Charles Dickens in Christmas Carol
“But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
Christmas time has come around again. Perhaps catching us by surprise. The balmy weather confusing us into thinking it was further away than it turned out to be.
The blooming cherry tree in front of my window is definitely confused. Yet here we are Christmas Eve!
This is a time for laying down arms, dialing down the rhetoric, forging connections among families and friends; neighbors and nations.
During this time of year I see us hungry for a chance to do good in the world and in our communities. Our church has responded to that hunger of late by saying “NO” to Islamophobia in the public discourse, and witnessing for a compassionate response to the refugee crisis in Europe. We have found ourselves saying yes to the call to provide warm gear to persons in need during the winter or providing toys to children for the holidays.
I am impressed, but not surprised by our human capacity for good. We are able to show up courageously and generously at expected and unexpected times.
To refer to our reading from Charles Dickens, here we are on the doorstep of the miraculous time of year, a good time of year, “...a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time..., a time when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people...as fellow passengers…[on the journey]
In this evening’s reading from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, we hear Fred’s speech, trying to remind his uncle, patient zero for stinginess Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge of the work of Christmas. He says this holiday has the ability to change people by reminding them of what is really important.
Aside from the more well known mythic, messianic and miraculous implications of Christmas (a virgin birth, long foretold in obscure Bethlehem, moving stars in the east, angels heard on high, wise men and shepherds watching over their flock) Christmas time somehow manages to momentarily transform US , making us kind, charitable, forgiving, peaceful.
Maybe it is the cold and dark of shorter days that triggers the ancient memory in our DNA that our survival depends on our connections to others.
That memory compels us to find the stories that celebrate those connections, like the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, one of many stories of Christmas time.
In good Unitarian Universalist style I will leave it to each of us to individually discern by what means the magic and miracle of Christmas works.
But it is enough to say that it does work, because here we are, compelled to leave our homes this cold night, bringing the gift of ourselves our children, our parents, our lovers and friends to come to church on this particular night.
Some you I haven’t seen since since last Christmas and I am so glad you manage to find your way back. I thought you might be lost forever. Others were just here on Sunday for Kwanzaa and for the Solstice celebration and haven't left yet.
The central question that I want us to consider tonight is how do we carry this momentary, transformation forward, one that moves us from hostility to peace?
And a second question which is just as important. What might our world look like if Christmas tIme was everytime?
The poet Maya Angelou in her work titled: Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem writes that Christmas enters [the world], streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope. singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air. The world is encouraged to come away from rancor, come the way of friendship...
We must make the commitment to live the amazing peace of Christmas time 365 days a year. I dont mean keep the tree and lights up all year, although some of us might do that anyways, at least until February. And if that is a way to remember this time that’s perfectly alright.
Our world seems so dangerously close to the brink at times and we can either open our hearts and come the way of friendship or we shall perish together.
Earlier I spoke of compelling stories that help us recall the ancient memory of our connections to others. These are the stories that in their way call us back to our truest nature, back to the way of friendship and peace.
I’m going to introduce you to Francis Tolliver in moment, he is a central actor in the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of those compelling stories. This 101 year old tale has every bit of the miracle of the more well known Christmas stories, but so much more import to the tenuous and dangerous times we are living in today.
I want to lift up for a moment the beauty of a single instance in our global history that so powerfully illuminates something like a road map for our year ahead, maybe even a roadmap for our life times.
On that map we find transformative landmarks that have eluded so many others, we find Kindness, charity, playfulness and the open heart.
Consider Francis Tolliver from Liverpool in England and his transformation that occurred on a barren, icy field in France over a hundred years old on this very night.
His story shows us that the peace of Christmas time is possible on any day in any place even a battlefield in the middle of a war. This episode in life of Francis Tolliver is captured in the folk song by John McCutcheon titled Christmas in the Trenches where we hear the following narration:
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
...
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.
Francis Tolliver is a fictional character used to tell the amazing true story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, an instantaneous end to hostilities and community building to occured in several European battlefields during World War I.
British and German soldiers actually came out of their trenches of their own volition, cold, tired of fighting, to exchange Christmas Greetings, sing carols, drink brandy, trade pictures and play games for the night on December 24th.
It was a moment of transformation, combatants now translated to friends, because for a brief window of time they recognized and celebrated their shared humanity. The soldiers saw that they were fellow passengers on a journey.
We can see echoes of Fred’s speech to his uncle Mr. Scrooge in the Dickens with the words of the song:
“We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well.”
