Chaplain’s  Corner – It’s a Long and Winding Road

Padre Turkington, 
Chaplain, CFB Esquimalt 

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The first day of December marks the point in the year when it is perfectly acceptable to start listening to Christmas music. The standard jingles are inescapable; flooding stores, malls, restaurants, radio stations, and seemingly occupying every vacant quiet space. For some this is welcomed, for others it is dreaded. I used to be in the later camp, but over time have learned to enjoy my own festive soundtrack; religious carols mixed with a few sentimental, if not slightly absurd, tracks, along with Bob Dylan’s festive album that encapsulates it all. There is no shortage of songs out there, and we have become quite accustomed to the classics being played incessantly, even when a good number of them have not aged well Do They Know It’s Christmas? comes quickly to mind).   

One such standard is John Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War Is Over.) After spending two years actively protesting the Vietnam War, and releasing the popular anthem, “All we are saying is give peace a chance,” Lennon released this as a protest song that put his ‘political message across with a little honey.’ He wrote it because he was tired of the sentimentally optimistic white Christmas and wanted to motivate people to action. So this is Christmas, and what have you done?

It has been over 50 years since this song was released, and what have we actually done? If we look around at our world, war is far from over and we can be forgiven if these lyrics now ring sentimentally and optimistically hollow in our ears. At least one line stands out as true. Originally, The world is so wrong, was later replaced with, The road is so long. Both lines ring true, as some have argued the world hasn’t stopped being at war since 1914. It has been a very long road to peace indeed.

So, what are we to do this Christmas season? Like this song, we must resist both the slide into sentimental optimism and into hopeless pessimism. We must persist in our motivation towards promoting peace. The saying is still true; Blessed are the Peacemakers. However, we can only extend peace if we have peace to give. Christmas is the season when we pause to receive and be filled with peace, so that we can continue to be motivated as peacemakers throughout the rest of the year and for as long as the road takes. So take time this Christmas and find that peace that you have been long looking for.

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