On Christmas Day our congregation
worshiped by praying the Christmas liturgy followed by a service of Lessons and
Carols adapted from the historic Service of Nine Lessons and Carols presented
each Christmas Eve by the choir of Kings College, Cambridge, England. In our slightly shortened version, seven
scripture lessons tell of the Incarnation in the birth of Jesus. A familiar Advent or Christmas carol is sung
in response to each lesson. The entire
service is a moving declaration of the foundation of the Christian faith –
Jesus, the Christ, was born among us and recognized by those who heard the good
news as Immanuel, God with us.
A few days after Christmas I saw a
post on Facebook quoting the Rev. Franklin Graham as saying that Donald Trump’s
win was the answer to the prayers of many: “Trump won because ‘God showed
up.’” I found this troubling because
what I have learned of Trump’s words and actions so far seems to be at odds
with the God who is described in the liturgy and scripture lessons we had read
in church just two days before. Thus I
undertook a comparison.
