Christmas Day Truce 1914
Isaiah 55:6 Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near.
This Scripture couldn’t have ben more true than on December 25, 1914. World War 1 had been raging since July 28, 1914 and Pope Benedict XV had suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. Unfortunately the warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce. History.Com Editors state in an October 27, 2009 article that: The Christmas Truce occurred on and around Christmas Day 1914, when the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front during World War I in favor of holiday celebrations. During the unofficial ceasefire, soldiers on both sides of the conflict emerged from the trenches and shared gestures of goodwill. Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops fighting in World War I sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. Some Germans lit Christmas trees around their trenches, and there was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer. German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch recalled: “How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.” Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured. During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destroy the Christmas spirit.”
Obviously this isn’t Christmas, and the Stay At Home Order from our governor regarding the Coronavirus Covid-19 hasn’t been raging for five months. Yet in many ways we are at war with an unseen enemy. It’s during this time that small gestures at continuing to gather together as believers through small prayer gatherings, online streaming of services, Zoom Bible classes for youth and children, and prayers – that we are reminded of deeper values: worship, community, friendships, relationships, faith, hope, and love.
As the annual celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus approaches we’ve decided it’s time for a truce with this virus. Not for a Christmas Truce, but a Resurrection Celebration Truce. Though our war with the virus has only been raging for a little over a month it’s time we gather together to worship, celebrate community, all while taking a creative approach to our coronavirus guidelines. This coming Sunday we want to invite you, your family, friends and neighbors to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with us through having “Drive-in Church.” We will begin at 10:30 AM transmitting the service via your car radio, while maintaining social distancing of 6 feet. Some churches that have been practicing this have had members back in to the staged area so that they can pop open the hatch, and listen from a lawn chair. If you plan on this approach come prepared for some rain by bringing an umbrella, and wearing your rain gear.
Lastly, may I remind you of Isaiah 55:6? Seek the Lord while he may be found. The church has been given a window of grace to pursue and seek Jesus. There was a story from the Week magazine regarding a 67 year man by the name of Roger Pasquier. He was a retired ornithologist who has a keen eye for spotting stray coins. In fact, he had found almost two thousand dollars’ worth of coins dropped onto New York City’s sidewalks since he started his strange hobby back in 1987. As years passed by, he began to be focused, developed some strategies and implemented some scientific methods to keep track of collecting loose coins and bills. Most of the time, Pasquier hovers around bars, targeting careless drunk people, and avoids eye contact with other pedestrians. “It’s important that I keep my eyes on where the money is.” Crucially, he deploys his expert knowledge of birds—and their use of “search images”—as a guide. “They have a general sense of what their food looks like and they become very attuned to those shapes.” He had been so adept to this that he can spot a coin by its shape or by the sound it makes when it drops. But his biggest boon has been the introduction of the iPhone. Since its invention in 2007, Pasquier’s annual takings have nearly doubled, because most people are too busy staring at their phones to notice coins on the street.
Have you been too busy staring at the deadline of our “Stay At Home Order” missing the opportunity to seek Jesus and His Presence? It’s important that we keep our spiritual eyes focused on where our real treasure lies. The treasures of God’s Grace and Spirit are being released on the earth at this time. Question is, Are you attuned enough to hear its sound as its dropping? Merry Christmas!
