Advent Visions

December 7:   Infamy

This is the date which President Franklin Roosevelt said "would live in infamy."  On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, pulling the United States into World War II.  The war had already been going on for over two years, with Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Battle of Britain already over.    The U.S.A. was still at peace, getting ready to celebrate another Christmas, when the shocking attack in Honolulu took place.

Today we remember the lives lost 77 years ago as we go about our preparation for another Christmas.   And we recall the devastating toll which wars have taken on this little planet, where we still yearn for nations and peoples to live in peace.    Though circumstances have roused nations and people to take action against evil of many kinds, we must acknowledge the sadness of lives lost--young men and women who might have become scientists and doctors, teachers and musicians, Presidents and pastors.   And we dream of the day when we "ain't gonna study war no more," as the old Gospel hymn says.

But Christmas always comes, with its hope of "peace on earth, good will toward all," in the midst of struggle and pain, darkness and despair.   The ancient story we tell every year reminds us that the Holy Child was born in a humble stable, poor and helpless.   It must be so, for it is that broken world, where we bear the wounds of sorrow and fear, that needs a Holy Child most of all.

ANOTHER BIRTH

We mark the battles, the deaths,
the costly victories, the martyrs' graves:
the autographs of our human history
on this sweet, sacred planet.
Let it be
that the Holy One
will find a way to our Bethlehem
once more,
to the places we have forgotten
and the ones we remember too well.
Let it be
that there will be
another birth in our night,
a prince of peace.