DownshoreDrift

Christmas Eve Truce of 1914: Peace, for a Night

Following is a fascinating story as told by Private Frederick W. Heath and reprinted by Alan Nothnagle of how World War One stopped on Christmas Eve almost 100 years ago and there was "Peace on Earth," at least for one night, in the trenches of France where the Germans, French, and British had been previously slaughtering one another. It was a Christmas miracle and a touching story of what happens when Christmas overcomes war. I think of Isaiah 2:4, which says,

"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."

That Christmas Truce

Written in the trenches by Private Frederick W. Heath

The night closed in early - the ghostly shadows that haunt the trenches came to keep us company as we stood to arms. Under a pale moon, one could just see the grave-like rise of ground which marked the German trenches two hundred yards away. Fires in the English lines had died down, and only the squelch of the sodden boots in the slushy mud, the whispered orders of the officers and the NCOs, and the moan of the wind broke the silence of the night. The soldiers' Christmas Eve had come at last, and it was hardly the time or place to feel grateful for it.

Memory in her shrine kept us in a trance of saddened silence. Back somewhere in England, the fires were burning in cosy rooms; in fancy I heard laughter and the thousand melodies of reunion on Christmas Eve. With overcoat thick with wet mud, hands cracked and sore with the frost, I leaned against the side of the trench, and, looking through my loophole, fixed weary eyes on the German trenches. Thoughts surged madly in my mind; but they had no sequence, no cohesion. Mostly they were of home as I had known it through the years that had brought me to this. I asked myself why I was in the trenches in misery at all, when I might have been in England warm and prosperous. That involuntary question was quickly answered. For is there not a multitude of houses in England, and has not someone to keep them intact? I thought of a shattered cottage in -- , and felt glad that I was in the trenches. That cottage was once somebody's home.

Still looking and dreaming, my eyes caught a flare in the darkness. A light in the enemy's trenches was so rare at that hour that I passed a message down the line. I had hardly spoken when light after light sprang up along the German front. Then quite near our dug-outs, so near as to make me start and clutch my rifle, I heard a voice. There was no mistaking that voice with its guttural ring. With ears strained, I listened, and then, all down our line of trenches there came to our ears a greeting unique in war: "English soldier, English soldier, a merry Christmas, a merry Christmas!"

 Friendly invitation

 Following that salute boomed the invitation from those harsh voices: "Come out, English soldier; come out here to us." For some little time we were cautious, and did not even answer. Officers, fearing treachery, ordered the men to be silent. But up and down our line one heard the men answering that Christmas greeting from the enemy. How could we resist wishing each other a Merry Christmas, even though we might be at each other's throats immediately afterwards? So we kept up a running conversation with the Germans, all the while our hands ready on our rifles. Blood and peace, enmity and fraternity - war's most amazing paradox. The night wore on to dawn - a night made easier by songs from the German trenches, the pipings of piccolos and from our broad lines laughter and Christmas carols. Not a shot was fired, except for down on our right, where the French artillery were at work.

Came the dawn, pencilling the sky with grey and pink. Under the early light we saw our foes moving recklessly about on top of their trenches. Here, indeed, was courage; no seeking the security of the shelter but a brazen invitation to us to shoot and kill with deadly certainty. But did we shoot? Not likely! We stood up ourselves and called benisons {blessings} on the Germans. Then came the invitation to fall out of the trenches and meet half way.

Still cautious we hung back. Not so the others. They ran forward in little groups, with hands held up above their heads, asking us to do the same. Not for long could such an appeal be resisted - beside, was not the courage up to now all on one side? Jumping up onto the parapet, a few of us advanced to meet the on-coming Germans. Out went the hands and tightened in the grip of friendship. Christmas had made the bitterest foes friends.

The Gift of Gifts

Here was no desire to kill, but just the wish of a few simple soldiers (and no one is quite so simple as a soldier) that on Christmas Day, at any rate, the force of fire should cease. We gave each other cigarettes and exchanged all manner of things. We wrote our names and addresses on the field service postcards, and exchanged them for German ones. We cut the buttons off our coats and took in exchange the Imperial Arms of Germany. But the gift of gifts was Christmas pudding. The sight of it made the Germans' eyes grow wide with hungry wonder, and at the first bite of it they were our friends for ever. Given a sufficient quantity of Christmas puddings, every German in the trenches before ours would have surrendered.

