By Pastor Greg
I know this
is probably a silly question to ask, but do you know who Snoopy is? Have you ever heard of the Red Barron? Okay, have you ever heard the song “Snoopy’s
Christmas” by the Royal Guardsmen? It
was recorded in 1967 by five guys from Florida.
In the song, rather than shooting Snoopy’s doghouse, the Red Barron
instead makes him land behind enemy lines simply to wish him a Merry Christmas.
This song is actually based on an event which took
place during the first Christmas of World War I. In the book Christmas Truce, the authors tell an incredible story – a story I
believe happened because Christmas is a time when the hearts of humanity are
thinking about the Baby Jesus.
On
the first Christmas day of World War I, British and German troops put down
their guns and celebrated peacefully together in the no-man’s land between the trenches.
The war, briefly, came to a halt.
In some places, festivities began when German troops lit candles on
Christmas trees on their side so British sentries a few hundred yards away
could see them. Elsewhere, the British
acted first, starting bonfires and setting off rockets. Private Oswald Tilley of the London Rifle
Brigade wrote his parents: “Just you think that while you were eating your
turkey, etc., I was talking and shaking hands with the very men I had been trying
to kill a few hours before!! It was
astounding.” Both armies had received
lots of comforts from home and felt generous and well-disposed toward their
enemies in the first winter of the war.
All along the line that Christmas day, soldiers found their enemies were
much like them and began asking why they should be trying to kill each
other. The generals were shocked. High Command diaries and statements express
anxiety that if that sort of thing spread it could sap the troops will to fight.
The soldiers in khaki and gray sang carols to each other, exchanged
gifts of tobacco, jam, sausage, chocolate
and liquor, traded names and addresses and played soccer between the shell
holes and barbed wire.[1]
Growing
up, I had never heard of this event. On
the other hand, if someone had mentioned it in history class, it didn’t quite
hit me the way it does today. Today, the
idea that Christmas could almost end a war arouses such joy in me that I can
scarcely contain it. Talk about the
thrill of hope! Indeed, the weary world rejoices.
Last year the Sainsbury Supermarket Company, located in the United
Kingdom, used this story as part of their televised Christmas Greeting to the
people of England. It depicts what this
event must have looked like back in 1914.
Did you ever find yourself growing
weary of all the conflict, anger, and hate in this world? Doesn’t it make you sick sometimes? And the conflict isn’t always “out there,” is
it? Sometimes the conflict and anger
work their way into our homes and into our hearts. We become suspicious of others and don’t
trust those who are different; they arouse anger and hatred within us. Of course, deep down we get the feeling that
we should not feel this way, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to make it
stop. And yet, I believe there is a way
to put an end to the anger and hate and suffering in us and all around us. I believe
the answer is right in front of us.
Let me ask you this: Do you think
the soldiers in the trenches back in WWI felt that anything could interrupt
their conflict? Do you think they even
stopped for a moment to consider that the “enemy” also had a relationship with
the “Prince of Peace”? Something
beautiful began to happen when two armies at war realized that in spite of all their
differences, there was one thing they had in common – a holy infant, so tender
and mild. Had it not been for the sounds
of war, we are left to wonder just how long this “Christmas Truce” might have
lasted.
Isaiah says that 5 “The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will
all be burned. They will be fuel for the
fire. 6 For a Child is
born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His
shoulders. And He will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. 7 His
government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor
David for all eternity.” (Isaiah 9:5-7)
Like those soldiers back in 1914, our
conflict with others can come to an end, but only if we stop dwelling on our
differences and instead focus on what, or “Who”, we have in common. I understand that this is very difficult.
Today the song of Jesus is being ravaged by shouts of anger and
violence. Our society spends more time
and effort pointing out how we are different rather than helping us see what we
have in common. Focusing on these
differences gives rise to anger, hate, distrust, and suspicion. Sure, Jesus is not always wrapped in a package
that looks and acts like you or me, but He is there. Yet even if that other person knows nothing
of Jesus, we are stilled called to “Love our neighbor as ourselves” (Luke 10:27).
I think we know this. I think deep down we know we are to love our
neighbor, but like the Lawyer who spoke with Jesus, so often we ask the
qualifying question, “And who is my neighbor?” (compare Luke
10:25-29). As we look at those who are
different than us, as we are faced with a choice between hating or caring, the Lord asks us this same
penetrating question: “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to
the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” We know the answer. We know what we should do. We know that the Lord desires us to show
mercy toward those who are different than us.
Yet this command, this song of peace, is being suppressed by the noise
of hate, anger, and suspicion.
I believe there are people in
this world who want to be angry. I think some
people thrive off of conflict.
Working for the adversary, they plant seeds of anger, hate, distrust,
and suspicion in the hearts of humanity.
They point out how others are different, and tell us they are not to be
trusted. These people need to be
stopped. We must not allow them to
spread their poison. But, as we look at
the rest of the world, we must allow Christ to transform our suspicion into
love.
I know, I know. It seems like an impossible task. How could we ever learn to love those who are
so much different than us? And yet, if
we will let Him, this Little Child of Bethlehem has the power to change the way
we see others. He was able to stop a war
for a moment. Surely He can end the
anger and suspicion festering inside of us.
The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the
darkness until now. The one who loves
his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.[2] (1
John 2:9-10).
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