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My dad and I were having a theological discussion about praise music a few weeks ago. Dad asked, why do so many of the songs mention enemies? I could see where he was coming from. There is a lot of enmity in our world. There seems to be division between people in our country and even within our own community. Why would we want to participate in that kind of rhetoric? Surely we want to bring people together? How could referring to enemies help any of that?
My answer to dad in the moment was that I assume the songwriters don’t like doing extra work more than anyone else, and are borrowing heavily from the psalms. I said, the psalms are full of enemies, quit nitpicking, dad! But the season of Advent has shown us that light comes into the darkness, and I’ve found myself thinking about what we mean at Colonial Heights Presbyterian church when we sing about God delivering us from our enemies, or fighting our battles, or winning our nation back. In what spirit are we using these militant phrases? What darkness are we struggling against?
So I’d like to propose a non-exhaustive list of our enemies, that we ask God to fight on our behalf: I think we can start with the opposite of the candles we lighted each week of advent - despair, war, misery, and hatred. We can add greed and apathy towards the vulnerable, self-righteousness, and abuse.
Maybe when we talk or sing about our enemies, we could refer to the prayer of confession that we make each Sunday, in which we declare that we are all guilty and we all fall prey to these enemies in one way or another. But it’s more than just listing sins. Yes, we’re surrounded by sin, but we’re also surrounded by sadness, illness, poverty, loneliness, and death.
We tell so many stories at this time of year that clearly name these enemies - a greedy and apathetic Ebenezer Scrooge. A lonely and rageful Grinch. A worldly and success-obsessed Lucy planning the peanuts Christmas pageant.
Many of these stories involve children, like Tiny Tim and Cindy-Lou Who, the most vulnerable members of our society who are so often the victims of these enemies. And we name these together, every year. We all agree! We all know what we should care about and fight for, and fight against. And yet, we fail to defeat these enemies year after year.
And yet, we trust that our enemies will not prevail in the end, because the light of the world has come and will come again. We cannot rely on our own actions. But hope, peace, joy, and love have, do, and shall defeat these enemies through Christ. We should sing about that all year long!
Pray with me: Lord, our hope is in you. Give us the wisdom to see our enemies clearly. Give us the strength to be your hands and feet in this world. Fill our hearts with love and understanding for our fellow man, but steel our hearts to fight against despair, war, misery, hatred, greed, apathy, abuse, illness, and poverty. Relieve the troubles of our hearts. Thank you for the gift of a little child in a manger who is king of kings and lord of lords. In Jesus name we pray; Amen.
In Christ,
Emily Hutchins
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