And so we stayed together for a while and talked, even though all the time there was a strained feeling of suspicion which rather spoilt this Christmas armistice. We could not help remembering that we were enemies, even though we had shaken hands. We dare not advance too near their trenches lest we saw too much, nor could the Germans come beyond the barbed wire which lay before ours. After we had chatted, we turned back to our respective trenches for breakfast.

All through the day no shot was fired, and all we did was talk to each other and make confessions which, perhaps, were truer at that curious moment than in the normal times of war. How far this unofficial truce extended along the lines I do not know, but I do know that what I have written here applies to the -- on our side and the 158th German Brigade, composed of Westphalians.

As I finish this short and scrappy description of a strangely human event, we are pouring rapid fire into the German trenches, and they are returning the compliment just as fiercely. Screeching through the air above us are the shattering shells of rival batteries of artillery. So we are back once more to the ordeal of fire.

---

While Some Churches Cancel Christmas Sunday Services, Christ Remains a Scandal

Christmas Day is on a Sunday this year, and just like in 2005, we hearing about churches cancelling their Sunday services because it is Christmas and they want to free people up to be with their families. I understand that the secular version of Christmas is about family and friends and gift giving and what not, and I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that - those things are worth celebrating and Christians should celebrate them too. But, the Christian version of Christmas is obviously about Jesus and it just seems like a big cave to the secular nature of the holiday for churches to cancel their weekly Sunday worship service because it happens to also be Christmas Day.

Of course, the vast majority of churches ARE having worship on Sunday, but it is the ones that aren't that are attracting attention. Many of the churches that are not having worship are REALLY large - like of the 10,000 to 20,000 members variety. I say something about this here not to cast judgment on other churches (admittedly, I do not know every reason why every church cancels worship on a Sunday). But, since the megachurches usually set the trends for the rest of Evangelical Christianity (what the megas do one year, others seem to do in following years thinking that if the big churches do it it must be a good thing), I think that it is worth considering if this is the best approach.

My view is that it is better for churches to go ahead and have worship on Sunday (radical, I know), even if, perhaps ESPECIALLY if, that Sunday happens to be Christmas Day.  Christmas is the day that Christians have chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is when we celebrate the Incarnation, when God put on flesh and made His dwelling among us, when Jesus

Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing,
   taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!   (Phil. 2:6-8)

Jesus went through a great deal to be our Savior, including being born very, very small, as a human baby, to live among us and take our sins upon Himself and die so that our sins would die with Him and raise from the dead to give new life to all who believe in Him.  Worshiping Christ with the church on the day that we set aside to honor His birth, especially when that day is a Sunday, the day each week that we gather for worship to celebrate the Resurrection, seems like the appropriate thing to do.

It is not my intention to reduce our relationship with Christ to attendance at a worship service on a certain day. Obviously, that would be a mistake. I also do not take aim at individuals or families who, for different reasons, are genuinely not able to be in worship on Sunday - Christmas Day. I am not anyone's judge and do not intend to decide in every case whether an individual or family should or even could attend worship on Sunday. But, I do find it ironic that churches are cancelling their worship services on Sunday. Why would you cancel outright?  Maybe a reduced, scaled down worship service would be appropriate. Worship in church on Christmas used to be one of the biggest days of the year. Now, we are cancelling services because some pastors/leaders say that it is better to stay home with our families and enjoy the day. What if there are even better ways to celebrate than spending the entire day immersed in consumer electronics, wrapping paper, and rich food?  What if being in God's presence with the Body of Christ was actually better?

No, I don't think that you are going to hell if your church cancels worship on Christmas. But, I do think that it sends a message, as a church, about what your priorities are, and that is important too. I will not be looking around my church to see who is there or who isn't and judging anyone. I have no idea what each situation is and why people come and why they don't. But, I will worship God with whoever does come and thank Him for Jesus' birth and life and death and resurrection, as we do every Sunday as a worshipping community of Christ.

