My favorite story about angels was first told in 1947 on the silver screen. The movie was called “The Bishop’s Wife” with Cary Grant. It was released just before Christmas in 1947. And ever since I was a young man, I have endeavored to see the movie at Christmas time as a gift to myself.
No matter how often I see the film, it imparts an uplifting meaning to me, that the world is going to be alright and that God cares and does look over us.
In the movie, Cary Grant plays an angel named Dudley. David Niven plays a bishop named Henry Broughman. And Loretta Young plays Henry’s wife, patient as she is in spite of her many troubles.
Henry wants to raise money to build a cathedral. Unfortunately he is unsuccessful, so he turns to heaven and asks what he should do next. Then, immediately and without explanation, Henry is visited by Dudley, who claims to be an angel. Of course, like us, Henry doesn’t believe it. Henry becomes further annoyed when Dudley ingratiates himself into the household as Henry’s assistant and earns the kindness of Henry’s wife.
The movie takes an all too familiar turn when Dudley annoys Henry to the point that Henry finally challenges heaven.
Time passes. And soon it becomes time for Dudley to disappear and be erased from everyone’s memory. On the way out the angel rewrites Henry’s Christmas eve sermon.
After all of these years, as I watch the movie again, I cannot help but be moved by the scene when Henry reads the sermon and realizes that it is not the one he wrote. Henry doesn’t know from where the sermon came, but realizes it was a gift beyond his own knowledge and capability.
In many ways, that is what Christmas is about. We are receiving something that we don’t fully understand, over which we have no control, but which is a gift nonetheless offered to each of us — regardless of religion or belief.
For some people, life can be about growing and gaining wisdom, knowledge, understanding. For others it is a hard struggle just to survive. But what is received at Christmas, for those willing to accept it, is a gift bursting with goodwill, hope and a rebirth of self-discovery.
We Americans celebrate different holidays. We include different stories in our histories. And we are bound together by a common understanding that the human mind and heart, while fallible, determine our future and can decide our fate upon this earth.
It is unfortunate that religion tends to divide people. Religious differences seem to be more important than similarities. There are those who believe that only their particular religious perspective is true, and thus all others are false. There are those who identify with no religion and are accused of being a source of discord and problems.
Yet, I would argue that people of goodwill and strong morals are not defined by their labels but rather by the actions that they take.
At Christmas we should resolve to remove the divides that separate us. We should try to see the world from one another’s perspectives. We are not islands unto ourselves. Of course, none of this is easy. But the gift given at Christmas can help us move beyond our limits and boundaries, so that we can build upon our differences to make a healthier and more just America.
To that end, the story of the birth of Jesus is powerful. It is a message about being human, about God caring, and about the power that lies within each of us to transform the world.
The story of the birth of Jesus is filled with allegory. It begins with a pregnant woman and her caring husband looking for shelter for her to give birth, but there is no room, no place for this poor minority family.
Imagine what it would be like to be far from home, exhausted, in desperate need of a place to rest, to lie down, about to give birth to a child, and yet finding all the doors closed upon which you knock. Finally, as a last resort, you discover a cold, drafty, dirty animal shed.
God could have provided a miracle so that Jesus might have been born in a more warm and hospitable place. Rather there is a clear message.
Like Mary and Joseph, there are those less fortunate, those who live with despair, those who do not know from where their next meal is coming, those who do not have a roof over their heads, or a safe place to reside even when they are about to have a child.
The story of the birth of Jesus is a gift to each of us. It captures our hopes, dreams and possibilities for the future. This tiny infant, the most vulnerable person, is totally dependent, helpless, and looks to adults for food, warmth and safety. That baby Jesus represents our own vulnerability and potential within each of us.
And so we live with a delicate balance. We hold the power to care or to destroy. To build or to wreak havoc. To treat one another with respect or to cause hurt. We have the ability to stop destructive forces and to improve the world, not only for ourselves, but for people everywhere.
With the gift of Christmas, we have the power to light the darkness of ignorance, to remove the shadow of despair, poverty and violence.
As a community and as friends, let us resolve to treat one another with respect. To bring hope and reason to an ever brighter America. And to offer those who reach out to us more than the closed doors that Mary and Joseph suffered.
Merry Christmas.
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, Shippensburg University Trustee, and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx software coordinates and drives communication, specifying, approval, procurement or production, reporting and activities necessary to obtaining direct mail, marketing materials, promo and all other printing. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
