A Christmas Peace to Peace on Earth.

Continuing on Sarge's theme from the past few days here.  He's been sharing some excellent carols, and I thought I'd do the same.  A friend shared this one with me and while I didn't recognize the video at first, never really knowing who the artist was,, I realized it contains one of my favorite songs of the season.    

The video seems to combine two stories from The Great War.  I'm nowhere near the historian that my co-bloggers are, but to this novice, it overlays the Christmas truce of 1914 with the tragic results of the battles, and the use of Chlorine Gas, in the Flanders area of Belgium in 1915.  The tragic death there inspired the John McCrae poem- In Flanders Field.  That poem has been posted here once or twice on Veterans day so I won't put it up myself, mainly because this is about the Christmas season, vice Armistice Day.  Think more poinsettias vice poppies, but I digress.  Either way, it reminds me of a sentiment I saw recently, that thanks to their Christmases back then, we're able to have our Christmas today.  I'm not exactly sure where the footage is from.  Probably some movie depicting the truce.  Anyone recognize it? 

The family manger scene

The stories blend together well though because of McCrae's apparent preoccupation with death.  Ok, that sentence sounds horrible, but death is just the crossover point from life's struggles to the peace and salvation that follows.  War is death, yet at Christmas, we are given the gift of eternal life through the birth of Jesus Christ.  I need to focus on this right now as there's plenty of bad news that feels like it's drowning out the Good News.

That's not easy to do, with a 24 hour news cycle that profits from hate, division, death, and tragedy. Ooh, sorry, more darkness. And we have politicians that leverage all of that for votes and power.  Ugh, even more darkness- don't worry, I'm done.  So while it's Christmas (and the rest of the year if possible), we should try to turn down all of that and focus on all the goodness in the world, on the saving grace that came to us on that very special birthday the other day.  There are plenty of good news stories out there, of heroes, of good Samaritans, of healing graces, and joyful happenings, but we just need to look for them.  Maybe that's a resolution we could strive for- to seek out more goodness, more of the happy stories.  For all its negatives, social media can actually be a good place to see some of that joy.  And a ton of cat videos.

 A lot of the world celebrates Christmas, even if they don't believe in Christ.  It's a fun and joyous season, even if it is far too commercial.  But what about the true reason for the season?  I think it's actually very universal.  If we can focus on the lessons Jesus taught, and the tenants of Christianity, those 10 commandments and such, and set aside the differences in how we worship, the sins and failings of church leaders, we'd all be better off.

In a movie from a few years back called Gifted, there was a scene I liked.  The biological father of a brilliantly gifted girl was striving for custody of her and they had an exchange about Jesus.

Mary Adler : What about Jesus?
Frank Adler : Love that guy. Do what he says.
Mary Adler : But, is he God?
Frank Adler : I don't know. I have an opinion. But that's my opinion and I could be wrong. So why would I screw up yours? Use your head. But don't be afraid to believe in things either.             Source

"Love that guy.  Do what he says."  I love that line.  Even if you don't believe in Jesus as our savior, he gave us some amazing lessons.  And if we follow them, the world really would be a better place.  And maybe we could even bring about something that would be a gift for all of us:

Source

 One final* Christmas song that I love.  And Faith Hill isn't hard to look at either.

  

Merry Christmas from me and my wife, and a joyous, peaceful and less divisive New Year to all the staff and readers here at The Chant.

* If one's not enough, here's another I love.