Digressions of a Dilettante

Digressions of a Dilettante
Vignettes of Inanity by Bud Hearn

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

"Good Tidings of Comfort and Joy"

A Christmas Trilogy, Part III

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isaiah 9:2


It was mostly quiet around the house Tuesday. The hectic activity was winding down. The onslaught of catalogues had ceased. Print had morphed into digital solicitations. The phone was silent. Christmas was nigh.

The Blackberry on the table vibrated. The Smithfield Ham Co. announced, “Last Chance to get your smoked pig.” Following closely, offering free delivery for print cartridges, was the Hewlett-Packard supplication, “Act Today!” The delete button responded.

Through the window sunbeams cast a sunset refraction on a bloated stack of bills that occupied a disproportionate portion of the desk. I wondered about the good tidings they proclaimed. I already knew. I imagined them spontaneously bursting into flames. I thought, “Now, that’d be real comfort and joy.” Sadly they reappeared, evidences of a shopper out of control.

I tried to flesh out this concept of “good tidings of comfort and joy,” how it might appear in reality. I wondered. Star-gazing shepherds once wondered, too. But I got nowhere. The subconscious resurrected a T. S. Eliot poem, “The Hollow Men.” He mused, “Between the Idea and the Reality falls the Shadow.” I thought of the Twilight Zone. Weird.

With three days until the Idea becomes this year’s Reality, many have fallen into the shadow of manic last-minute shoppers, that frantic genre who have succumbed to the eleventh-hour urgency to spend themselves into more poverty. Is this the essence of Christmas?

At lunch I overheard a husband tell his wife, “OK, here’s my last $30…see how far it’ll take us.” Grabbing the money from his hands, she leapt from the table, exclaiming, “I’ll be at Wal-Mart.” He looked nauseous and stared at his uneaten chicken. Was he thinking “good tidings of comfort and joy?” I don’t think so.

In our haste, the essence of Christmas has become vague. Bound by tradition, consumed by commercialism, we rush about in the shadow of preparation. We ignore the nobler aspects of the Christmas season which “good tidings of comfort and joy” proclaim. Do we even believe this concept?

I tried, but the secret of this Biblical concept of comfort and joy eluded me, falling into multiple shadows within the Shadow. It was a ghost I couldn’t grasp. I thought long and hard. Finally I let go, thinking, “It’ll just have to find me!”

This year we decided to show a little constraint and purchased a 5 foot Christmas tree. We sat it atop a long, tall table. It appeared to be very tall, but in reality it was small. It was much easier to handle than the 14 foot trees we had in the past, and a pleasure to decorate…ah, comfort and joy. Being small, lighting it was easy, no spousal disagreements…more comfort and joy. It appeared as one single lighted evergreen, glowing resplendently in the darkness. Our best tree yet, we agreed…comfort and joy.

Today I crawled out of bed at 5:00 AM. There are few distractions in the strong, silent hours of the early morning. Even the dogs remained asleep. With a cup of coffee, I sat surrounded by total darkness, except for the lighted Christmas tree. Thoughts of thanksgiving kept circulating in my mind, remembrances of friends, of family Christmases, blessings of life, of comfort and joy. Wait…wasn’t that what I had been searching for? It had found me!

The essence of Christmas has many points of light. When frenetic activity ceases, then we can focus on the points of light that best represent the essence of Christmas to us personally. Sitting in the comfort of home the Essence became less the Shadow and more the Reality. The “bones” of the concept of comfort and joy took on flesh and came to life.

On Friday, as Christmas morning dawns upon us, the Idea will again become Reality, and the Shadow will fade into the Light of a new day. But the Christmas Reality is just the birth of another Idea, awaiting its own Reality. The miracle of Scripture, “…and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” will again live.

Today, as the sunrise drove back the darkness, the house became alive again. I remembered the verse, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Comfort and joy? Ours for the receiving! Perhaps it’s fitting that today we join with the “merry gentlemen of yore” as they sang, “…O, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O, tidings of comfort and joy.”

Merry Christmas to you all.

Bud Hearn
December 23, 2009

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