Tag Archives: Christmas

On the Reason for Curmudgeonness

[Originally posted on Lutheran Logomaniac]

Curmudgeon

I often wonder why I get so, uh, curmudgeonly during Christmas time. It is one of the two highest feast days of the Christian Church. The music and Scripture readings for the season are sublime. In every measurable way, it is a time of great joy and happiness. Family gather together. There is festiveness in the air. All in all, it is a good time.

But then I remember.

Nadia. Emmanuel. Mom. The many people whom I have buried over the years who are no longer with their families. The families who now are at a loss of what to do because of this emptiness.

To quote the hymn, “In the midst of earthly life, death has us surrounded.” Or to quote St. Paul, “the wages of sin is death.” Death has a way of messing up and just bringing down everything around us. Some years or season are greater reminders than this of others, but the sad reality is always there, always present, always trying so very hard to draw us into the pit of self-pity and despair.

That is why I get curmudgeonly.

But that is also why I don’t stay curmudgeonly.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, to defeat death by taking it into Himself, and to wipe away the tears of grief which wet our faces year after year.

One hymn, perhaps more than any other for me, encapsulates this reality. I hope it brings you joy this season.

Oh, rejoice, ye Christians, loudly,
For your joy hath now begun;
Wondrous things our God hath done.
Tell abroad His goodness proudly,
Who our race hath honored thus
That He deigns to dwell with us.

Refrain

Joy, O joy, beyond all gladness,
Christ hath done away with sadness!
Hence, all sorrow and repining,
For the Son of Grace is shining!

See, my soul, thy Savior chooses
Weakness here and poverty,
In such love He comes to thee
Nor the hardest couch refuses;
All He suffers for thy good,
To redeem thee by His blood.

Refrain

Lord, how shall I thank Thee rightly?
I acknowledge that from Thee
Every blessing flows to me..
Let me not forget it lightly
But to Thee through all things cleave
So shall heart and mind receive:

Refrain

Jesus, guard and guide Thy members,
Fill Thy brethren with Thy grace,
Hear their prayers in every place.
Quicken now life’s faintest embers,
Grant all Christians, far and near,
Holy peace, a glad new Year!

Refrain

God’s richest peace to you this season. Merry Christmas in Jesus’ Name.

Pastor Todd Peperkorn

Why be sad?

Rev. Greg Alms over at Incarnatus Est has a thought provoking post on the English carol, On Christmas Night:  It’s Here

Why should men on earth be so sad?

One paragraph in particular is worth repeating:

God gives us Christmas and like feasts of the church year not only to learn the doctrines and the messages but to sing, to feel and know the joy that comes with losing oneself in the lifting up of one’s voice.

The carol itself is of course true.  Our sadness, be it seasonal, mourning over sin and loss, or clinical, is a result of sin ultimately.  The problem for those of us who suffer from clinical depression is that our Lord’s birth does not instantly remove the blight up our heart and mind.  Our Lord’s birth will remove all sickness, sorrow and disease.  We are at the beginning of that great and mighty work of HIs.  But we have not seen its conclusion at the Last Day.  So until then, we wait.  We wait as prisoners who know they will be set free.  We wait and hope.

May our Lord’s return come quickly, and deliver us from this vale of tears.

-DMR