“God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” is my favorite Christmas carol. And, like all Christmas carols, inherent in its lyrics is an ancient message of Hope and Deliverance. But today, something very specific stood out in the message that rang with the poignancy of the here and now and the current madness of the times.
I am referring to the messages of some Evangelical Christian leaders to the people of God who make up their flocks. It has, of late, been an obsessive message concerning belief in, and support of, a political figure who, the flock is being told, has been sent by the Name Above All Names to deliver the country from the evil they see around them.
They are wrong of course, but their views have been cultivated in large part by those strong evangelical leaders, who, for whatever reason, have perpetrated this idolatry upon their congregants.
Their adherence to this deception is borne of the very great fear that their Christianity is under attack, and that their Faith will no longer be tolerated and allowed in the strange new world that is being birthed by the godless around them. They must fight this evil trend by any means available, they have been told, even if they must give their support to a dubious politician who will somehow save them from this invisible threat. They have been told he has been sent by God… and they believe.
What they have not been told, or rather reminded, is something very fundamental about the Faith they are trying so hard to protect. The Blessed One whose Name they claim has promised that He would never leave or forsake them. And if He is with them, what do they have to fear?
And, more importantly, why should they let politics, or anything that has to do with this earthly life, dismay them when the King of the Universe has done so much to give them the gift of a Shepherd who is always there?
