12/23/62

Scripture: (Read Isaiah 40: 1-11).

Text: Luke 2: 9b; “The glory of the Lord shone round about them.”

In the year 1945 Ronald Bridges was moderator of the General Council of congregational Christian Churches. He presided at all sessions of the Council with marked ability and Yankee wit. Despite a very obvious and extensive crippling of his body by arthritis, he was, and is, a superior personality. So outstanding is his ability that he is now the first layman to be president of the Pacific School of Religion -- a Congregational seminary for the training of ministers.

Recently, Mr. Bridges did some audible meditating on one of the characters of fiction in the not-so-long ago. Her name was Pollyanna, and she was a book friend of quite a number of us during our childhood days. Curiously enough Pollyanna’s name has come to be a term of contempt. As if to prove that the speaker is no simpleton, one will say: “Well, heaven knows I am no Pollyanna!” Or if one wishes to label the hopeful opinion of someone else as hopelessly, childishly naive, one may be heard to call it a “Pollyanna” opinion. It is now a term of reproach, or scorn, of derision; used as though it covered up a strange fear of appearing glad or hopeful.

Those of you who have read Mrs. Porter’s once popular story know that Pollyanna was a delightful little girl who was able to see something in every experience and situation for which to be glad. Now of course it is lopsided for one to be blinded to the evils, the injustices, the human deviltry and misery in the world by ignoring it in a blind determination to be glad about something or other. But it is equally foolish to ignore the good things about which to be glad. For they are the means of enabling us to bear what is hard!

The strange fear of being cheerful seems to threaten us now in our time. But especially at this season when we are bidden to “Be of good cheer,” it is perhaps even a little amusing that people should be so determined never to be a “Pollyanna.” Pollyanna was an optimist who looked always on the sunny side of things, and was adept at turning away wrath with a soft answer. Bridges whimsically observed that Pollyanna probably had an IQ of about 98 -- nothing brilliant, but quite passable. And he goes on to say that he regards cheerfulness as desirable in people whose IQ is under a hundred and necessary for all those above that mark! If cheerfulness has come to be a kind of treason, with public fury concentrated on a symbol of it, then somebody is getting psychotic - and it is no little girl in a book!

Now all this leads to the question: “Is it possible, and intelligently respectable, to be happy in a world where there is so much trouble?” Can we have an optimistic hope that will suffuse living with a glow? Is it possible that the ancient voice which proclaimed “Peace on earth to men of good will” speaks to us today?

The answer is “Yes.” And here is why it is so. The world is not as badly off as it seems. This is not to make a mockery of suffering, nor - heaven forbid - to turn one’s back upon it. For the misery and wretchedness of millions is a fact - a terrible fact to be deal with urgently.

But look back with a long view over history. Read not just the lives of the victors to whom events look triumphant. Remember that mute, suffering masses have looked on hopelessly in pain and hunger and with dull eyes while the victors have marched by. They were there, all right. Don’t forget that much of history was written by the victors -- and all of it by the survivors! Look for more of history than just the viewpoint of the victors.

If it appears that some things have worsened during the past 50 years, as indeed some things do appear to have done, remember that they haven’t grown worse over the last 3,000 years. In fact they have improved. It would be folly for us to forget this truth in the confusion of what is near. There are enormous tasks for us to perform, for which we need a healthy optimism -- not the silly pretense that all is “just dandy,” but the solid understanding of what human beings can do. True optimism is not a cosmetic on the surface, but a vitamin of health within. It may be cold comfort to know that the world is not as bad off as it seems. But it is solid sense nonetheless, and worth keeping in mind.

Remember, as one of the great goods of the present, the quickened conscience of our time. The world is in trouble and has only narrowly escaped disaster, and we feel worse about it than many of our forefathers felt or could feel about the troubles of their time. When they heard of famine, pogroms, massacre, plagues -- these events were already a bit in the past, and time had already dulled some of the sharpness. But we are contemporary with our world’s ills. We hear of things evil the same day they happen. (And one eccentricity of our present frame of mind is that as a people we seem to absorb the shocking as news more avidly than the good and constructive.) But we get it when it happens, sharp and unmellowed. And it does something to our conscience. How much difference did it make three generations ago when a share-cropper was lynched? Did word of it ever reach the ears of the rulers of the world? Well, word does reach the ears of the world’s rulers today when such a thing happens. And it is a good sign -- a very good sign! Present evil is not necessarily greater, but our awareness of it is!

Perhaps if we in this country had had longer to develop our sense of Christian democracy without the constant shock of the contemporary, we might stand our present troubles better. Our sense of democratic responsibility has had to expand too quickly for us, to embrace the whole world. We have all of India, Cuba, Russia, China on our consciences at the same time we struggle to work out our dealings fairly with our neighbors across the street and in the next country, and over the bargaining table.

We have our burdens, all right, but let’s be sensible about them. And if we have a healthy sense of the sins for which we should repent, let us not develop a guilt complex about it, but honestly repent, be at peace and be at work!

