Journeys Through Life as a Child of God, “Enjoying the Quiet Peace of Christmas DAY Worship!”
By Jonathan Rockey
Dear Fellow Children of God,
Perhaps like me, Christmas Eve candlelight worship is one of your favorite services each year. Christmas decorations make the sanctuary festive. We sing favorite, well-known Christmas carols and we hear readings from the Christmas story in scripture, readings which are the best news ever. The choirs sing, and ring. Instruments play. The lights in the church go out, and worship glows with the light of candles. Often attendance at Christmas Eve worship is one of the largest crowds of the year. On Christmas Eve I feel anticipation in the air. People are excited to again hear the good news of the Savior’s birth and to respond with songs of joy. We might call this service our “Christmas Spectacular.” Congregations “pull out all the stops” to celebrate the good news that “Christ, the Savior is born.”
However, in recent decades worship services on Christmas Day are a sharp contrast to those held just 12 or 15 hours earlier. The decorations are still up, and choirs often still sing, though the number of anthems is usually fewer. That’s because we expect fewer people to attend. I guess that folks figure that attending worship twice in 24 hours is unnecessary, especially if there might be gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning. Especially if there might a Christmas meal to prepare and to eat. As a result, Christmas Day worship services tend to be quieter, more contemplative, perhaps even more peaceful.
Yet, I wonder if this rhythm of worship for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day does not reflect the first Christmas. On Christmas night, after the “baby was laid in the manger”, we are told about the shepherds and the angels, “8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” Angels appearing! Bright light shining! Good News spoken! A choir of angels singing! After all, that IS pretty spectacular stuff!
But the next day as the shepherds sought out Mary, and Joseph, and baby Jesus, Mary’s response to their account was that she “ . . . treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) “Pondering” might also be called thinking, or meditating. Those are quieter activities. As the truth of the saving birth of Jesus sinks in, perhaps those are also deeper activities. It seems to me that “pondering,” “thinking,” and “meditating” are not only more peaceful, they sink the peace of the love of God deep into our hearts, because of the Christmas miracle.
I did tell you that Christmas Eve Candlelight worship is one of my favorite services each year. Nevertheless, the quiet, contemplative, pondering worship of Christmas Day does not take a back seat in my heart to the spectacular worship of Christmas Eve. I do appreciate when people gather, not so much for the glitz and glamor of the service, but for the sure, strong message of peace because of the love of God shown in the birth of our Savior.
Do you like Christmas decorations? I do. For over 30 years we decorated Christmas trees which were 15 feet tall, or higher in our Alaska home! I love to see colored lights displayed in yards during the winter darkness. But, last year because of work we spent Christmas in Florida. I wrote to you about the decoration we have in our yard in Florida. Most of our “stuff” is in Alaska. But, we found a wood cut-out of the manger scene which we hang in our front flower bed from a shepherd’s crook. When we shine a light on that manger scene, it gives the opportunity for those who see it to focus attention on the wonderful Christmas truth of Jesus’ birth, truth which is the reason for the season. This simple ornament is not the spectacular light show which I see in many other yards. This manger cut-out simply points to Jesus’ birth, the wonderful news which Mary pondered, the grace and truth and love which bring peace.
I pray that the wonderful, spectacular worship of Christmas Eve brings the excitement of God’s Christmas miracle to your heart. However, perhaps on Christmas Day you might find time to do what Mary did. After hearing the report of the shepherds, she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
A Child of God, Enjoying the Quiet Peace of Christmas DAY Worship,
Pastor Rockey
