4.157/365: Christmas tip no. 18

Examine what is truly important.

Every Christmas Eve I watch The Bishop’s Wife (1947). It’s my favorite Christmas movie and it’s probably in my top 10. I put it on after Every one has gone to bed and I fill the stockings (by the chimney with care). I post the speech (it’s less of a sermon) that the bishop gives at the end if the film, but I’ve never given the actual synopsis, so here’s a good synopsis from Letterboxd.

An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham, has been working for months on the plans for an elaborate new cathedral which he hopes will be paid for primarily by a wealthy, stubborn widow. He is losing sight of his family and of why he became a churchman in the first place. Enter Dudley, an angel sent to help him. Dudley does help everyone he meets, but not necessarily in the way they would have preferred. With the exception of Henry, everyone loves him, but Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, both at work and in his family’s affections, as Christmas approaches.

But is so much more than that. Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young give a masterclass on what it is to be human (even though Grant plays an angel). It just happens to take place at Christmas.

This is the speech given by the bishop from the pulpit at the end of the film. Enjoy and think about the words.

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking.

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts.

But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. Its his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that.

Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shinning gifts that make peace on earth.