The tradition of the prophets
by Tom Sullivan
Forgiveness these days is in short supply. As are Christmas truces.
Mary Elisabeth Cox doesn’t exactly brighten the morning with her story of another Christmas four years after the famous Christmas truce of 1914. Germany had signed the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918 and asked the Allies to lift the blockade that had left Germans hungry and dying of flu. But Allies feared Germany might renew the fighting. Despite a Christmas initiative by American leaders to lift it, Allies “too embittered by the war to see Germans, even children and other civilians, as anything except the enemy” kept the blockade in place until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in July.
“In the meantime,” Cox writes, “untold thousands of Germans died that winter, people who might have been saved…”
We have an unfortunate knack for mucking things up. “There isn’t a lot of that ‘love your enemies’ thing going around, and I confess to finding it difficult myself these days,” E.J. Dionne observes. It feels as if bitterness has settled in for the duration. Side-eye is more prevalent than forgiveness on this Christian holiday, even among Christians.
Napp Nazworth, the editor of the Christian Post, announced his resignation Monday after the website issued a pro-Donald Trump editorial in response to Christianity Today’s call for the president’s removal from office. CT editor Mark Galli warned evangelicals their support of a “grossly immoral” leader who has “dumbed down the idea of morality” would “crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel.”
Not unlike Trump’s impeachment critics in Congress, The Christian Post does not address the substance of the Christianity Today case, but instead impugns the critics. The Post denounces Galli and his CT “fellow travelers” in a sharp rebuke, confirming that among Trump evangelicals messages in the tradition of the prophets are now “elitist.” Nazworth wanted no part of it:
“I said, if you post this, you’re saying, you’re now on team Trump,” he said. He said he was told that’s what the news outlet wanted to do.
Forgiveness is in short supply, as are Christmas truces. However, there is still a Christmas message. Pope Francis delivered his during midnight mass at the Vatican. It carried a somewhat different tone from The Christian Post’s.
“God does not love you because you think and act the right way,” the Argentine pontiff said. “You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.”
Whew!
Everyone loves a good redemption story, especially at Christmas. Things work out for George Bailey, and for Ebenezer Scrooge. It simply is not clear how things will work out for the United States. Right now, this feels like the third act of The Empire Strikes Back.
So, while you’re waiting on redemption and the overthrow of the emperor, check out the updated, widescreen HD yule log.
You can stream the thing here as well as Netflix. Merry Christmas.
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Happy Hollandaise everyone!
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