In effect it is the good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time…[of Christmas time] when people consent to open their shut-up hearts.
Eyewitness accounts say that the truce was over the next day, normal fighting resumed soon thereafter. The Great War raged on from 1914 to 1918. WW II followed it. And conflicts continue to this very day all around the world.
But look at what happened for a moment. Hold that picture of comradery, beautiful, beloved community coming out of nowhere, a perfect fragment of Peace. Hold it tightly, don’t let be forgotten.
The story of Francis Tolliver matters to us as Unitarian Universalists because we are a people on fire with purpose and vision. We have that battleworn hope for the future and today.
That hope is grounded in prophetic experiences like the Christmas Truce of 1914. Our hope is inspired by our shared humanistic ideals of the inherent worth of every person and the anticipation of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all people, in this lifetime.
The very essence of Christmas time and is written into the principles of our faith.
If our principles can be lived out in some of the most unlikely places to experience peace, like the cratered battlefields of France, the austere bank of Mr. Scrooge or the bleak and fetid stable in Bethlehem where Mary, Joseph and Jesus crowded by farm animals rested, then our principles can be lived out anywhere at any time.
Nothing is impossible, we might lack the will, the courage, the compassion or the imagination for peace in our world, but never say that Peace, the Peace of Christmas Time is impossible, because we have seen it before in the most unlikely of places.
If we believe that any night can be a holy night, especially this one, then we can make every night a holy night by returning to the better angels of our nature who are always there to remind us of the Spirit of Christmas.
Our families, friends, neighbors, our city, nation and world needs us to recall all of the miracles that have occurred on this night--everyday of the year.
Let this night be a rehearsal for the parts we want to play in an unfolding story, told over many generations.
A story of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth--our own Beloved Community.
Again we prepare the heart to become a site of healing, forgiveness, playfulness, truce.
Again we prepare a place where our own little lights come together, becoming a beacon in world so often robbed of its ability to see a peaceful way forward.
We’ve seen it before and we will see it again. Never stop believing that. Christmas is just a reminder of what is possible.
May the peace of Christmas time combine for us to form the greatest gift, a fragment of perfection that we take with us into the New Year, inserting our little bit of Peace, Paix, Freiden, Mir, Salam, Shalom, Yes! into every moment that awaits us.
Peace,
Amen.
“But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
Christmas time has come around again. Perhaps catching us by surprise. The balmy weather confusing us into thinking it was further away than it turned out to be.
The blooming cherry tree in front of my window is definitely confused. Yet here we are Christmas Eve!
This is a time for laying down arms, dialing down the rhetoric, forging connections among families and friends; neighbors and nations.
During this time of year I see us hungry for a chance to do good in the world and in our communities. Our church has responded to that hunger of late by saying “NO” to Islamophobia in the public discourse, and witnessing for a compassionate response to the refugee crisis in Europe. We have found ourselves saying yes to the call to provide warm gear to persons in need during the winter or providing toys to children for the holidays.
I am impressed, but not surprised by our human capacity for good. We are able to show up courageously and generously at expected and unexpected times.
To refer to our reading from Charles Dickens, here we are on the doorstep of the miraculous time of year, a good time of year, “...a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time..., a time when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people...as fellow passengers…[on the journey]
In this evening’s reading from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, we hear Fred’s speech, trying to remind his uncle, patient zero for stinginess Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge of the work of Christmas. He says this holiday has the ability to change people by reminding them of what is really important.
Aside from the more well known mythic, messianic and miraculous implications of Christmas (a virgin birth, long foretold in obscure Bethlehem, moving stars in the east, angels heard on high, wise men and shepherds watching over their flock) Christmas time somehow manages to momentarily transform US , making us kind, charitable, forgiving, peaceful.
Maybe it is the cold and dark of shorter days that triggers the ancient memory in our DNA that our survival depends on our connections to others.
That memory compels us to find the stories that celebrate those connections, like the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, one of many stories of Christmas time.
In good Unitarian Universalist style I will leave it to each of us to individually discern by what means the magic and miracle of Christmas works.
But it is enough to say that it does work, because here we are, compelled to leave our homes this cold night, bringing the gift of ourselves our children, our parents, our lovers and friends to come to church on this particular night.
Some you I haven’t seen since since last Christmas and I am so glad you manage to find your way back. I thought you might be lost forever. Others were just here on Sunday for Kwanzaa and for the Solstice celebration and haven't left yet.
The central question that I want us to consider tonight is how do we carry this momentary, transformation forward, one that moves us from hostility to peace?
