The Mood of Christmas
By Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the Shepherds are back with their flock.
The work of Christmas begins,
To find the lost.
To heal the broken.
To feed the hungry.
To release the prisoner.
To rebuild the nations.
To bring peace among people.
To make music in the heart.
When I read this, I did some research to find out who Howard Thurman was. It turned out he was a black American Christian who became a Baptist minister and chaplain to a university chapel in Boston, with a predominantly white population. He had been greatly influenced by his grandmother, a former slave, and his dominant message was of the love of Jesus and the need to reject hatred between people, with a firm commitment to nonviolence.
In these words, for the post-Christmas period Howard Thurman gives us enough challenges to last well into 2026 and beyond. In a world torn apart by hatred and division it can seem like an impossible task to change anything, but let us take inspiration from someone who was part of the civil rights movement and brought change to a divided world in the 20th century.
Dear Lord, we sometimes feel despairing about the amount of hatred that exists between members of different groups, races and religions in our world. We pray that we may bring peace, in small ways, to those with whom we mix day by day.