{"id":5442,"date":"2012-12-19T10:05:03","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T18:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=5442"},"modified":"2012-12-19T14:55:45","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T22:55:45","slug":"tis-the-season-the-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/12\/19\/tis-the-season-the-angels\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tis the Season . . . the Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Fear Not<\/em> (detail), collection: Mrs. Arthur S. DeMoss<\/h6>\n

You’ve noticed by now that these posts are coming more frequently than usual. It’s to get all the first\u00a0Christmas\u00a0characters in before the date. We’ll go back to normal after that.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Christmas creche would not be complete without angels. One could wonder what they think of how we represent them. But then again, they do keep themselves pretty mysterious . . . ducking in and out of human sensory dimension. Biblically, sometimes they appear as men (never as women, by the way, or chubby babies), other times as these radiant beings.<\/p>\n

On the night of Jesus’ birth they stepped out of the sky and said, “Fear not” . . . always the opening greeting when they show up like this. It was a host<\/em> beyond number and must have looked like the spawning grounds of\u00a0fireflies . . . but large, glowing and pulsating. And they were bursting forth with what they could hardly contain, trying to wake us to the import of it all.<\/p>\n

Funny, my ears went up when NPR\u00a0announced\u00a0they’ll be doing a series to get back to “the real\u00a0meaning\u00a0of Christmas.” They’re calling it “Tinsel Tales.” Wonder what the angels would make of that.<\/p>\n

Angels, messengers\u00a0of God, sometimes warriors, keep themselves out of sight but for exceptional moments. This was THE exceptional moment, the birth announcement of all time, the “good news of great joy for all people.”<\/p>\n

That is the Christmas message.<\/p>\n

They gave God highest glory and added, “Peace on earth.”<\/p>\n

(Note that they said<\/em> it, not sang<\/em> it; probably because Handel or Bach hadn’t been born yet.)<\/p>\n

But there’s been some question about this angelic peace remark. Where is it?<\/p>\n

The question is even in one of our\u00a0carols. In I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,\u00a0<\/em>Longfellow lyriced:
\nAnd in despair I bowed my head;<\/em>
\n “There is no peace on earth,” I said;<\/em>
\n “For hate is strong,<\/em>
\n And mocks the song<\/em>
\n Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”<\/em><\/p>\n

The next stanza returns to faith, but times were hard and he had his reasons to doubt.<\/p>\n

Just like these days. Where’s world peace?<\/p>\n

Unless it’s the peace Jesus talked about . . . internal peace . . . “not as the world gives.”<\/p>\n

It’s the best Christmas gift there is.<\/p>\n

And I thank the angels for passing it on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. I’ve never painted a “nativity scene” but once, and that was ten years ago.\u00a0I called it “Fear Not.”<\/em>\u00a0Here it is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They don’t show up often, and when they do it’s for a reason. Best to take note of their words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5442"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5495,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}