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{"id":12268,"date":"2018-12-24T14:35:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T20:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=12268"},"modified":"2018-12-24T14:35:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T20:35:31","slug":"time-for-a-christmas-truce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/12\/time-for-a-christmas-truce.html","title":{"rendered":"Time for a Christmas Truce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the True Meaning of Christmas?<\/p>\n

Seems like, lately, it\u2019s about bickering about said True Meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas is about Peace on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Jesus was poor, so it\u2019s about caring for the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it takes place at the winter solstice, so it\u2019s about finding hope in the midst of darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, there was no room for Jesus in the inn, so we should see the innkeeper as a bad example and focus on welcoming strangers and seeking justice for refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, these are all secular concerns and Christmas isn\u2019t a secular holiday; it is about the great Christian mystery of the Incarnation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Folks, last night, we watched Joyeux Noel<\/a> (Merry Christmas) as a family.\u00a0 It tells the story of the Christmas truce<\/a> on the Western Front in 1914, in which soldiers in the trenches informally laid down arms, sang carols together, buried the dead together and joined together in celebration, however small.\u00a0 It\u2019s somewhat exaggerated, both in terms of the extent of the soldiers\u2019 actions (Wikipedia reports that informal soccer games occurred but not each side taking cover in the other\u2019s trenches\u00a0to avoid artillery bombardments) and the reaction of the generals (all such German troops were not shipped to the Eastern Front, and the peacemaking Scottish chaplain being replaced by a war-thundering bishop is clearly there for narrative purposes) but the kernel of the story is true, and can be read about in such histories as Silent Night<\/em><\/a> by Stanley Weintraub.<\/p>\n

And, regardless of the theological importance of the birth of Christ, it is apparent in this portrayal that what Christmas meant to these soldiers was celebration\u00a0and the opportunity to find joy in their lives, even if in other respects they were quite joyless.\u00a0 There is a human need to find moments of celebration and joy, even for those for whom the original cause of the celebration has been lost.\u00a0 We can\u2019t stay in a mode of perpetual crusading, even if we think it\u2019s for a noble cause.<\/p>\n

So take a break from your righteous anger.\u00a0 Take a break from fuming about Trump, or fuming about antifa, or whoever it is that you\u2019re angry about.\u00a0 Stay off twitter if the Orange Man\u2019s tweets get your blood boiling.\u00a0\u00a0Call a truce, even if it\u2019s just in your mind.<\/p>\n

And Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Christmas_Truce_4.jpg; UnknownUnknown author [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"