By Tom Dalton
There are a lot of reasons not to be hopeful this Christmas.
North Shore servicemen and women are still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreclosures continue to mount, and almost everyone, it seems, has a friend or family member out of work.
But this is Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas Day.
This, indeed, is a time of hope.
On these two days, Christians flock to churches, some out of a sense of ritual, but many more in search of hope or peace or something indefinable. In these solemn services, ministers and priests will try to lead parishioners closer to those elusive goals.
They will get their chance in the Christmas sermon.
The Rev. Deborah Phillips of Grace Episcopal Church in Salem found inspiration in the faces of her own parishioners. She sensed that, for many, something isn't quite right this Christmas.
"I have noticed, in particular the past couple of months, there seems to be a general malaise that most people are feeling. I have noticed it by people not attending events that typically take place around this time of year, whether it be a party or a family gathering.
"I really believe it's because they are just feeling a general malaise between the economy and maybe some expectation they had as to how things might turn around with a new administration. ... It's just weighing heavily on people's minds."
Phillips feels it is important for people "to just show up" this Christmas season by attending family, church and community events, no matter how difficult it may seem, and by spending time with loved ones.
"God understands how important it is to just show up, and that is what he did in the incarnation," she said. "God understands it's a way to break through a kind of malaise just by being present physically, so God became physical in Jesus Christ."
The Christmas story, in a sense, is about God showing up on earth, and the wise men, shepherds and others showing up at the manger, Phillips said. There is hope, she said, in just being present.
"We just don't get through this by ourselves, and God knew we couldn't get through this by ourselves so he sent his son."
Many sermons this Christmas will touch in different ways on the subject of peace.
"We happen to be in a Luke year," said Pastor Joel Anderle of Community Covenant Church in Peabody, referring to the Gospel of Luke. "There is a line in the text this year that says, 'The birth of Jesus is good news of great joy for all people.'
"As I was preparing (my sermon), that struck me. We live in a very complicated, conflicted time in a lot of ways. I'm trying to capture some sense that the hope of the holiday is really for a profound peace and justice for all people, as irrational as that sounds. ...
"We understand how complicated it is," Anderle said. "We can't just stop a war, we understand that. ... But the reality is we're called to pray for peace. ... We're called into a supernatural space ... that invites us to hope.
"Somebody said you can't live by hope alone, but you can't live very well without it either," Aderle said.
Peace is one of the themes of the Christmas Eve service at First Baptist Church in Beverly. The Rev. Julie Flowers plans to refer to the simple message the angels brought to the shepherds at the birth of Christ — peace on earth and good will toward men.
"They're really proclaiming something that hasn't happened yet, but still can, and that's the hope. ..." she said. "They're sort of bit players in the nativity, but they have this world-changing message and a challenging message."
The congregation at the Beverly church will express that hope while standing in a circle, lighting one candle after another until they form a circle of light.
"I have heard people in the congregation talking about that being a particularly powerful moment," she said. "They can look at the faces of the people they know and think about them and being together in worship, and I think that helps underscore the message about the light, the hope, the peace being passed from person to person and taking that out into the world."
The Rev. Frieda Gillespie of the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church in Danvers said she loves the whole spirit of this holiday. There is something magical, she said, that happens at Christmas.
"We intentionally set aside this time of year to feel hope, to feel joy, to be giving to one another, to be generous to one another, to show appreciation, and it's such a wonderful thing that we do this intentionally," she said. "I guess I would like to see us be able to do that more in our lives."
"I have noticed, in particular the past couple of months, there seems to be a general malaise that most people are feeling."
The Rev. Deborah Phillips, Grace Episcopal Church, Salem
"I'm trying to capture some sense that the hope of the holiday is really for a profound peace and justice for all people, as irrational as that sounds."
Pastor Joel Anderle, Community Covenant Church, Peabody
"We intentionally set aside this time of year to feel hope, to feel joy, to be giving to one another, to be generous to one another, to show appreciation, and it's such a wonderful thing that we do this intentionally."
The Rev. Frieda Gillespie, Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church, Danvers
