Love Came Down at Christmas (Pearl Harbor Day) - December 7, 2021
Philippians 2:5-8, The Message -Think of
yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with
God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages
of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the
privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having
become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t
claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then
died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a
crucifixion.
Today is Pearl Harbor Day.
80 years ago, we lost over 2,300 troops in just a few hours. The attack officially engaged us in World War
II and would over cost the US over 405,000 deaths. Today we remember people like 102 year-old Navy
sailor Mickey Ganitch who fought that morning in Hawaii still wearing his USS
Pennsylvania football jersey and pads as he was preparing for a football game
against the team from the USS Pennsylvania when the Japanese attack began.
A year ago, the deaths in the US were roughly equaled to a
Pearl Harbor every day (2,200+ deaths 7-day moving average) and it got worse
than that before it got better. Before the
1-year anniversary of the first US death from COVID-19, we experienced more US
deaths than the four years of World War II.
And just like World War II, it will be years before we are able to wrap
our minds around just what this war with the virus has done to us. Right now, we just know that our world will
never be the same. And we’re very aware
that Christmas this year will not be the same for us and 790,000+ families and
counting whose family members will not open any presents this year.
In 1941, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, there were talks about
compelling all those who were furiously manufacturing supplies to continue to
work on Christmas Day because the need was so great. President Roosevelt convened a Cabinet Meeting
to discuss it. At that meeting, one of
the President’s advisors (unknown who exactly it was) made the following
comment:
“Christmas Day; that is not our day
or the day of those who bomb us; Christmas Day is Christ’s day – the day of the
grown-ups, and the day of the children”
Roosevelt would quote his advisor a few days later at the
Annual Christmas Tree Lighting at the White House as the reason it was decided
to still set aside Christmas Day as a holiday. The tree used for the lighting that year was a
tree that was moved and replanted on the South Lawn at Roosevelt’s
request. It served as the White House
Christmas tree until 1953. That tree is
still there and actually has a red light installed in it that serves as a
beacon for the Marine I Helicopter when it lands at the White House.
No matter what is happening in the world, we celebrate
Christmas because as our carol for today proclaims, “Love Came Down at
Christmas.” It is that divine love that
sustains us in days like these. Hear Rossetti’s poetic third verse
Love shall be our
token,
Love be yours and
love be mine,
Love to God and
all men,
Love for plea and
gift and sign.
When we light the third Advent Candle
(the candle for love) this coming Sunday,
we remember that Love is our everything – our token, our plea, our gift,
and our sign. As another scripture says,
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog,
peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the
sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us,
knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do
to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly,
love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13,
The Message)
Question: How will you celebrate the Love that came
down at Christmas this year?
Prayer: God, keep us inside your love during this
season. Keep us loving you and loving
each other in spite of temptations to do otherwise. May Love be our token, plea, gift, and sign.
Prayer Focus: Pray for the surviving veterans of Pearl
Harbor and World War II today.
Song: Love Came Down at Christmas
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