I bought a new CD yesterday. I need it for our annual Candlelite service at the Church where I attend. It's title is "The Greatest Holiday Classics." I listened to all 18 tracks on the album. It was really my first time to hear Christmas music this season (other than the couple of hymns the music guy introduced us to last Sunday). I don't usually get in the "mood" for Christmas until around the 20th of the month, but nothing will set the tone quicker than the music. My mind wandered over snow, jingle bells, sleigh rides, and the whole concept of a winter wonderland.
I thought about what would make for "a merry little Christmas," and what it will be like to be "home for Christmas." My mind moved quickly to our men and women in battlefields on the other side of the world, the tensions that exist in the explosive environment of the Middle East, starving children and adults in sub-Saharan Africa, and the crime and drug ridden streets of our cities and towns.
Only one thing can change all of that. A presumed victory, peace accords, humanitarian aid, new laws and better law enforcement, all good, will never change the heart of man. Only God can do that work of grace. That is what Christmas is about. Emmanuel, God with us. He has come to set up free from sin and death. Surely He will come again. Soon!
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From heaven high I come to you,
I bring you tidings good and new;
glad tdings of great joy I bring,
whereof I now will say and sing.
"To you this night is born a child
of Mary, chosen virgin mild;
this little child, of lowly birth,
shall be the joy of all the earth.
"This is the Christ, our God and Lord,
who in all need shall aid afford;
he will himself your Savior be
from all your sins to set you free.
"These are the tokens ye shall mark:
the swaddling clothes and manger dark;
there ye shall find the infant laid
by whom the heav'ns and earth were made."
Now let us all with gladsome cheer
go with the shepherds and draw near
to see the precious Gift of God,
who hath his own dear Son bestowed.
Welcome to earth, thou noble guest,
through whom the sinful world is blest!
In my distress thou com'st to me;
what thanks shall I return to thee?
--Martin Luther, 1535
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1855, alt.
Alt. 1961, Trinity HymnalTrinity Hymnal
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