by John Ellis
“O Holy Night” is not only one of my favorite Christmas carols, it is also one of my favorite songs across all genres. In my first play after college, a production of The Homecoming by Earl Hamner, Jr., I played the lead Clay-Boy, better known as John-Boy from the TV series The Waltons. I was originally cast in a small supporting role but found myself thrust into the lead after the actor playing the part received a phone call from his agent calling him back to L.A. because he had booked a day player role on a sitcom. Text-wise, it was one of the largest roles I’ve ever had. With long monologues opening every scene, Clay-Boy dominates the stage throughout the entire play. Learning the lines in a short amount of time was intimidating. Being tasked with carrying the play as a very inexperienced and unprepared actor was daunting. On a lesser scale, but still adding to my nerves and fears, the part called for Clay-Boy to sing a brief song, both solo and a capello. Even though I took piano lessons for ten years, played – sort of played – trombone – for six years, and had sung in choirs my entire life, my music training and involvement had all been under duress. I did and do not enjoy singing; I’d rather listen to better singers than sing myself.[1]
Since The Homecoming is a Christmas play, the director asked me to sing my favorite Christmas carol. So, in my first play, I did my best to stay on key as I hesitantly sang “O Holy Night” over four weeks while a single spotlight undoubtedly revealed my fear and inexperience to the polite audiences who were probably wishing they had stayed home and watched a Christmas movie instead. That experience has not lessened my love for “O Holy Night.” What threatens my love for the song is the hypocrisy of white evangelicals who have joined together this Christmas season across countless churches, small groups, and other gatherings to lift their voices in supposed praise of the carol’s protagonist.
The final verse contains the line “And in Christ’s name all oppression will cease.”[2] A line that has held special resonance for me ever since I became a Christian.[3] This Christmas season, though, whenever I hear “O Holy Night,” specifically that line, I battle fierce anger and deep sadness. You see, according to statistics, the overwhelming majority of white evangelicals singing “O Holy Night” this season voted for and support a man who, in less than a month, will begin the dreadful process of destroying families.
On January 20, 2025, the day of president-elect Trump’s inauguration, Donald Trump has vowed to begin rounding up around 11 million Image Bearers and herding them into “camps” to deport them. In less than a month, the 47th president, continuing this country’s long history of carnage-filled and oppressive immigration policies, will rip families apart and place them in what will amount to concentration camps. Wives will be separated from their husbands. Children will be torn apart form their parents and imprisoned in understaffed and under resourced facilities. Confused, scared teenagers will be removed from the nurturing hands of their parents. Vulnerable young children will be forced to share spaces with strange teenagers whose raging hormones will be further enflamed by the confusion, fear, and hurt created by the forced separations and imprisonment. Toddlers, lacking any ability to understand why their mommies and daddies are no longer there, will cry themselves to sleep at night. And these are the best-case scenarios. No matter how much he arrogantly and stupidly blusters about it, Trump does not have the ability to force other countries to take the Image Bearers he hates. What comes next does have historic precedent, though, even in this country, and even if very few people are willing to speak it out loud much less consider it.
Singing “And in Christ’s name all oppression will cease” while actively supporting (and cheering on) destructive, anti-family oppression is an especially putrid form of hypocrisy. The Bible has much to say about the oppression of the weak, of children, of sojourners, and of Image Bearers in general. God’s wrath will fall one day, and I’m afraid that most of those included in the sociological category of white evangelicalism will be on the wrong side of His wrath.
And people wonder why I increasingly refer to white evangelicalism as a false religion.
(I encourage you to read Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by Jacob Soboroff to get a taste of what’s about to happen.)
[1] I absolutely HATED playing piano and trombone, but wasn’t given a choice in either instance.
[2] Some versions word it, “And in His name all oppression will cease.”
[3] A story for another time.
Practically Known Theology 