CHRISTMAS OF THE HERALD ANGEL
By
Dr. Don Noyes-More Ph.D.
Christmas is supposed to be the holiday
of
family, love, peace, good tidings, and of laughing children, time of comfort,
and seeing what’s right with the world. If one is Christian it is the
celebration of the birth of Christ, the King of Peace. For others it is the
Winter Festival, the Yule of frost and snow, of quiet and reflection. But all
too often it is a season of painful hurry. A good friend calls Christmas,
“America with the hurry up and buy sickness.”
For some Christmas is a
season fraught with perceived dire personal consequences for not buying the
right gifts or sending the nicest cards, or not having enough money to do
either. Many people drive themselves half mad during all of this holiday chaos.
A trip to the mall during this season of joy and peace says everything about
pushing, shoving, yelling, deep frustration, and anger, which spills out into
the family, and for many families pours right out upon the Christmas dinner
table full of frowns and anger.
I thought back over the
many years and all the Christmastimes my family had. It all seems so near and
yet set in a time now gone to all but memory. One memory does seep back, the
Christmas of the Herald Angel, two years before my life partner of 32 years
died.
As was our custom that I
do all the Christmas shopping, it was a chore I did not always like but always
did. My chore of having to face the crowds at the stores and looking at all the
unhappy people was not great cheer for me. But this one time I decided I was
going to shop for Christmas dinner late at night. It was about 10PM when I
finally got the courage to go to the local supermarket. I pulled up in front of
the store and noticed there were not many people. This is good I thought to
myself. I walked into the store to experience blinding neon white light from
above and the droning of the “MuzakĻ Christmas music from every direction. The
few people I saw looked haggard, tired, and unhappy. I was very happy I was
going to do my Christmas shopping in record time, this would take no time at
all and it would be behind me.
Finally I finished my
shopping and pulled up into a checkout stand line with only two persons in
front of me. The woman in front of me picked up a Tabloid and was thumbing
through it. The other people looked dejected, unhappy, and weary.
I noticed a man in jeans
and a lumberjack shirt walk in the store. He was about 6 feet tall, dark brown
hair and blue eyes. He walked up near a check-stand next to mine. He smiled and
then boomed out to all, Merry Christmas everyone People looked at him with
questioning looks; the women in front of me dropped her Tabloid. The checkers
stopped checking. All went quiet. This man pulled out a harmonica from his back
pocket and started playing “Hark the
Herald Angel” on his harmonica. The overhead MuzakĻ stopped playing, a
miracle in itself! The grumpy faces of the people in the store turned to smiles.
When the man finished playing his harmonica he paused with a big broad smile.
He then began singing “Ave Maria.” The store became like a church and his voice
was clear and warm. He finished his song and then said; Merry Christmas and God
bless you all.” He turned and walked out into the dark Christmas night.
Oddly as if on cue the
MuzakĻ started up again. People looked at each other with smiles and the
checkers started checking again. When I got up to the checker I said, “really
great of you guys to do that with the Christmas man!” The checker looked at me
and said, “we didn’t do that, I don’t know who that was, weird huh?”
I figured it was God’s
Herald Angel bringing us all a special message of Peace, Joy, and the Love; all
we must do is open our ears to His music divine. Christmas is about love and
peace. A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.