During the Christmas season, I find myself often bearing a heavy heart. I suspect that I am not alone in feeling this way. Given the nature of world events, news outlets rarely report any heartening or uplifting news. I have tried not to watch the news on television, but my big fail is that I read too much of it on my iPad. Headlines are alarming and depressing; many of the full stories are more so. This morning’s menu was typical. The first was about Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter in the United Healthcare CEO assassination and those in our midst who shockingly applauded his heinous act. The next involved continued coverage of another school shooting, this one in Madison Wisconsin. and just days after the twelfth anniversary of Newtown. Also featured were multiple articles about Elon Musk, our country’s shadow president and the richest billionaire on the planet holding sway over President-elect Donald J. Trump and helping him lob a metaphorical grenade at the budget deal. So many people in this country rely on that budget deal. Thankfully, in the last hour, the bill passed, and a crisis was averted, at least until the next time politics and partisan economics uncaringly threaten people. I wish that I could say the same about violence in America. An additional headline dealt with road rage shootings. The numbers are doubling, especially in red states where laws allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit. Hey, if you have a gun in the car, why not use it? The statistics tell us this harsh truth: “Angry drivers shot someone in traffic at least once every eighteen hours in 2023.” (Roque Planes, December 18, 2024). Imagine that!
Ironically, Jen Psaki, of MSNBC, used a three-word admonition in reference to what the United States can expect for 2025 in too many areas of their lives. “Buckle Up, everyone!”
Last but not finally, I am having trouble getting my mind to accept reports from France about the Gisele Pelicot “drugging-and rape” trial. The nation has been riveted by the trial and its horrific testimony. Alarms have sounded about the “blight of rape culture.” The verdict is in- guilty! A jury convicted fifty-one men, one of whom was her husband. Fifty-one! A blight of rape culture!
I so admire Nicholas Kristof, the opinion writer for the New York Times, for his courage and commitment to the truth, especially on the issues of misogyny and sexual assault and abuse. In reading this morning’s article titled, The Case for Throwing Stones From Glass Houses, my heart feels an unbearable heaviness. Kristof makes this appeal:
Even at a time when Americans are deeply divided, we should be able to work together to end impunity for brutality toward women and girls.
He has written articles before like today’s when reporting on what he has witnessed first-hand, namely, a raw and repugnant brutality toward women and girls across the globe. Consider, if you will, the painful poignancy of these titles.
When Gunmen Impose a Policy of Rape (September 2024)
Don’t Kill My Child, Kill Me Instead. (September 2024)
How to Help Girls Enduring the Unendurable (January 2023)
I mention these articles because the Christmas story centers on a young peasant girl, no doubt shunned for her pregnancy but venerated for her faithfulness. Life was hard, made so by political oppression enforced by military might, endemic misogyny, wealth inequality and rigid religious traditions. Someone may have said to Mary: “Buckle Up, girl!” She did, and as a result, good news was proclaimed to all who would listen and believe on that first Christmas. She became the instrument of fulfillment for God’s promise. God sent ‘Good News’ out into a starry, silent night to a world weighed down by all the bad and sad news about humanity’s failures!
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,[a] the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11, (NRSVUE)
And that news has changed everything!
Because of all the unwelcome and shocking news, I am keen every year to embrace those activities that bring alive the shining truth of the Christmas story. My mobile phone’s default setting is Google, and Google is more than happy to dispense daily all kinds of news, good, bad, and, just for me. It sends me news about all the most popular movies, hallmark and otherwise, television series, current events, financial advice, celebrity gossip and the latest breaking news in sports. I try to follow only those offerings that lift the spirit. Recently, it recommended a movie called Journey to Bethlehem, (Tomatoes 74%; Popcornmeter 93%) and described it as a live action Christmas musical adventure, featuring an enchanting young woman with a lovely voice but carrying an unimaginable responsibility and a handsome, thoughtful young man whose arranged betrothal put him in a position of being torn between love and honor. I took the bait, and the movie proved itself as lighthearted and musically engaging. It lifted my spirit to a place where I could hear and understand the good news in a fresh and fun way. Mary (Fiona Paloma) and Joseph (Milo Manheim) became very real to me. They were an adorable couple, and the songs they sang together and apart were touching and offered an opportunity to connect to them and their ancient story. I joined them in their courtship, sharing their disappointment, disillusionment, and doubt, their hope, and the birth of their resolve to “make this work” and become a ‘we’ to meet the expectations God had of them. Most moving of all is Mary’s song, sung during her journey to the home of Elizabeth and Simeon in Hebron, Mother to a Savior and King. Her journey through the rough and arid terrain of Judah is not only physical but more importantly, makes its way through relational dynamics and religious traditions. In truth, the journey is not her’s alone but ours as well. She is adamant that we accompany her, and along the path, own our part of the sacred story, but not passively. She requires that, like her and Joseph, we long with equal passion to discover within ourselves God’s response to the universal pleading and prayerful lyric:
You said. ‘Do not fear.’
So Lord if you are here
Help me have the faith you have in me
Give me eyes to see
Just how I can be
Mother to a Savior
When I need saving.
The headlines that expose the abusive and scarry realities of life and how flawed human beings create them weigh heavily upon our hearts. They are always too ugly and deplorable for us to bear without supplication. And our ancient plea is for Good News, and no news is better than Christ is born, our Immanuel, God with us. In Him, we know that God is here, helping us to have the same faith God has in us. God gives us ‘eyes to see just how we can be’ when we seek Him out and believe in and follow Him.
Such good news for troubled times and hurting hearts!