On December 6, the music department of the University of Kansas presented the annual Vespers concert. Some people in the audience were disappointed and angered by projected images depicting figures who were assassinated and scenes of the past, particularly from the 1960's. One person wrote a letter to the Lawrence Journal World complaining that Vespers "used to be a fun and uplifting beginning to the Christmas season.
This year, someone felt the need to turn it into a political statement,
which was in extremely poor taste."
I sort of understand her reaction, but it caused me to think about what a "fun and uplifting beginning to the Christmas season" we've been having during Advent: warnings from Jesus about the end times, a call to repentance by John the Baptizer, Zephaniah's message about restoration of those who are victims of oppression, and, finally, next Sunday, Mary's Song, with its images of scattering the proud, casting down the mighty, and sending the rich away empty-handed. Merry Christmas, indeed!
If the lady was "disappointed and angry" about the KU Vespers, I wonder how she feels about Advent?
Of course the message of Advent and Christmas is one of hope, light, joy, love, and peace. But all of that comes with a price. It is quite possibly the most revolutionary political message of history. I'm not sure the KU music department, with all due respect, could possibly cast a more political statement regarding Christ's birth than that which is found within the pages of the Holy Bible.
The late Roman Catholic activist Dorothy Day wrote the following message regarding the revolutionary and ever-contemporary reality of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God:
There is no use in saying that we've been born 2,000 years too late to welcome Christ. On the contrary, it is with the voices of our contemporaries that he speaks. With the eyes of store clerks and children, he looks at us. With the hands of slum dwellers and suburban housewives, he reaches out. He walks with the feet of the soldier and the tramp. With the heart of all in need, he longs for us to shelter him. And, the giving of shelter or food or welcome to anyone who asks or needs it, is giving to Christ and making room for his holiness to dwell within.
Have you seen any homeless, hungry people lately? Is there plenty of emergency shelter from the cold for people who are living on the street, or is there "no room at the inn?" Do all the children have warm clothes and plenty to eat? Are there political entities that are making matters worse instead of better for the most marginalized and vulnerable of our neighbors? If we make it harder on them, will they just go away?
According to the Herald Angel, the message of Christmas is supposed to be good news for "all the people." The way I read it, God's gracious intention is to bring about universal liberation, spiritual, emotional, and physical, and God's Church is the primary instrument of that liberation. Sometimes that means we have to use our material resources and at other times it means we have to speak a prophetic word.
Come, Lord Jesus! Liberate the liberators! Be born anew in us so that we can make your good news an incarnate reality for others – not just at Christmas, but every day.