- Home
- About Us
- Contributors
- Departments
- Topics
- Issues
- Archives
- AmSpecBlog
- Subscribe
- Newsletter
- Magazine Archives
- Advertise
- Donate
- Contact Us
- Daily Digest
- Templeton Essays
Streetcar Line
Now the Advent
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Here's the situation, people: Politics right now is depressing. The national news is depressing. The government bailouts are depressing. The internecine fights among Republicans are depressing. The internecine fights among conservatives are depressing. The thought of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is profoundly depressing. The craziness of Wal-Mart shoppers who would trample a store worker to death is depressing. The horrible terrorism in India is far worse than depressing.
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
This has been an awful year for conservatives. John McCain won the Republican nomination. John McCain ran an utterly inept and dishonorable campaign, and the leftist Barack Obama won the presidency. A Republican president and his appointees at the Federal Reserve and at Treasury badly mishandled a rolling credit crisis, exacerbated rather than healed a panic, and engineered a series of outrageous bailouts and buyouts while saddling generations of taxpayers with the bill.
William F. Buckley died. Tony Snow died. Peter Rodman died. Alexander Solzhenitsyn died. Jesse Helms died. One year and a day ago as I write this (a year and two days ago as you read it), Henry Hyde died. And Bob Novak has been stricken with a brain tumor and we pray for his recovery.
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Russia has gone authoritarian again, aggressive, and vicious. Iran is going nuclear. China continues to be repressive. Pirates (pirates, in this day and age!) successfully ply the Indian Ocean -- and, to a lesser extent, oceans worldwide, including in the Americas.
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Israel -- ah, yes, Israel. Israel is beleaguered. Always. But
perhaps even more now than usual. Its prime minister is a lame
duck, on his way out of office amidst a scandal. Its strongest
international supporter, the United States, is hobbled by doubts
caused by a financial panic, and the incoming U.S. president's
commitment to Israel (a few bits of rhetoric aside) is in some
doubt. And Iran rattles its sabers at Israel while Hamas sits
perched in Gaza.
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
The world is too much with us, late and soon. The center has not held, and the worst are full of passionate intensity. We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven. We wind up wounded, and not even dead. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes. The lone and level sands stretch far away…..
And yet…. And yet….
Rejoice, rejoice: Emanuel shall come to thee, O
Israel….
Oh Come, thou Wisdom, from on high.
And yet we in the Christian tradition believe that the things of this world pale in comparison to the marvelous things of the spirit which are to come. Especially here in the United States, where we just celebrated Thanksgiving, we see this bleak time of year and can only be grateful, and hopeful, and confident in the Advent of grace and light. In the Jewish tradition, too, Isaiah's teachings (and others) tell of redemption -- in some forms of Judaism, in the shape of a person as Messiah, who has not come yet but surely is coming; and in other forms of Judaism, in a Messianic age. Either way, if Christmas is a uniquely Christian celebration, then Advent, in its broader meaning of an expectant preparation for redemption, is a season where Christians and Jews can share Isaiah's belief that "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God…announcing peace, heralding good tidings."
We believe, because we already have seen manifold examples of survival despite suffering, of obstacles overcome, of hope rekindled, of joy emerging miraculously from sorrows. In the civic realm, we Americans especially believe, because we have been so mightily blessed already. From Valley Forge we made it to Yorktown. From the burning of James Madison's White House we found victory outside of New Orleans. We bungled Dred Scott but issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Pearl Harbor begat Iwo Jima and D-Day. Sputnik spurred us to Apollo and the Moon. Malaise gave way to Morning in America. And, lest we forget how spectacular a triumph it actually was, we helped a Wall come down while leaving its Soviet sponsors on the ash heap of history.
But again, the civic realm is as nothing next to the gifts of the spirit our faith tells us to believe in. Or, what is more quotidian but still in many ways more important than affairs of state, we spend this season, from Thanksgiving all the way through the New Year's arrival, celebrating hearth and home. The love of human for human may be a weak imitation of the love of our Lord, but it springs from the same source and is itself powerful enough for wondrous things. And if even that love is not enough, Isaiah tells us that "the Lord God shall wipe the tears off every face."