I know that some might say that I should not talk about this, that it is better to live and let live and not to make a big deal out of what others do. I am supposed to be positive all the time, especially at Christmas. Ok. But, I also know that Christ is a scandal, a stumbling block, and even an inconvenience. He messes with our traditions, customs, and cultural practices. He calls us to reorient around Him, not the other way around, and perhaps this seems strange to us. But, we are in good company if it does. 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 says, 

²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

We live in a country with complete freedom to worship how we choose and that can sometimes be a mixed blessing when choices are made according to what we prefer or what seems easiest to us. Everything is very convenient for us. We have air conditioning and heat and automobiles and comfortable seats and nice sound systems and messages tailored for us that are not too long with video and pastors who are entertaining and relevant and coffee and donuts and good friends and greeters and smiling faces and nothing that would make us uncomfortable. And, we have constructed a religion that does not really require us to sacrifice anything at all because it is all so wonderful and easy and hey, let's just spend time with our families at home in our pajamas and I'm sure that Jesus is okay with that.  Maybe He is and I've got it all wrong. Maybe it doesn't matter to God if we cancel worship on Sunday because it is Christmas Day. Maybe God doesn't care if we celebrate Christmas at all. I don't know. I'm not trying to speak for God here. But, it just strikes me as strange, odd even, that those who are known by the name of Christ, as Christ-followers, would be ones who find it too inconvenient to worship Christ together on the day we celebrate His birth.

It just seems to me, that if we are Christians and if we are going to do a bunch of Christmas stuff because it is the time that we celebrate the birth of Christ and we say that Jesus is the "Reason for the Season," that it is contradictory to cancel worship on Sunday because it happens to be Christmas Day and we are used to having that day off.  We only get a chance to have worship on Christmas day once every 6-8 years. Maybe instead of seeing it as an inconvenience, we could see it as a great blessing - something our children will remember and be thankful for. Perhaps we should see it as a chance to make a prophetic statement about what we value most - that we are people who orient our lives around Christ and the worship of the Saints together.

At the time of Christ's birth, there was no room for Him in the Inn and he was born in a stable among the animals. Let us make room for Christ in the midst of our traditions and festivities so that we can celebrate Him with the Body of Christ, His family, the children of God. Let us reorient around Christ, even at, no especially at Christmas.

"Let every heart prepare Him room . . ." 

Tim Keller on the Role of Church in Society

There is a debate raging (and it has been going on for a long time now) about the role of church in society in relation to culture. Many different models have been put forward over the years of what it means for the church to engage the mission of God to a broken world. Some say that the church is primarily to be the place where salvation is found as the people of God come together to grow in Christ and be strengthened. In other words, church is for believers. Others say that church exists for the lost and that the church should be oriented toward people who do not know God. Some try to say that it is the church's job to reform society or even to take over culture. Others say that the church should stay out of all of that and just focus on teaching people how to live for Jesus while preaching the Word and engaging in worship.

This is not an academic debate. Where you stand on this issue will probably speak to how you see the church and how you take part in the life of your church and how your church participates in its community. Is the church a citadel standing against the forces of darkness?  Is it a missionary band? Is it a refuge against the encroaching evil of the world? Is it a lighthouse? Is it a town square where everyone can gather?  You metaphors dictate your mood regarding the church and how it functions.

Tim Keller gives us some helpful guidance on the role of the church in society. He says,

While the mission of the institutional church is to preach the Word and produce disciples, the church must disciple Christians in such a way that they live justly and integrate their faith with their work. So the church doesn't directly change culture, but it disciples and supports people who do. Another balance has to do with society's cultural institutions. Rather than taking them over, or avoiding them as a corrupting influence, or treating them with indifference---Christians are to be a faithful presence within them.

The church cannot do everything nor should it. I have heard people say that the reason that the government is involved in social issues in America is because the church abandoned its duty. That is one of those somewhat true statements. Yes, the church did retreat in large part from social justice issues around a century ago, but the government also amped up what it means to care for the poor far beyond what the church would ever be capable of doing. The fact that people are on welfare is not necessarily because the church failed to take care of the poor. Rather, it might be because the church failed to effectively tell an alternate story about what true compassion is and what it looks like to be a just society.  The problem with poverty in America is not just that the church does not give enough to the poor, but also because Christians have not engaged the social, political, and educational realms with a strong enough vision of how we are to best live life on this planet. So, instead, we have a lesser story that has taken over in absence of the true story that God would have us live out.  Our job is not to eradicate every problem in the world, but rather, to live out a different story and give witness to the One who will make all things new. 

