On This Christmas Eve.....

As you go to sleep tonight, instead of thinking of hooves on the rooftop and a jolly old elf saying “ho ho ho”, think of this….

A brisk cold winter’s night, the air so cold it chills all it touches.  Sheep drowsily resting on a hilltop, watched by equally drowsy shepherds.  Silence spreads across the landscape, but there is an air of anticipation in the silence…

And in the town below, in a small stone stable, a young woman labors to give birth.  The animals surround her with the low sounds of chewing and breathing, a gentle background to the sounds of pain as she struggles to bring forth her child.

In the heavens, all of the angels are watching and waiting for the fulfillment of the promise made by God over the centuries.  Watching to see what will happen in the tiny town of Bethlehem….

And then they hear the tiny cry of a new born babe! 

Unable to contain their shouts of joy, the angels burst forth in song,
praising the Glory of God born to set man free.

 All of creation joins in the song that cannot be silenced, the song that still goes on today -
for the work of that tiny babe has been completed on the cross,
and mankind has been redeemed for all time.