Hark is a word we
sometimes find in hymns and this time of year it usually shows up in a
pre-Christmas rendering of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” played as seasonal
background music in stores and the like. Hark or to harken means to listen,
hear, attend, heed or mind. It commands attention to something—like angels or a
warning of danger. It’s a good word to use in Advent because it involves using
yet another sense to capture what this season is about. We smell the evergreens
and the cookies baking, taste the goodies offered in hospitality, see the
candles and colors that mark the season and put the barrenness outside aside
for the moment, and we feel the shapes and textures of the figures we set up in
the crèche. “Hark!” brings our ears into the season. Do you hear the ringing of
the bells at the red kettles? Is it a reminder that others are not so fortunate
as we are and does it encourage us to drop in some coins or perhaps a few bills
to help others? Do we listen to the sounds of children’s tantrums in the store
when told they cannot have another toy until Santa comes, or can we stretch a
bit further and hear the pitiful wails of a child who hasn’t had enough to eat?
We hear charitable appeals quite often during the holidays, but do we hear what
is behind those appeals? Do we pay attention to the message? Maybe we need to
say “Hark!” a few times to remind us that part of our job as Christians
celebrating Advent is to bring hope to others as the message of the coming
Christ child brings hope to us.
At this time of year we seem to see more haloes than usual. Christmas cards show
Mary, Joseph and the baby, all sporting haloes around their heads. Gabriel
often is shown with one as he announces God’s message to Mary. Angels wear them
to show their holy state and images of saints wear them for the same reason.
And then there are invisible haloes, worn by some we might never expect. Have
you ever heard someone say of someone else, “Oh, he/she is a saint”? Why do
they say that? Is the person particularly holy? Do they pray a lot, carry a
Bible with them everywhere and are seen reading it? What about those who
quietly go about doing the work of the kingdom that Jesus came to teach us
about? They might not say a word or even look particularly saintly, but I know
more than a few people who I think qualify for a halo just because of who they
are and what they contribute to this world. They don’t make big gifts or grants
to charities although they support them. They don’t separate themselves from
the world and live as homeless people or even cloistered religious people. They
simply see needs in the world and work to fill those needs without fanfare or
even thought of recognition or effusive thanks. It’s the invisible haloes that
make Advent a special season, and those haloes don’t stop shining when
Christmas Day arrives. Haloes are all-season apparel for those who work to see
Jesus in the hungry, the sick, the lonely and the dying.
Herod is a name we
hear in association with the Christmas story. Actually, the name Herod was a
family one shared by several generations of rulers of Judea. The Herod of whom
Matthew and Luke spoke was the father, Herod the Great as he was called, who
ruled from 37-4 BCE and who was every bit as mean and nasty as he was portrayed
and even worse. To give him a bit of credit, he was a great builder, including
several fortresses including Heriodium and Masada, a new aqueduct for
Jerusalem, the Antonia fortress which protected the palace and remodeled and
expanded the temple. On the bad side, though, his paranoia grew to the point
where he suspected everyone, including his beloved wife and several of their
children. While there is no archaeological evidence of the Slaughter of the
Innocents, as we call the episode that sent Mary, Joseph and Jesus to Egypt,
anyone disordered enough to murder his family would certainly react to the
story that a baby had been born who would become king.
There’s an old saying that goes, “Home is where you go that
they have to take you in,” but then, there’s another that reads, “Home is where
the heart is.” During the holidays, the second seems much more appropriate. In
movies, long-lost people show up at the door this time of year and usually are
welcomed in almost as if they hadn’t been away. Home is where a lot of people
want to be this time of year, with family and dear friends, laughing, giving
and receiving gifts, sharing great meals and even going to church together.
Some, though, are homesick for a place they’ve never been but hope to go
someday. For them, home is not just heaven but in heaven.
Imagine it. Knocking the door and having God open it with
arms open wide. Now that would be a heavenly home for the holidays, wouldn’t
it?
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