On the Ninth Day of Christmas: Consider the Miraculous
Watch: Christmas Truce of World War I - Joyeux Noel 2005 film
Today's Scripture readings share a common thread of God miraculously feeding hungry people in out-of-the-way places. In a bit of a winding reverie, I remembered this scene from the film Joyeux Noel film that gives a fictionalized account of the real account of the unofficial Christmas ceasefires on the Western Front of the Great War in December 1914.
"It is a fictionalized account of an actual event that took place in December 1914 when Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, sent the lead singer of the Berlin Imperial Opera company on a solo visit to the front line. Singing by the tenor, Walter Kirchhoff, to the 120th and 124th Württemberg regiments led French soldiers in their trenches to stand up and applaud."
Letters and diaries from the soldiers provide more detail:
"In the week leading up to the 25th, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce."
Both the history of the Christmas ceasefire and the Gospel accounts of Christ feeding hungry, searching people with the small offering of loaves and fishes give us glimpses of the peaceable kingdom that awaits us when Christ returns again and forever to our weary, hungry, war-torn world.
Read: Psalm 34; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:1-14
Pray: From Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
"O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!"
Dear Father in heaven, we come to you. With thanks we come to you, for again and again you have helped us. Again and again you have let your light shine out on us so that we could be glad and know that our lives are in your hands. Protect us on this earth, where it is so necessary. Protect us, that the light of true life may shine more and more brightly and we may praise your name with our whole heart. Be with us this night, O God, and touch our hearts with your Spirit. Amen.
Do: Write thank-you cards or New Year's greetings.
[from my 2013 post: “12 Ways to Savor the 12 Days of Christmas”]
“When I was growing up my mother always sent her annual family newsletter at New Year's. Makes sense, right? Some years I set up a card-writing station on our dining table so that throughout the week we all take turns writing thank you-cards.”
Here’s some excellent encouragement from Rachel Marie Stone, via Englewood Review of Books: Write A Better Year End Letter. If you’d rather just have a good laugh about not sending any cards, read Simcha Fisher’s How To Write An Honest Christmas Letter.