Bishop Baxter Writes...
Bishop Baxter Writes...Do You Hear What I Hear?
A Sermon by The Right Rev. Nathan D. Baxter
Bishop, Diocese of Central Pennsylvania
At St. Stephen's Cathedral Church
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, December 24, 2010
Luke 2:17b - 20
17b “[The shepherds] made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and saw, as it had been told them.” [Luke 2]
If anyone needed good news, it would be shepherds. They were the unskilled, migrant working class of the time. Shepherds were not the group romanticized in the Psalms and age of King David. By the 1st centuries they were what Jesus referred to as “hirelings”. Shepherds were the persons who took the jobs nobody else wanted: low paid, with very poor working conditions---living in the outdoors. They had no voice or rights in the court system, almost an invisible people. Yet, as scripture often shows, God picked those whose life was bleak to send a message of hope to the world.
As hymnist Christiana Rossetti portrayed in her hymn:
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
But somehow through the dread of life they saw and heard the messengers of God, pointing them to hope---hope in the form of a child. That God could break through the despair, fear, hopelessness, the humdrum of life was itself a miracle. That they decided to risk pursuing the message of hope was a further miracle; for if they were found to have abandoned their duties as shepherds there was no legal or social protection for them. If not imprisoned, who would hire them? But they went to Bethlehem, wandering in the bleak mid-winter night to find a needle in a hay stack.
Of course the greatest miracle is that they found the child…and believing, rejoiced and continued to praise God and witness, even as they returned to their duties. Were they any richer? Had the economy changed? Had their social status changed? Had Rome relinquished occupation of Palestine?
Yet, they could not get out of their heads the Angels’ message about a baby; and then the image of seeing the baby, its cry, and its cooing; the overwhelming miracle of new life. As Luke records: “they returned to their duties rejoicing and praising God.” And to the curious souls encountered along the way questioning their strangely animated optimism, their inspired joy, I’m sure they would say, But, “do you see what I see?”, and “do you hear what I hear?”…A child, a child! Yes, all because of a child.
And God still sends messages of hope to those who would open themselves to receive it.
Some of us might remember the Fall of 1962. As the Christmas season was starting to stir, in store commercials and street light decorations, we were also experiencing the most frightening moments in military modern history. It was the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A Russian Nuclear build up was discovered on the island nation of Cuba. While the world held its breath, Russia and America - the two great nuclear powers of the world - stood defiantly, face to face. Each with deadly missiles aimed for direct hits, their nuclear bases around world on highest alert. We were one anxious finger away, just one nervous twitch, from a nuclear holocaust.
Soviet Chief General, Anatoly Gribkov said: "Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."
It seemed we were at the doorway to Armageddon. And everyone felt as vulnerable as shepherds trying to go on with life, "in a cold bleak winter" of pending doom.
Noel Regney, a song writer, was walking a Manhattan street on a cold and windy night, a mass of humanity around him. Like he, they were moving aimlessly among news stands filled with anxious headlines; and looking up one could see neon-lighted news streams running long the walls of great building scraping the sky.
Regney later said that despite his depressed state, he began noticing babies being pushed in strollers…their cries, their fragility, and their infant life. Then from seemingly nowhere came a surge of hope within him. And just as suddenly, the first words of his great Christmas carol came to him. It was as though something within was speaking to the masses of people around him: “DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?” “PRAY FOR PEACE, PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!” How could he help others to see and hear the nascent hope being born inexplicably in his heart?
He went home and, with his wife and music partner Carol Shayne Baker, wrote their Christmas Carol of hope, a plea for peace. Shades of the Shepherds inspired miracle of hope can be heard. Clearly it spoke to the human spirit, almost a ½ million copies were sold upon release; and many millions in the years since.
And they wrote:
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
"Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite."
Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
"Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea."
Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
"Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold--
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold."
Said the king to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light."
The Kings of Russia and America, Khrushchev and Kennedy, began to see and hear the hope the masses proclaimed. The doom was averted just before Thanksgiving.
While not of the magnitude of the Cuban Missile Crisis we, at this Christmastime, are in a period of great anxiety around the World, especially at home. The Economic Crisis has taken away a sense of security. Many, perhaps some here tonight, may be unemployed or are unsure if they will have a job in the New Year. Many are without health care and unsure if they will be able to retire.
As the recent elections show, we are fearful and angry. We see only darkness, the bleak mid-winter, and no certain way out of the darkness. The divide between the haves and have-nots is deeper than in any time in recent memory. Violence at home and war abroad is robbing us of our young. Many are anxious that the face of America is changing, wondering what our culture may look like in another generation. If America looks different will its soul be different?
But the Christmas story is still speaking to us “With a voice as big as the sea”; Yes, with a voice as big as the sea. The question is, Do we hear it, Do we see it? This weekend we will be particularly mindful of children at our feet, around us at tree and table. Our streets and television programs will be filled with children. What do we see? What do we hear? If we only think of their material happiness we will not hear the message of hope. But, if we think about their soul, a chance for a better tomorrow, then we may just see the light of hope God has entrusted to us.
Did you ever wonder why God sent the Savior of the world as a child, a helpless infant? I believe that one reason is God wanted us to understand that like a baby, love must be protected, nurtured and disciplined. Like a child, when love is nurtured and cared for it grows in love and produces peaceable gifts.
Children are not born with racial prejudice, cynicism about community, or a disinterest in the needs of others. They learn it from us, intentionally or passively. Often we teach them prejudices to protect them, so that they will be able to protect the traditions and hard earned privileges we will bequeath to them. But they are not born with anything but hope, a capacity for love, and the strength to be fully human in a changing world. And what about hope for others, children not our own?
I am very distressed this Christmas Eve about the defeat in congress of the DREAM Act. First introduced in the United States August 1, 2001, this bill would provide certain illegal and deportable alien youth the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency as American citizens if they honorably complete military enlistment or at least a two year college education at an accredited institution of higher learning.
* Have proof of having arrived in the United States before age 16.
* Have proof of residence in the United States for at least five consecutive years since their date of arrival….
* Have graduated from an American high school, obtained a GED, or have been admitted to an institution of higher education.
* Be of "good moral character"
Now if you asked your child if this was a good way of giving opportunity to illegal dependent children …what do you think they would say? You think they would say, “Don’t reward law-breakers”; or “we don’t want foreigners over-running our country”? Or “Send them home and then if they can come back the ‘right way’ we will talk about it?” What do you think your 5 year old would say? What would your 15 year old say? What would your College Student say? I think we will have to teach our children to think this way.
In the next hundred years this nation and our communities will not be better places because of what color is in the majority, or who can be legally married to whom, or how much money our descendants have in the bank or stocks, or what political rhetoric is added to the cacophony. If this nation, yes, this world is a better place it will be because of the shape of the soul of children…souls shaped by hope, courage, respect for others. It will be a better place because you and I have a difference in the lives of our children and the lives of our children not our own. Children, the tender embodiment of love, and the greatest spiritual reason we have to hope. We must decide what we will do with this spiritual gift---this future of hope God has given us.
Tonight I truly believe the great quote by Norman Vincent Peale: "…that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world."
Do you see what I see? Do You Hear What I Hear? Amen.
