Merry Christmas!
Here it is again, Christmas Eve in Maine!
It never gets old, does it?
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined…
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace…
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
My prayer is that this communication finds you healthy in body and in spirit, and surrounded by loved ones for tomorrow’s celebration of the miracle of Christmas.
We are so blessed to call Maine our home. When I count my blessings, living in this uniquely beautiful state is near the top of the list.
Today, I am reminded again of these words from Gov. Joshua Chamberlain’s Thanksgiving proclamation in 1867, two years after the Civil War ended:
“As a people we should rejoice that out of conflicts and tribulation we have been taught lessons of justice, humanity and true religion. As families, also, though there be vacant places which sorrowing memory alone can fill, we will still praise Him who cannot err from right, and whose pity cannot fail.
Most of all should we remember with ever fresh Thanksgivings, Him who at this season came to take upon Himself our weaknesses and sins, and so testify our gratitude by thoughtful obedience and loving worship, that when he shall come again with power and great glory, we also may have part in His resurrection.”
It’s a measure of the dramatic shift in the cultural landscape over the past 158 years that if Chamberlain were Governor today and penned those words in an official proclamation, he would likely be impeached by the Maine House of Representatives and removed from office by the state Senate.
What’s more, the Brewer native wouldn’t be welcome at his alma mater, Bowdoin College, where he served as president from 1871 to 1883.
On a happier note…
I remain optimistic that the outcome of last year’s Presidential election marks the beginning of a return to our roots and to renewed respect for the foundations on which our state and nation were built. That’s not a partisan sentiment intruding into this Christmas message, but rather an acknowledgment of the plain language of the preamble to our state Constitution:
“We the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design; and, imploring God’s aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of the State of Maine and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same.”
This Christmas, I’m grateful to have you on the Maine First Project team, fighting to restore what that old dawg, the late BDN columnist Kent Ward, called:
“…the Real Maine and life as it ought to be, whatever the season, thick or thin, boom or bust.”
Merry Christmas, from all your friends at Maine First Project.
Sincerely,
Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-founder & President
Maine First Project