others created hierarchies of righteousness, which regarded some human beings – the in-group – as more “righteous” and therefore more worthy of God’s favor than other human beings. Still others retreated far away into the desert, wanting nothing to do with the mess of society. Every Jew of the day knew that there was a problem. But it seemed that Judaism itself did not have any convincing solutions.

That full solution to the world’s problems, the only solution, John tells us, came uniquely in the person of Jesus Christ. And how did this Jesus come? He came full of grace and truth.

Now there are some Christians who are all about truth. They meditate on their Bibles, they study and discuss the scriptures, and they hold themselves to a high standard of holiness. And you know what? They are to be commended for these things. The only problem is that so many of these Christians do not do such a good job giving sufficient emphasis to grace.

On the other extreme are other Christians who are all about grace. These tends to be the most accepting, most tolerant, most compassionate Christians you can hope to find. And these, too, are to be commended. And yet, sometimes with these very same Christians, when you prod them on issues on which scripture has firmly spoken, they become soft on truth.

Here at Trinity we make it our aim to hire and retain faculty and staff who by God’s grace follow Jesus’ example of grace (being filled with love and compassion for others) and truth (being equally filled by a commitment to the inerrant word of God and its standards for our lives). We prioritize that because we know that when God found the world at its darkest, most tumultuous, most polarized hour, he knew there was only one solution: the Word made flesh who was full of grace and truth.

This Christmas may God give us all the power to live out the grace and truth that has been bestowed on us in Jesus Christ. If we do, that might not make the seven o’clock news, but it will become part of the news story that really matters. And as that good news story grows louder and louder, it will progressively overtake the strains of this silencing night of darkness.

Amen!