Our blessings as Americans -- freedom, plenty, beautiful lands, great leaders when times were tough -- sustain us, and our faith and faiths sustain us even more mightily. We know we have always had a rendezvous with destiny, and that knowledge gives us solace and strength. Advent is upon us. O come, o come, Emanuel.
.
Comments
Leave a Comment
- Exclusive: Grand Inquisitor Endorses Obama Health Plan
- On the Prowl
- Will the Next Press Be Capitalist?
Iran in Turmoil
Is the Obama administration doing a good job handling the aftermath of the election in Iran?
Participating in this survey will subscribe you to the American Spectator email newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Carlos Echevarria| 12.1.08 @ 7:27AM
Great article and thank you for putting everything into proper perspective...God Bless you!!!
Just one last thing, respectfully, we did get, in my humble opinion, one positive out of the McCain run and that is the new standard bearer of the GOP, Sarah Louise Heath Palin. (Reagan in heels)
Bob| 12.1.08 @ 8:16AM
The irony here is that Obama was perceived as the candidate of hope and redemption. McCain/Palin ran a nasty, negative campaign with lots of name calling and separatism. Obama understood the need to "bring people together", while Palin, especially, was extremely divisive and negative.
This is a function of the dumbing down of Republicans in general and conservatives specifically. Perhaps if we elected smart, competent, knowledgeable candidates we'd have a chance. I believe this has less to do with positions and more to do with the competence and brilliance of the candidate.
Mary| 12.1.08 @ 9:32AM
Thank you, Mr. Hillyer.
I suffered a terrible crisis of faith a couple of years ago that was so painful, and I shed tears I never dreamed I could or would.
I'm not fully back, and maybe I never will be, but what the Church gave me I can never repay. And what the Church gave the world, the world can never repay.
Someone commented recently that Obama sought "christian justice." Christian was written in lower case to give it the sacrosanctity of the secular. But you cannot take The Law of Christ out of Christian justice because once you do it becomes a foundation of sand. The Church accomplished all it accomplished because it believed in the concrete, existential Jesus and not the abstraction.
Please read this, Mr. Hillyer: http://tinyurl.com/5eygbo
And let us pray that America does not go the way of England.
My family didn't start to celebrate Christmas in the American style until I was about 10 years old. It wasn't the custom in Italy to exchange gifts. We had a repast of fish on Christmas Eve -keeping the Fast, and Christmas Day was about family and the Holy Family and memories. We were alone. All my relatives were in Italy. I came to know my maternal grandmother in 1968. I spent the summer in Italy. I was 12, and I never saw her again.
We had so very little, but it was enough and it was the happiest time for my family. As we progressed and we acquired more, the happiness was no greater.
God bless you and keep you and your family.
Adeste Fideles!
Daphne Kenward| 12.1.08 @ 10:02AM
Mary.
If you refuse to learn, you will suffer, if you think Christmas is more than a Pagan fistival look it up. Begin to learn stop being the follower but the leader in common sense and justice.
Teach your family to save their money, and do not go around wasting it because one day you will need it and bad credit will not help you.
There is no where in the Bible telling anyone to run up huge debts because it's the 25th of December. The only people who benefit from these stupid ideas are retailers, they make huge profits while people rack up debts. And the Banks make a killing on interest payments on credit cards and loans and over drafts.
Darling wake up grow up and teach your children to be responsible. Dump Christmas.
SANTA, mix up the words this is what you get SATAN.
Gazinya| 12.1.08 @ 10:18AM
Thank you Mr. Hillyer. It is fasinating watching the world getting 'ramped up' for something. I remember a time when all seemed dark and I read Psalm 37 and I learned something that has helped me throughout my life. There seems to be three time tables. One is the worlds' time. Things that should have been yesterday. Then there is my time. Things I want done, NOW. Then there is Gods' time and Gods' time is 'in the nick of time.'
