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| An unusually nice piece of road |
There’s something about riding in an uncomfortable taxi bus
that puts me in a poetic mood. I think it makes me more aware of what’s around
me: from the body odor wafting from all the people around me, to the cool
breeze coming from the window, the natural beauty surrounding me, the sheer
drop-offs next to disintegrating roads… and then I put in ear buds and suddenly
I’m in a movie with an awesome Christmas soundtrack.
Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
There’s oppression here, so much of it. The rich get favor
from the courts and the poor are left to suffer. Corruption abounds and, as
much as people are tired of it (see a popular local song titled “We’re Tired”),
they also are resigned to it, because putting down one corrupt person inevitably
means another rises up.
O Holy Night makes me think of the longing of the world for
redemption, for transformation, for change that can only begin with the heart.
I think, being here I see a far greater distinction between
holiday songs and Christmas songs. Christmas songs sing of the Savior and His
birth, the world-shaking, ground-breaking wonder of Christ in the manger. They’re just as true here on Clove Island as they are in North America. Holiday
songs I can only sing ironically (oh yes, let it snow! Let it snow!), but the
story of Christmas holds as much or more relevance here as it ever has anywhere
else. This season, as I sweat while putting up Christmas lights and drink
ice-cold chocolate milk, I see the importance of the “true Christmas spirit.”
So, as you sing the well-known songs and I sing them too,
let’s pray for the world and seek to see His Kingdom come, His will be done on
earth as it is in Heaven.