In a way not yet understood, there is a definite connection between the chemistry of a man and his soul. The old notion that laughter aids digestion is clearly demonstrable. Cheerfulness is both a cause and effect in good health. Having faith in God is a matter of practical value here and now. It multiplies a man many times for the things he has to do and the responsibilities he must bear. So in a way it is vastly better not to sweep Pollyanna into a dustpan of cynical gloom any more than it is sound to chirp cheerfulness with monotonous continuity. There’s something to this angel business very much worth understanding.

[An earlier version of this sermon, delivered in Wisconsin Rapids on December 14, 1947, ended here, but with these extra readings: Read - Elisha: “They that be with us are more than they that be against us;” and “The glory of the Lord shone round about them --- Behold I bring you tidings of great joy.” Then, “What is Christmas?” (see below) and a poem, “Christmas Faith.”

If God hath borne the centuries of wrong

And still with patience spared our erring race,

Then let us lift again the Christmas song

And strive anew, supported by His grace. - by T. G. Soares.]

There is a great deal to the spirit of good will; sought, perceived, and practiced among men. 100 years ago this nation was struggling in the tragedy of civil war. 150,000 men were to struggle through the awful 3-day battle of Gettysburg with more than 40,000 casualties. And that, at a time when the whole nation numbered only 31 1/2 million souls. As the fratricidal strife of the war mounted to its climax, hatred seemed over-strong. Yet in that very time, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was able to write the verses which begin:

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men.

After acknowledging his despair over hatred so strong that there seemed no peace anywhere on earth, he continued the verse:

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.

In the past two months, our nation and the world has, of necessity, skated close to the disaster of possible annihilation for millions. It has been a sobering experience. But the world is still able to sing for joy, and to hope in what right. It is right for us to give our hearts to the joyful note in Christmas; to give ear to the whimsy, the poetry, the loveliness of the Advent and Nativity stories. It is right for us to sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” and to “Let every heart prepare him room.” This carillon of praise has come across more than two centuries of Christian history. Christians of all lands and creeds have united, and still unite, especially at Christmas time, in the chorus of thanks and praise. The song is a paraphrase of a portion of the 98th Psalm which is remarkable for its sustained note of exultation. In a day when even religion was at low ebb in the experience of the people of England, Isaac Watts was able to write, “He rules the world with truth and grace” in a burst of prophetic triumph and missionary zeal. Few hymn tunes are so well adapted to the words as is the tune, “Antioch,” to which we will sing “Joy to the World” when the service today closes.

Let Christmas, this year, be a time of joy. Let it be what is noted in this bit of verse from Theodore Gerald Soares:

If God hath borne the centuries of wrong

And still with patience spared our erring race,

Then let us lift again the Christmas song

And strive anew, supported by His grace.

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS? [printed clipping; no attribution]

Christmas is an added warmth in your heart for everything and everybody. It is letting all annoyances slip past unnoticed. It is giving little unexpected gifts. It is forgetting the resentment you have harbored against this person or that one and being generous, understanding and kind. Christmas means bringing as much happiness as possible to everyone whose life you touch. It can be done with a smile, a note, a few words, a touch of the hand. There is always a glow about Christmas, the glow of goodness and joy and the spirit of serving ..... Christmas is extra love!

No, Christmas isn’t just holly and mistletoe and snowflakes and candles and stuffed stockings and shining trees and plum puddings, dear though these are to everyone. Christmas is opening our hearts to love and understanding. It is a feeling of oneness with other living souls. It is pity and prayer and hope in spite of hopelessness. Whatever life has done to us, however helpless and weary we are, it is a comfort to know companionship. It is a new life and strength to the weakest of us to know that we are loved.

CHRISTMAS IS THE FEELING IN OUR HEARTS!

(and it is rightly a feeling of great gladness.)

Before we sing again, I want to share with you the insight and beauty of one more bit of poetic verse by Alexander T. Coyle:

What on Earth Happened?

I mean,

What happened on earth?

Well-

A baby boy was born.

Ten fingers -- five perfect little real

fingers on each dimpled hand --

And fingernails.

A red little body

A little out of shape from its journey,

But perfect -

Mary examined every inch of him and was sure -

Ready to take on the world -

After eating and drinking and creeping and

walking and running -- and kneeling too -

And listening and thinking and laughing and

crying and dreaming and trembling

And doing all the things that boys do to

make them men - and a little more to

make him the best of men -

And then

He went about doing good;

He struck the flint of men’s minds with His steel;

He gazed into men’s eyes and named fear -

lessly their stupidities;

He remembered the forgotten ones, fed

the hungry-hearted ones

And died young and heart-broken.

What on earth happened?

I mean, what happened on earth?

Why,

“God became flesh” -- flesh - tender, strong,

beautiful flesh -- “And dwelt among us

full of grace and truth.”

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, December 23, 1962.

Also, abbreviated version in Wisconsin Rapids,

December 14, 1947.