Taking the Time to Make a Difference

When I first heard the words of this song, performed by Harry Belafonte, I had no idea what it was all about. I am not sure I know today. It is obviously a song with British roots, sung by a singer with Caribbean connections, sold to a North American audience. A high school friend first introduced me to this Christmas music, so vastly different than Silent Night and Deck the Halls. The Harry Belafonte album, which included Mary’s Boy Child and other songs I had never heard before, was the first Christmas album I ever purchased.

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I suppose these Christmas song lyrics came to me in recent days as a result of the advertising pitch for this year, which has already risen to its peak in these uncertain economic times. All the leaves have not yet fallen from the trees in my neighborhood, but I have already seen “Winter Holiday” displays in magazines and hardware stores, offering me suggestions for the “gift-giving” season. A “Thanksgiving Day” greeting card came to our house the other day, thanking me for buying automobile and home-owner’s insurance. I appreciated the thought, but I wondered about what was happening to the day our pilgrim nation used to be thankful to God. I appreciate the gratitude of my insurance agent for my business, but I think we both ought to be thankful to the providential God who kept me from accidental injuries — and kept my agent’s company from having to pay for any medical expenses.

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It is amazing, puzzling, and somewhat disheartening for me, that our everyday life includes many experiences of different cultures while we seem to be neglecting some of our own foundational stories and songs and practices. We are growing in awareness of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, and of the celebration of Diwali, the Festival of Lights observed by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains. But, are we, I wonder, growing in awareness of the depth of our own Christian traditions and their Jewish sources? And are we becoming sufficiently aware of the Christian traditions within the varied Hispanic cultures we North Americans typically and uncertainly lump together? If there ever was a time to reflect on our traditions, that time is now.

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Take the time to reflect on the holidays and holy days observed in your family, and in the families into which you were born. Was it goose or duck or turkey or ham that graced your family table? Stille Nacht or calypso rhythms? Did you travel to grandma’s house, “across the river and into the trees?” Or does the family come to your home? Do Mary and Joseph process through the neighborhood and knock on your door seeking a place to give birth to the Christ Child? Do you know them as Maria and José? Maryam and Yusuf?

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Our church year includes the feast of Christ the King to cap the current year, and Advent to begin the next. We are beginning a new season of feast days in the domestic church, too. The birth of every child should help us recall the birth of the child Jesus, the one whose coming made possible our return to original grace. Take the time to make ready the way of the Lord into your home, and into your neighborhood. It is time to put a penny in the old man’s hat, to share the gifts we have received, the blessings of God, to continue the work of the one who made the ultimate difference.

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