The Greatest Ceasefire

 Picture yourself in the moment...  

It is Christmas Eve 1914. You are a British soldier in the damp, dark trenches in Austria, fighting in WWI and all you can think of is your family gathered back in the UK, having Christmas without you. All you want is to go home. You are doing your best to fulfill military orders and you have heard that the competing governments have been trying to arrange a ceasefire, but the fighting continues day after day. Your heart aches for peace on earth and human goodwill, and you are tired of the senselessness of it all. Especially at Christmas. You and your buddies try to keep your spirits up and talk about Christmases past to evoke some happy memories in an otherwise unpleasant situation. You just hope you or your fellow soldiers can live to see Christmas morning. 

The night has fallen and you can see and hear the sounds coming from the German enemy trenches. You can see the camp fires burning, hear the toasts on Christmas Eve. Everyone is waiting until morning for when the expected fighting will resume. But then you hear something surprising... something strangely familiar. You can't understand the words but the tune? This you know! A voice begins to lift above the trenches and sing a Christmas carol you've heard back home but in its own language. A German officer with operatic background starts to sing "Silent Night" in his native tongue. Something inside you softens and a smile comes across your face as you follow along in your mind to the words in English that you well know. You can hear the other German forces join in. In the madness of war, this moment suddenly makes you all human. It feels as if something divine is happening. 

But then, in an unexpected twist you didn't see coming, you hear the German forces start the second verse in English. They are singing for you and your British soldiers! Without hesitation, you and your buddies join in and, in a moment touched by the Christmas spirit, you all begin to stand up and walk out of your trenches to sing together. This shared, spontaneous moment accomplishes something no government has been able to do: cease the battle and make mankind human again. The moment doesn't stop at the song either. All defenses have been broken down and you all now share food and drink as Christmas morning dawns... a truly unique example of the Psalmist's concept of preparing a table in the presence of enemies. 

Sadly, this moment does not end the war and it remains only a fleeting pause in the horrors of conflict. But you always remember this experience because it reminds you that the message of Christmas transcends cultures, time, and even global strivings. 

As shockingly unreal as it may seem, this brief pause of peace back in 1914 really did take place and has been documented as one of the most unlikely and beautiful Christmas moments in history. One can definitely see why. But perhaps even more astounding and wonderful is the picture it paints of the true meaning behind this season... 

When God chose to enter the human story - first as a baby in the manger and then as the sinless King who gave his life on the cross to secure our redemption - His arrival declared the greatest ceasefire in history. Strife is all this broken world has to offer. Sure there are beautiful things hidden amongst the shattered but, for any observant individual, it is plain that our world is often at odds... We are at war within ourselves, with each other, and even with God. Conflict is inevitable and inescapable. It is the living evidence of Romans 8:22-23: that the whole creation is groaning in anticipation of the redemptive promise of God. We are in need of a divine intervention that will change everything... and that's what happened that glorious night so long ago when angels descended on the fields outside Bethlehem and declared the birth of the earth's Redeemer. To some lowly shepherds and their flocks came the forever good news that the face of God had been revealed, bringing with Him "peace on earth, goodwill to men." The One long foretold who would rest the governments of all on His shoulders, would be the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace was finally here and human history would never be the same again. 

God enters our trenches with His message of hope and everlasting peace. He ends our strivings and declares a ceasefire within the battles of our own souls. He calls us away from our fighting and asks that we "love our enemies and do good to those who take advantage" of us, paving a new way for us to do life that changes everything. Suddenly, the whole thing becomes different because we now are invited into the redemptive business He is always about, called to be an active participant in the ongoing work of Grace. We are installed as hope carriers that now take that message given by the angels so long ago and share it with a world still in conflict and despair. 

The message those soldiers in WWI were reminded of on that cold December night is still offered to us today: "Love's pure Light" still reaches us in our darkest places, coming to us in the most unlikely of ways, invading the parts of us most at odds with Himself and calling us to come into in the place of healing and hope He so desires for us. Because life with God demands we lay down our arms and run into the loving embrace of the Sovereign King who loved us enough to enter our busted planet so that we could have the opportunity to become lasting royalty because of Him. 

With this baby's arrival comes the "dawn of redeeming grace." And that, my friends, is the ultimate ceasefire. 

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.