Why Do We Need You, Christ Child?
Thursday, December 08, 2005
(7:00am) Thursday woke to a chance of 2-4 inches of pearly white fluff. Grandma and Mom were headed to the Women’s Christmas Dinner that night, and Collette would be writing study notes at the apartment in OLeif’s absence. Collette was certainly getting good use out of her Bing Crosby Christmas music.
The morning began at around eight-thirty, with a lovely pouring of snow from the skies – absolutely beautiful. By noon, the ground was covered in the fluffy white, with little promise of it melting before the next day. Collette, for one, personally hoped for great drifts, making it the first truly White Christmas in a bit of awhile. There was also a box of petite fours to split amongst the staff there gathered, from Ivy’s grandmother, who often sent her gift towers for Christmas. There was also a new shirt for Collette in corduroy with Grace Presbyterian Church Staff stitched on the front by a stitched church in green and white (although it had a bell tower, and Grace really had no bell tower). And the office was filled with Christmas tunes, hot cocoa, and such festive things, as the snow continued to beautify the farm and top the roofs in white confection.
Meanwhile, she and Ivy discussed the Auburn Avenue theology – a grave situation which had arisen in the Presbyterian church. Collette suspected that the special Presbytery meeting at Kirk that night, was to discuss the situation. “Padocommunion,” isolating one’s family completely from the world, even only growing one’s vegetables, and far more dire ideas, such as implicitly communicating the “fallibility” of Scripture… Whatever happened to the Great Commission? And what was that about “the new perspective of Paul?” Collette was quite concerned for such thinking. But after all, God was always in control, and if such a thing came about, the PCA would split and Collette prayed that the thinkers of Auburn Avenue would be convicted of the Truth and turn from such things. She spoke not arrogantly towards them – after all, she was a human sinner just as they – but the Scriptures spoke otherwise from what they believed.
Rosemary was telling Collette that afternoon about how Linnea was choosing on what to spend her “points” at the Kids’ Choir Connection Store, Wednesday evening.
“She came up to me and showed me what she decided on,” Rosemary was saying, “And she asked me, ‘Do you think I spent my money wisely?’ And I just cracked up, and said that I thought she had. And then she told me that she was looking for something for Carrie for Christmas. And she asked me, ‘Do you have anything that might be useful in the Secret Service?’ And I just about died of laughter.”
“Oh, how sweet,” Ivy said, “She was spending all her points on Carrie for Christmas.”
“Oh, but she’s so serious,” Rosemary was saying. “She’s is so abnormal for the youngest child, not a party animal.”
And while writing psychology notes for Joe and Rose’s upcoming CLEP exam, she re-stumbled across a genius in her text book – Gregg Cox, who spoke 64 languages fluently. At five, he had learned Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Chinese, and quickly broke the old world record of knowing 58 languages. Downright incredible. She learned also, that while filming the grand finale for “White Christmas,” the king and queen of Greece had come to visit the studio. When told that they were to re-shoot the finale for the royalty, as though they had not yet filmed it, Bing Crosby told Rosemary Clooney that he was going to hop the wall. And so he did, going to play a game of golf while they re-shot the scene, his voice singing over the speakers.
“Why Do We Need You, Christ Child?”
O Savior King, to please you best we must fly to you and drop all pretense.
This is what we have been:
We have thought ourselves more important than others.
We have scorned the weak in body or in spirit.
We have thought ourselves better than non-Christians.
Why do we need you, Christ Child?
We have turned our tongues against you, Lord Christ.
We have spoken truth to those whom it did not concern;
We have shared confidence out of malice.
We have presented ourselves as other than we really are.
Why do we need you, Jesus?
WE HAVE RUN TO OUR SINS AS THOUGH THEY WERE OLD FRIENDS.
We have clung to our resentments;
We have wrapped our pride and prejudice about us like cloaks.
We have feasted on reports of others’ evil.
We have enjoyed the downfall of our enemies.
Why do we need you, Christ Child?
We have tried to conform those around us to our bitterness.
We have withheld healing words and thus encouraged disease;
We have seen the enemy at the gates and said, “It is not my affair.”
Why do we need you, Jesus?
Because we are foul, and there is no one to cleanse us.