And so this is Christmas

Sometimes I wake up with a song running through my head. Often the song is simply one I heard on the radio the day before and could not get out of my head. This morning, though, I woke up with John Lennon singing in my mind:

“And so this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun.

And I found myself thinking about what I have done this year. Then decided to let that question go for a few days – at least until New Year’s Eve since that really is a New Year’s kind of question. Is there a Christmas question in his beautiful verses, I wondered? Do his words actually say anything meaningful about Christmas? This verse seems heavily weighted toward good wishes:

“And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun,
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young.”

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear.

Mmmm – perhaps we are getting close – a Christmas without fear. Are we living in fear this year? Those of us with loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan are afraid for them. Those of us (for they are also ‘us’) who live in Iraq and Afghanistan or other troubled parts of the world also live with fear and lack. Many in this country who have lost their jobs and their savings have also lost hope and live with fear.

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong,
For rich and for poor ones
The road is so long.

And so Happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight.

And the last verse:

War is over!
If you want it
War is over!
War is over, Now!

John Lennon’s Christmas question seems to be: What have I done this year to make peace real, for myself, for those around me and for the world?