Though . . . Yet

 Yesterday was Christmas Day, the first time for Christmas to be on a Sunday since 2016—and the next time won’t be until 2033. On the week before Christmas, my church’s theme for the Sunday worship service was “Do you see what I see?” and yesterday it was based on Habakkuk 3:17~19.

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” has been a popular Christmas song since the 1960s. Perhaps few people have recognized that that song was written as a Christmas prayer for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.**

While the second verse voices the title, the song begins, “Said the night wind to the little lamb / Do you see what I see?” And what is seen is “A star, a star, dancing in the night / With a tail as big as a kite.”

A writer for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (see here) explains that the latter phrase “can be interpreted in two ways: as the bright star of Bethlehem that leads the Magi to the baby Jesus—or as the sight of a nuclear missile in flight.” 

But the plain plea of the song is in the last verse: “Pray for peace, people, everywhere.” Sixty years later, that is still a pertinent plea. 

Do you see what I see about the coming global crisis? While there is certainly serious concern about nuclear war in the year ahead, my main fear is much more long-ranging, namely, an increasing concern about climate change and the collapse of the world as we know it. 

My first blog post of 2020 was “Climate Crisis: The Challenge of the Decade,” and beginning on Jan. 25 of this year I have posted a few articles referring to what seems to be an unfathomable crisis because of overshoot.

(To see/review what I have written this year about that, click here to read that 1/25 post, and then at the bottom of that article click on the tag “overshoot.”) 

What can we learn from Habakkuk 3:17-18? 

Earlier this month, a Bible study group of my church studied/discussed much of the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, and on Dec. 12 we shared what we had thought/written about the final verses of that short prophetic book—and some shared their thoughts yesterday in our Christmas worship service.

Here are the words of Habakkuk 3:17-18 from the New International Version of the Bible:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

(Bolding added)

In reflecting on those powerful words, here is what I wrote to be shared yesterday:

Though global warming continues to worsen 

and sea levels keep on rising,

though droughts increase in severity

and floods become even more destructive,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

Though the world’s economy spirals downward

and standards of living begin to plummet,

though accustomed to luxuries decrease greatly

and hardships significantly proliferate,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Though domestic polarization becomes grimmer

and troubling discord roars across the land,

though worrisome threats of war persist

and rogue nations increasingly rattle their sabers,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

Though civilization’s collapse becomes more imminent

and impending doom seems progressively threatening,

though the future appears increasingly uncertain

and sure hope begins to seem illusionary,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

I am still working on articulating the basic reason for the yet affirmation, but primarily it is due to my faith in the eternal God whom I believe to be the Creator and, yes, the Consummator of the universe. 

As Creation was in a far more distant past than traditionally conceived, so Consummation will most likely be in a far distant future.  

_____

** The story about the writing and meaning of this Christmas song is told by Kathy Warnes here. She reports that Noel Regney, who wrote the lyrics, said that of the numerous renditions of the song his favorite was the one by Robert Goulet, which you can hear here on YouTube.