The activism of advent

I was in the dark balcony trying to keep Rosie’s squeaky boots and screechy yells from bothering people, but thankfully it was blending in with the rest of the sound. The song O Holy Night, famous for its squeaky renditions, is hard to sing along to, but in a busy Christmas Eve service, it all kind of mashes together.

On screen, hand-lettered lyrics showed a third verse I hadn’t noticed before:

"Truly He taught us to love one another

 His law is love and His Gospel is Peace

 Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother

 And in His name, all oppression shall cease.”

My wide eyes were drawn in to the words. With Rosie on my shoulders, I looked around at the dimly-lit faces gathered and singing, and wondered, “Did we all read that same thing? Did you hear that? Are we all in on this??”

Love — as in, some kind of radical unifying force of one-ness that can connect strangers, can ignite romance, can sustain commitment, can conquer bitterness, can accept torture and come out on top? That’s…