And a second question which is just as important. What might our world look like if Christmas tIme was everytime?
The poet Maya Angelou in her work titled: Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem writes that Christmas enters [the world], streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope. singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air. The world is encouraged to come away from rancor, come the way of friendship...
We must make the commitment to live the amazing peace of Christmas time 365 days a year. I dont mean keep the tree and lights up all year, although some of us might do that anyways, at least until February. And if that is a way to remember this time that’s perfectly alright.
Our world seems so dangerously close to the brink at times and we can either open our hearts and come the way of friendship or we shall perish together.
Earlier I spoke of compelling stories that help us recall the ancient memory of our connections to others. These are the stories that in their way call us back to our truest nature, back to the way of friendship and peace.
I’m going to introduce you to Francis Tolliver in moment, he is a central actor in the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of those compelling stories. This 101 year old tale has every bit of the miracle of the more well known Christmas stories, but so much more import to the tenuous and dangerous times we are living in today.
I want to lift up for a moment the beauty of a single instance in our global history that so powerfully illuminates something like a road map for our year ahead, maybe even a roadmap for our life times.
On that map we find transformative landmarks that have eluded so many others, we find Kindness, charity, playfulness and the open heart.
Consider Francis Tolliver from Liverpool in England and his transformation that occurred on a barren, icy field in France over a hundred years old on this very night.
His story shows us that the peace of Christmas time is possible on any day in any place even a battlefield in the middle of a war. This episode in life of Francis Tolliver is captured in the folk song by John McCutcheon titled Christmas in the Trenches where we hear the following narration:
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
...
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.
Francis Tolliver is a fictional character used to tell the amazing true story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, an instantaneous end to hostilities and community building to occured in several European battlefields during World War I.
British and German soldiers actually came out of their trenches of their own volition, cold, tired of fighting, to exchange Christmas Greetings, sing carols, drink brandy, trade pictures and play games for the night on December 24th.
It was a moment of transformation, combatants now translated to friends, because for a brief window of time they recognized and celebrated their shared humanity. The soldiers saw that they were fellow passengers on a journey.
We can see echoes of Fred’s speech to his uncle Mr. Scrooge in the Dickens with the words of the song:
“We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well.”
In effect it is the good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time…[of Christmas time] when people consent to open their shut-up hearts.
Eyewitness accounts say that the truce was over the next day, normal fighting resumed soon thereafter. The Great War raged on from 1914 to 1918. WW II followed it. And conflicts continue to this very day all around the world.
But look at what happened for a moment. Hold that picture of comradery, beautiful, beloved community coming out of nowhere, a perfect fragment of Peace. Hold it tightly, don’t let be forgotten.
The story of Francis Tolliver matters to us as Unitarian Universalists because we are a people on fire with purpose and vision. We have that battleworn hope for the future and today.
That hope is grounded in prophetic experiences like the Christmas Truce of 1914. Our hope is inspired by our shared humanistic ideals of the inherent worth of every person and the anticipation of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all people, in this lifetime.
The very essence of Christmas time and is written into the principles of our faith.
If our principles can be lived out in some of the most unlikely places to experience peace, like the cratered battlefields of France, the austere bank of Mr. Scrooge or the bleak and fetid stable in Bethlehem where Mary, Joseph and Jesus crowded by farm animals rested, then our principles can be lived out anywhere at any time.
Nothing is impossible, we might lack the will, the courage, the compassion or the imagination for peace in our world, but never say that Peace, the Peace of Christmas Time is impossible, because we have seen it before in the most unlikely of places.
If we believe that any night can be a holy night, especially this one, then we can make every night a holy night by returning to the better angels of our nature who are always there to remind us of the Spirit of Christmas.
Our families, friends, neighbors, our city, nation and world needs us to recall all of the miracles that have occurred on this night--everyday of the year.
Let this night be a rehearsal for the parts we want to play in an unfolding story, told over many generations.
A story of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth--our own Beloved Community.
Again we prepare the heart to become a site of healing, forgiveness, playfulness, truce.
Again we prepare a place where our own little lights come together, becoming a beacon in world so often robbed of its ability to see a peaceful way forward.
We’ve seen it before and we will see it again. Never stop believing that. Christmas is just a reminder of what is possible.
May the peace of Christmas time combine for us to form the greatest gift, a fragment of perfection that we take with us into the New Year, inserting our little bit of Peace, Paix, Freiden, Mir, Salam, Shalom, Yes! into every moment that awaits us.
Peace,
Amen.
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