The role of the church is to help people live out the gospel of the Kingdom in all realms of life.  It is to be a "faithful witness" to Christ and His reign and rule in all spheres. The church can only do this as it disciples people to live "Christianly" in every sphere of life, whether that be at work, at home, in the community, or in relationship with the church. We should help people think through how they can be salt and light and both proclaim and demonstrate the gospel of the Kingdom. We are to be yeast, a seed, a quiet but unyielding witness, a faithful presence in the midst of a world going mad. Of course, the church collectively gives witness to the truth of Christ and can work together to do much good in the world as it proclaims and demonstrates the gospel, but the greatest impact that the church can have is when it disciples its members to live out the life of Christ by loving God and loving people everywhere.

The Incarnation of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas is all about Christ breaking in to our world in a cosmic invasion to bring the good news of the Kingdom of God to us - to reconcile us and all of creation back to God through sacrificial love - love that led to the Cross and triumphed through the Resurrection. We, as the people of God in the church reflect the Incarnation when we live redemptive lives in the world - not trying to take over, but attempting to live subversively as citizens of a different order altogether.

The revolution begun in Bethlehem continues and the church is as the center of it.   

We Are All Atheists: The Death of Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)

Christopher Hitchens, writer, philosopher, and iconic atheist died yesterday (12.15.11), the same day that President Obama declared the U.S.-Iraq War to be officially ended. Hitchens, is best known by many as one of the "New Atheists," a breed of militant deniers of God's existence who did more than just silently disbelieve - he was passionate about spreading unbelief everywhere he went. He was eager to debate Christians and did so with wit and ferocity, angering many, but often winning respect, even from his opponents.

One thing that I liked about Hitchens was his desire to speak about things without pretense. He did not believe in God and was ready to live with the implications. He did not cling to God as a security blanket or a comfort as he continued to live life how he wanted. In many ways, Hitchens was more honest and forthright than many who claim to be Christians or Deists, but live as they see fit. Hitchens believed that we are alone in the universe, but was content to live with the consequences without developing philosophical escape hatches that he called "God."  Many who claim to be God-fearers are actually just people who are scared of being alone in the universe, so they cling to an idea of "God" without any real desire to know Him or follow Him or live under His demands. "God" becomes a force that keeps away the terror of night and who, perhaps, can help them out in a pinch, when they have exhausted their own resources. Hitchens saw through all of that as a sham and had no use for it.  For the record, I don't believe in that God either.

Hitchens' brutal honesty was no more clearly on display than in one of his last essays for Vanity Fair where he writes about his impending death. (Picture accompanies the article and is taken recently, after cancer has taken its toll). He says,

I am typing this having just had an injection to try to reduce the pain in my arms, hands, and fingers. The chief side effect of this pain is numbness in the extremities, filling me with the not irrational fear that I shall lose the ability to write. Without that ability, I feel sure in advance, my “will to live” would be hugely attenuated. I often grandly say that writing is not just my living and my livelihood but my very life, and it’s true. Almost like the threatened loss of my voice, which is currently being alleviated by some temporary injections into my vocal folds, I feel my personality and identity dissolving as I contemplate dead hands and the loss of the transmission belts that connect me to writing and thinking.

Hitchens was wasting away. The part that struck me was when he said, "I feel my personality and identity dissolving as I contemplate dead hands and the loss of the transmission belts that connect me to writing and thinking."  That is what death is - the slipping away of personality and identity - everything dissolving away from its original intent. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about St. Athanasius from the 4th century and his work on The Incarnation of the Word of God. He says something similar when he links the concept of sin and its effects: 

For God had made man thus (that is, as an embodied spirit), and had willed that he should remain in incorruption. But men, having turned from the contemplation of God to evil of their own devising, had come inevitably under the law of death. Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they were in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely under its dominion. For the transgression of the commandment was making them turn back again according to their nature; and as they had at the beginning come into being out of non-existence, so were they now on the way to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again. The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.

Even though Hitchens was not one to believe in God, he was having the same experience that we all have - he was wasting away because of the toll that sin has taken on the human race. It causes us to disappear, to dissolve, to lose everything. Sin is the great solvent that sends us flying into bits and pieces all over the universe, alienated from God and ultimately from one another. Turning from God leads to death and death is manifested in non-existence, just as Athanasius said (I am speaking here of the affects of sin on humanity, not affirming annhilationism - we will all live forever somewhere).

