IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter, long ago

[Christina Georgina Rosetti /c. 1872]

I took the feature photo above in November of 2021.

I had hoped to take a more current version this past weekend when all the snow fell, but I haven’t been out of the house since Saturday afternoon.

Those of us who live in Ohio and in the Midwest have endured a mammoth snowstorm that has nearly paralyzed the area. Schools are closed and people have been warned to stay off the road, or at least, only go out if necessary.

Of course, that hasn’t deterred my wife from venturing out to our small backyard to leave seeds for the birds. The two feral cats that she has been feeding have been no-shows for several days and she’s been worried sick about their whereabouts and well-being.

Instead of a scripture verse, I used the first verse of the hymn In the Bleak Midwinter as my focus reading for today. None of the assigned readings reflected my mood and I didn’t feel like struggling to try and make something up.

I should also note that this is one of my least favorite Christmas carols. The tune, CRANHAM, was written by Gustav Holst specifically for the poem, which was authored by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) several years before it was set to music.

The melody is somber, which is probably one of the reasons I dislike it so. I find little uplifting about the music or the text, no matter how many poets or songwriters extol its virtues.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, has become the flashpoint of this bleak midwinter.

Bleak is an accurate description for Minnesota weather in January. I speak from experience as I have visited the area twice around this time of the year.

I know people from the area. They love their state and that’s all well and good. I’m sure they probably aren’t all that enamored with my Ohio either. But this is where I live and have grown to accept it and the dreary winters. One learns to take the bitter with the sweet.

But perhaps it is because of their weather that Minnesotans have demonstrated to the world their strength, their endurance, and their perseverance throughout these past few weeks. In that time they’ve effectively resisted the tyranny of the federal government as they’ve marched in protest to the unwanted presence of untrained, incompetent and trigger-happy ICE and Border Patrol agents who have wreaked havoc on its citizens.

That resistance, sadly, has come at a great price – the needless deaths of two people – Renee Good, and Alex Pretti – who were gunned down simply because they were convenient targets.

A mother and an ICU Nurse. Two ordinary people who cared enough for others to be a disruptive impediment to the lawless tactics and the profanity of the so-called “law enforcement officials.”

Minnesotans have embodied the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s quote that, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

King’s words came from a sermon he delivered in 1962, which included the following thoughts.

In the final analysis our ability to deal creatively with shattered dreams and blasted hopes will be determined by the extent of our faith in God. A genuine faith will imbue us with the conviction that there is a God beyond time and a Life beyond Life. Thus we know that we are not alone in any circumstance, however dismal and catastrophic it may be. God dwells with us in life’s confining and oppressive cells…Let us never feel that God’s creative power is exhausted by this earthly life, and his majestic love is locked within the limited walls of time and space.¹

The conflict appears to have subsided, although it is far from over. But the events of the past month is a testament to the resilience of the hardy Minnesotans, as well as their faith.

Perhaps that faith is borne out in the words of the second verse of In the Bleak Midwinter.

Heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
heav’n and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign;
in the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer, edited p. 826)

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1. From a sermon “Shattered Dreams“, courtesy of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University ↩︎