Daphne Kenward| 12.1.08 @ 10:37AM
Anybody out there ever read this.
One night I had a dream, I dreamt I was walking along the beach with god, and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of foot prints in the sand, one belonged to me and the other to god.
When the last scene of my life flashed before us I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at times along the path of life there was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of my life. This really bothered me and I questioned God about it.
"God, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way, but I noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, in times when I needed you most, you would leave me.
God replied, my precious, precious child, I loved you and I would never, never, leave you during times of trials and suffering.
When you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.08 @ 3:39PM
We lost Buckley this year. That means were in for conservatives who aren't grounded in decency. Mercenaries.
mercenary
quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
Diane Smith| 12.2.08 @ 1:21AM
Quin Hillyer states Mc Cain ran an inept campaign. He did. My question is: who among the aspiring would-be nominees would have run an "ept" one?
Mitt Romney, whose most telling statement sticks in my mind, "Don't touch the hair." in speaking of his perfect coif?
Fred Thompson, who seemed to have mistaken the whole thing for a run-through?
Rudy Giuliani interrupting a speaking engagement to take a cell phone call from his silly wife? Silly wife persuading Rudy to pose in the Big Smooch for Vanity Fair? Did Al Gore devouring Tipper at the convention teach him nothing?
Huckabee, the thin fat guy preacher man from Arkansas who fakes it even at guitar - -
If any other Republican in the field could have run a better campaign, why was he not the nominee? This is not a defense of Mc Cain, but rather a question that lingers in the mind - after the Republican clock was pretty thoroughly cleaned.
It is easy to blame it all on George Bush, but that is a sleazy cop-out and sadly, a part of the Republican mentality these days. The truth is(and was), we are a party without a viable candidate against the slick invention of David Axelrod. You hear the occasional faint boast of someone claiming to be Reaganesque. Only Reagan was Reaganesque. No one before him and certainly no one since. What Reagan had going for him, in addition to his happy-go-lucky smile, that no one else has captured, was he knew what the country needed. Not what he needed. He didn't need to be president to feel fulfilled. He had a genuine desire to serve his country. Most have a genuine desire to have the trappings and power of the presidency. And that is what we have now. Interesting that our new president has chosen as his props those who propped up Bill Clinton in his hour of need - "I will say this one more time, I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski..." Remember the gathering in the Rose Garden to support our Philanderer in Chief? (That was before the blue dress) Subtract Bill Gates, and you have the picture. Except the "woman wronged", standing by her man, is now the Secretary of State!
charlie dewitt| 12.2.08 @ 1:35PM
Quin, I shall look back on this year with undiluted pleasure.
Appleby| 12.2.08 @ 2:03PM
"Maybe Christmas," said the Grinch, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas....perhaps...means a LITTLE BIT MORE."
My beloved Daddy died October 7th of this year and Christmas at our house will be quiet this year. But we will remember our Daddy not for what he bought us -- because he and Mama never made much money -- but for what he gave us that he never had -- he laboured all his life to give us happy memories of our Daddy. He grew up on a hardscrabble farm in the Depression in Wisconsin with 8 brothers and 3 sisters and a father right out of Dickens who eventually hanged himself in the garage of one of his sons while Daddy was lying in hospital with a skull fracture and concussion and a young wife with two babies praying at home ... and he asked me once, suddenly, if I thought his Daddy could be in Heaven. I had to tell him the truth -- that with God all things are possible. And even more possible when a man who never even had his own bed until he joined the Army in World War II could leave his daughters with not only happy memories and a hopeful spirit, but with the knowledge of a Daddy who could believe that God could forgive our sorry Grandfather and take him to Paradise like Jesus took the Thief on the Cross.
In the long run all the Obamas of the world (and the three stooges who are currently taking over my own country by coup -- look North, we are up here in that blank space above the USA) matter not at all, when there's love at home.
Ms. Know| 12.6.08 @ 9:46PM
The left-wing illuminati have made politics bad, because they take it as a joke and a popularity contest, where the conservatives look to influence people's lives for the good.