If you’re like me, you can’t believe it’s already Christmas again; it doesn’t seem possible that another year has already passed us by.
As we wrap up 2012, it’s a perfect time for thoughtful reflection on where we are as a nation, as a state, and as a country of one people from many different backgrounds.
Some days our differences seem so stark it’s as if we’re just co-habitants on this continent, not fellow citizens of a united country. As Abraham Lincoln once said, quoting Christ in the process, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
As I think about the many things that divide us, I can, at times, lose hope of restoring liberty in our land. But when I think about the words to “O Holy Night,” I am reminded of something so much greater that unites us: the reality that we are all children of the same God. This hymn, originally written in France, and put to music by a man of Jewish ancestry, quickly became an abolitionist hymn in America. This because of the stirring words…
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother,
and in His name all oppression shall cease.
In both the construction of the song itself, and in the words contained within it, the message is clear: Unity is possible when God is viewed as man’s rights-giver.
As we celebrate this Christmas Season, and look to the year ahead, let us regain our optimism that this Truth holds the power to restore our state and rebuild our nation. Let us take the great message of Christmas, that there is eternal hope for man through Christ, and likewise apply it to our hope for liberty in this life.
We can be one nation again, if we recommit ourselves to the belief that the rights of all men and women come from God, not from government. Let us, again, “hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
May God Bless You and Your Families.
Merry Christmas,
