What did you expect... Signs?
Peter Rothstein
Sunday, December 23rd 2007

I’ve always loved preparing for Christmas, ever since I was a kid. I love that sense that something extraordinary was about to happen. And I would do my part – practicing carols on the piano, wrapping presents, decorating the tree. In fact, I still in decorate my Mom’s Christmas tree each Advent. A number of years ago, I decided to go all out, and brought a carload of decorations up North. We’ve always had our tree in the front window, and that year I loaded it with hundreds of lights, my grandmother’s ornaments, new ornaments, grapevine, fake fruit, ribbons. . . you name it.

I finished up, and heading back to the Cities. My mom fixed herself her Jim Beam and Coke and sat down to admire her tree. She decided she needed to see it from the street, so she got all bundled up, headed out the back door, into her car, down the alley and pulled up in front of the house. There was no tree in the front window. She thought she had lost her mind, or that it was a really good Jim Beam and Coke. She rushed inside, and sure enough, in the time she went out the back door and down the alley the tree had fallen over.

I remember my Mother saying, “It’s the sin of pride, I know it, I was just too darn proud of that tree.” I tried to reassure her that it wasn’t the sin of pride, but that her artsy son just didn’t know when enough is enough.

My brothers came over the next day, and using fish-line propped it safely back up into the front window, where a Christmas Tree has appeared every Advent for the past 50 some years.

Legend has it that in the 7th century a monk from Devonshire, England, went to Germany to teach the Word of God, and he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity. Thus began the Christmas Tree. It remained primarily a German tradition for hundreds of years. Though it was a monk from England who created the symbol, Christmas trees were not popular in Britain until into the 20th Century.

In the first year of World War One, the German Kaiser had Christmas trees sent to the Western Front for the German soldiers to decorate their trenches. And on Christmas Eve along the front lines, lit trees began to appear along the parapets. The British soldiers didn’t know what they were. But they knew it was a sign, something extraordinary was about to happen.

CANTUS Sings: “Will Ye Go To Flanders?” or “Oh Holy Night”

A few weeks ago, I sat down at a coffee shop to begin working on this homily. I thought I would first read the newspaper. My inspiration dwindled. But on the last page I came to my horoscope, it read:

“You believe in the essential goodness of humankind. That belief is supported at least three times today by things you see and people you talk to.”

I thought, what if these words weren’t on page 11 of Section E. But in big bold letters on the front page, or better yet, that page “World and Nation” and then “We Believe in the Essential Goodness of Humankind.” Wouldn’t that be extraordinary?

On Christmas Eve, 1914 thousands of soldiers defied orders from above, put down their guns, and met their enemy in No Man’s Land to celebrate Christmas. The headline might have read, “We Believe in the Essential Goodness of Humankind.” But it didn’t make the front page either.

I first learned of the Christmas Truce in this very room. I think it will be seven years ago on New Year’s Day that I heard Steve Kremer perform “Christmas in the Trenches”. I studied World War I in high school and college, but nowhere in my textbooks do I remember reading about it. If I had, I certainly would have remembered. This extraordinary event took place the first year of the war and was never repeated. Over 100,000 men left their trenches to exchange gifts of tobacco, rum and chocolates; even photographs of love ones. They sang songs, played a game of soccer and buried each other’s dead. Extraordinary. Upon brutal orders from above, they eventually returned to their trenches and re-instigated a war that would last four more years.

Sgt. G. H. Morgan of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment wrote,

“It was as if we had decided to end the fighting all by ourselves. Could it really have happened like this? If all the troops all along the line had refused to fight, on both sides, would the war have ended there and then? If we had all walked away at that point, could the result have been a truce? I doubt it, but it’s a thought.”

I believe it is our patriotic duty, our human duty to put a human face on war.

This past summer I spent time in Belgium along the Western Front, visiting battle sites, monuments, the few remaining trenches and hundreds of cemeteries. I remember being at Tynecot Cemetery, which is on the site of one of the greatest battles of the Great War. The gravestones just go on and on; it’s unbelievable. An old British man who took me around to the various sites said to me. This hill you are standing on – 35 lives were lost for every one square foot of earth. I walk the earth differently knowing that. Not far from Tynecot Cemetery is the site of the Christmas Truce. If you didn’t know what you were looking for you would drive right by. There is no monument, no statue, no dramatic lighting. The site is designated by a small wooden cross, and carved into it – The Christmas Truce, 1914. It seemed so temporal, so fragile, so humble, but somehow fitting to the men who made it happen - the lowest ranks of the army, the men who have become my heroes.

A local visual artist, Diane M. Von Arx wrote,

“If art is a personal expression or opinion we must simply take an interest in the art that surrounds us.

Interest sparks curiosity.

Curiosity begs study.

Study promotes understanding,

Understanding allows tolerance and tolerance brings peace.

The advancement of art must result in peace.

I love the way today’s readings line-up. We heard in the reading from Isaiah, “God will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a child, and the child will be given the name Immanuel – God is with us. ” God became human, lying in a manger, the ultimate sign of peace on earth.

And then Paul’s letter to the Romans, “We have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread this name – Immanuel, God among us.” If we truly want to claim that we are people of Christ, we must be that sign of peace on earth. And finally in today’s Gospel, “Have no fear.” Like those soldiers 83 years ago who acted with extraordinary courage, the courage to put down their guns, despite a fear that put a gun in their hands in the first place. We too must be on the front lines, with our Christmas trees, because we believe something extraordinary is about to happen. Merry Christmas.