Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Christmas Eve
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Poetry from above
Christmas scripture showers us with words as well as music: Mary’s Magnificat, Simeon’s Song, and today there is Zechariah’s priestly, historic, fatherly hymn of praise:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
In church on Sunday we sang such beautiful songs, and we’ll be singing them again tonight. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. It came upon a midnight, clear, the glorious song of old. Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace. Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o’er the plains. Star of wonder, star of might, star with royal beauty bright. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
My friend Kathe asked me to pray the names of God. There are so many! I’ve been making a list as we sing and pray. Here are just a few.
Word of the Father
Perfect Light
King on Bethlehem’s plain
Prince of Peace
God of Wonder
Promise Maker
Promise Keeper
The Most High
Fresh from God’s ordained nine months of silence, Zechariah cannot contain himself. His words spill into song, into helplessly, miraculously joyful prediction and praise:
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Christmas Eves have come and gone since then. I think of stories I’ve heard, histories of Christmas Eve, some of them told and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Hugh Bonneville spins the story of the Spafford family and Horatio’s helpless despair on Christmas Eve, 1873, when he wrote the song “It is Well With My Soul.” There was the Christmas Eve truce in the trenches of 1914. Historian David McCullough tears at my heartstrings every year when he speaks about two carols from Christmas Eve, 1941 – “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” And Tom Brokaw recalls Christmas Eve 1948, when the soon-to-be-famous candy bomber began dropping candy over bombed out cities, to be gathered by children who spoke much different languages than the US pilot spoke.
Mr. McCullough remembered Winston Churchill’s words when he spoke in 1941 to the 20,000 men and women gathered in front of the White House, as he stood with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his friend and ally.
Here in the midst of war, raging, roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here amid all this tumult we have tonight the peace of the Spirit in each cottage and every generous heart. Here then, for one night only, should be a brightly lighted island of happiness and peace.
President Roosevelt pressed a button to light the National Christmas Tree. The next day they went to church together, where Churchill heard a song he’d never heard before. “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89, Luke 1)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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