How can we celebrate the joys of Christmas in the midst of such a broken world?

This week leading up to Christmas has been utterly incongruous. Celebrations have been marred by news of the atrocious terror attack in Berlin, when a lorry was driven into crowds at a Christmas market in a repeat of the Bastille Day attack in Nice, this time killing 12 and injuring 48. Meanwhile, decorations and festivities have felt almost inappropriate as tens of thousands are being evacuated from Aleppo.

For those of us who celebrate Christmas, particularly with a desire to rejoice in the birth of the Son of God, how do we do so in view of a shaking, hurting world? Should we be indulging whilst others are suffering?

Rejoicing Amidst Suffering

I was led today to research some of the carols we sing at Christmastime. I have duly discovered that, like most great hymns, many of these were written by men and women of faith in challenging circumstances. They were inspired in the midst of struggle and strife to pen words about the hope offered to us by Jesus our Lord.

Refugees from Aleppo arrive at a camp near Idlib, Syria. AP/Press Association Images.

As such, these carols that we all know so well are far more than profound words set to beautiful music, to be sung for the sake of tradition. They have stories, emerging from turmoil and trial and speaking back to it. They are enduring reminders of the hope of the Gospel - particularly of its proclamation of life and light in the face of violence, fear and darkness.

Some Examples: Songs Born of Trial¹

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was penned during the American Civil War by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Henry's son was a lieutenant in the Unionist army who had been severely wounded fighting in Virginia. Longfellow wrote the words as a poem on Christmas Day, 1863, emphasising the Gospel's promise of hope for peace amidst the trials of war.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.'

Also during the American Civil War, O Little Town of Bethlehem was written by American bishop Phillips Brooks in Massachussetts. Brooks wrote the carol after a visit to the Holy Land in 1865, where he found such peace compared to the horrors of war back home that he was deeply moved.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

A few years earlier, in 1849, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear was penned – also in Massachusetts, this time by preacher Edmund Sears. Sears was a burnt-out pastor who, at the time, was extremely depressed about the state of the world, with news of revolution in Europe and recent war on his home territory between the US and Mexico.

And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing.

Across the pond, As with Gladness Men of Old came through English insurance broker William Chatterton Dix in 1859. During his 20s Dix was struck with ill-health and depression – and wrote many of his best-loved hymns during this time.

Holy Jesus, every day, keep us in the narrow way;
And when earthly things are past, bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide, where no clouds Thy glory hide.

More than a century earlier, Joy to the World was written (1719) by English pastor and prolific hymn-writer Isaac Watts. Watts came from a non-conformist family used to being chastised for their beliefs. Joy to the World is based on the second half of Psalm 98, and was actually written to glorify Jesus' Second Coming, rather than to celebrate his first! Its lesser-sung third verse states:

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found...

Perhaps most pertinent to the times in which we now live is Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, for which we have Charles Wesley to thank. Wesley, who also gave us Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, wrote Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus in 1744 after meditating on Haggai 2:7 and being particularly moved by the plight of orphans in his area. As with Joy to the World, this carol was intended to help people use Christmas to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus, as well as to commemorate the First.

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

A Cloud of Witnesses

So, it seems that there is not necessarily such a stark gap between our Christmas celebrations and this world of strife after all.

Those who have gone before us, who form part of the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1), found a way to rejoice in the midst of difficulty. Their joy was not unthinking, selfish or insensitive – in fact, it was the more profound and laudable because they understood the glorious truth of Emmanuel, God with us, meeting and rescuing us in our brokenness, bringing light to our darkness.

The carols we sing at Christmas have stories - many emerged from turmoil and trial and speak back to it even today.

A Light Has Dawned

The tragedy that has unfolded through the history of humankind is this: we have been given a choice between light and darkness - but all too often we choose the darkness (as the terrible destruction of life in Berlin this week demonstrates vividly).

John's account of the birth of Jesus, so often read at Christmastime, states "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:5).

Towards the end of his life, Moses said to the people of Israel "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live!" (Deut 30:19). The festival of Christmas once again presents us with that same choice. Today, in the face of such reckless and evil destruction, our loving Father God urges us to choose life.

If we choose life, the Lord Jesus, who is the Light of the World, can dwell in us, transform us and shine out through us to others. The trials of this world, though grievous, will not overcome us but will instead be turned for good by the loving hand of the Lord.

Back to Christmas

Let us then respond to our first question – how can we celebrate this Christmas whilst others are suffering? Well, if we choose life and pursue it, selfish indulgence with flagrant disregard for the plight of others simply won't be a part of our lives. Instead, we will find ourselves experiencing a deeper kind of rejoicing – a thoughtful, loving and faithful jubilation that is not blind to suffering (indeed, quite the opposite), but is fixed first upon hope – in Jesus' death, resurrection and soon return – as the true and only solution to all the world's evils.

If we choose life, it may well be (and it is my hope) that this century will yet see its Wesleys and its Watts, its Whitefields and its Spurgeons, using Christmas to rejoice, to draw near God and to bring the light of life to millions. Who knows – the era of inspired carol-writing may not yet be over!

References

1 Carol information gleaned largely from Wikipedia, from which individual referencing information can be obtained. Also recommended is Christmas Carols by Andrew Gant (2014, Profile Books), a secular book which covers the historical origins of a broad selection of Christian and non-Christian Christmas songs.