Eric Reece
With Old Christmas – Epiphany (Jan. 6) – passed, the 12 days of Christmas are completed for another year. We put away our decorations and give thanks for another holiday season.
Yet, the work of Christmas is just beginning.
Howard Thurman was an African-American Baptist minister/theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was raised by his grandmother, a former slave in Orlando. His school only went as far as the seventh grade, so his family scraped enough money to send him to high school in Jacksonville, Fla.
Arriving at the train station and buying his ticket, he was told he had to pay extra for his baggage. Penniless, he sat on the bench and cried. A black man in overalls walked by and paid the charges. He did not introduce himself and Thurman never knew his name, but never forgot the kindness. He dedicated his memoirs to the stranger who helped him fulfill his dream.
In the mid 1930s, he led a delegation to India and met with Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi challenged him to rethink the words of Jesus in light of the racial problems in America.
Thurman emphasized the Gospel of Jesus and its non-violent teachings, and influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement.
He gave lectures, which later became the basis for his most influential book, 1949’s “Jesus and the Disinherited.”
His question was why Christianity and the church seemed helpless to solve many of society’s problems. Thurman wrote Jesus helped the disinherited change from within, so they would have a deep faith to survive in the face of oppression.
There is a legend showing the struggle of the church to overcome society’s problems. The great medieval thinker of the church – Thomas Aquinas – was at the Vatican in Rome to visit Pope Innocent II. He greeted the Pope who sat near a table with a large sum of money spread out. The Pope pointed to the table and said to Thomas, “You see, the Church is no longer in that age in which she said, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’
“True, holy father,” replied Thomas; “but neither can she any longer say to the lame, ‘Rise up and walk.’” (Read Acts 5:6)
How can the church fulfill its Gospel call to reach out to all people – when we continue the work of Christmas.
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 flocks,
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 the people,
to make music in the heart.
-“The Work of Christmas,” Dr. Howard Thurman
Christmas is over, but the work of Christmas carries on.
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church and can be reached via email,
ereece@wnccumc.net.