On March 4, 1861, the newly-elected Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address. It was a difficult time for the nation, as only two weeks prior, Jefferson Davis had been sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America. Lincoln sought counsel from his experienced Secretary of State, William Seward, on possible wording for the inaugural speech. Seward was prone to language of war and insistent on the righteousness of the northern cause, offering sentences about “patriot graves” and how we will be protected by “guardian angels.” Lincoln borrowed some of Seward’s poetry but changed the sentiment to focus more on the glory of the American “Union” as well as how both sides are to be guided by “the better angels” of their collective nature.
Advent and Christmas are church seasons in which we call upon the “better angels” of our shared humanity. The Advent time of preparation challenges us to look beyond the horizon of today’s joys and sorrows and consider how all of life is moving toward God’s promised time of completion, peace and justice. And the Christmas time of celebration reminds us that God has come to us in the Christ-child, an incarnation of love and goodness that confirms the promise that the Lord is with us every day and in every situation. Both seasons pull us up from places of despair and anxiety. Both are designed to inspire and lift our spirits. Both involve literal angels (the messengers to Mary and to the shepherds in the field) and “better angels,” as they tell us “tidings of great joy for all the people.”
Read now Lincoln’s final paragraph from his First Inaugural Address and then consider the closing verse from the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”:
I am loathe to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind. Bid envy, strife, and discord cease. Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
To believe in “better angels” is the first step toward a life-transforming faith. To trust in “better angels” is the next step in a life-sustaining faith. And to tell with joy the story of the Advent and Christmas “better angels” is to join their sacred chorus and continue the work of the incarnate-crucified-risen Christ Jesus throughout all the days and seasons that lie ahead.