But, the truth is, we are all subject to this. We are all bound over to unbelief, rebellion, and destined to come apart and dissolve, just like Hitchens. He is no different from us.  His life, as accomplished and well-intentioned as it might have been, demonstrates that good arguments, conversation, and evidence does little to bring a person from death to life.  We cannot will another to reappear and escape dissolution. Hitchens dissolving and disappearing is the fate that awaits all of us.  Without the grace of God - without God supernaturally saving and revealing Himself, we are all atheists fundamentally.

Many say they believe in God even though they do not know Him. But, if we do not know Him, what good is cognitive belief?  Even the demons believe and tremble and they are headed to eternal perdition.  Real life is not about what you think to be true - it is about Who you know. The tragedy of Christopher Hitchens is not that he did not believe in God. The tragedy is that he did not know God and find his life in Him. There are many who believe in God who, not knowing Him and finding their life in other, lesser things, will face the same fate as Hitchens when they too dissolve and continue, as Athanasius said, "on the way to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again."

Jesus Christ makes God known to us. That is what the Incarnation is all about - "The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made His dwelling among us."  That is what Christmas is all about. I wish that Christopher Hitchens would have believed in God. But, even more than that, I wish that he would have truly known God through Christ. Unless we truly come to know God and are reconciled to Him through Christ, none of us are really better off than the atheist who denies His existence altogether.

I do not condemn or judge Christopher Hitchens for his unbelief. God is his judge, not me, and it was God that he rejected. He was honest about it and did not continue with the pretense that many do of claiming to believe in God while living entirely for himself as a functional atheist.  As I think about his life and influence, it is important for me to realize that but for the grace of God, I would effectively be an atheist just like he was.

Christian Leaders Should Become Irrelevant

With all the talk of relevance and of trying to relate to people, be value added, and gain power and prestige in the world so it will listen to our message, the truth of the Incarnation shouts to us from Bethlehem long ago: "Power is made perfect in weakness."

Henri Nouwen in his beautiful little book, "In the Name of Jesus" says it well:

"Feeling irrelevant is a much more general experience than we might think when we look at our seemingly self-confident society. Medical technology and the tragic increase in abortions may radically diminish the number of mentally handicapped people in our society, but it is already becoming apparent that more and more people are suffering from profound moral and spiritual handicaps without having any idea of where to look for healing.

"It is here that the need for a new Christian leadership becomes clear. The leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there."

___________________

He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ~ Philippians 2:6-7
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Breaking In

Breaking In

The whole world lay still, silent, strapped down

Loaded beneath the weight of groaning and longing

For a new day, a breakthrough, a hope,

Some form of deliverance

A little happiness,

A moment of light,

Someone to heal the rift,

A breaking of the dawn.

 

Into this, came the most unexpected surprise.

Unheralded, overlooked, away from home,

A quiet young woman, confused but excited,

Frightened, yet hopeful.

Looking for her deliverance and the salvation of her people

From the chains of oppression and from their own sins.

 

Refugee stragglers, mocked, ridiculed, and talked about

Behind their backs and laughed out of the room.

Angels? The Messiah? “God” came upon her?

Mary was out of her mind. Everyone said so.

Joseph, distraught, confused, overwhelmed, but directed

By the Angel and welcomed Mary in – against all reason.

 

Into this scandal, with all the rules shattered,

God broke in.

The Word became Flesh and made His dwelling,

His abode, His habitat

Among us.

Us.

God came near.

Light broke into darkness and the darkness fled.

It rose up and battled the light, but the light overcame it.

Light won and now we can all see.

 

Chains were broken, hope replaced despair.

Only the poor could see – only those with kid eyes

Who were not burdened down by their own expectations and mental barriers,

The walls that seem to be erected as we try to control and figure out

How to make this life work and how to get God to work for us.

 

But, God came near by becoming very, very small and He shattered all our ideas.

He replaced our perceived notions and propositions with Himself.

Some ran to Him. Some ran away. Some tried to kill Him.

Some succeeded, for a moment.

But, Light and Love broke through anyway.

Death could not hold Him.

 

Victory swallowed up the grave.

All things were made new,

And are being made new.

Christ has broken in.

Life has broken in.

Salvation is appearing, love is redeeming,

And all things are being made new,

And are being made new,

And are being made new.

 

And Christmas keeps coming.