“Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright.”
‘Calm’ is not a word that we would use to describe Christmas these days. We might say busy. Maybe hectic, or chaotic, but rarely calm. There is simply too much that we want to do – people to visit, presents to buy, cookies to bake, trees to trim. The calm, if it comes at all, will come in January, after the decorations are put away and the house is back in order.
The first Christmas was probably not very calm either, though for much different reasons. Joseph and Mary had traveled many miles in obedience to the Roman census. Bethlehem was apparently a crowded place since ‘there was no room in the inn.’ And above all, Mary was giving birth – never a calm experience.
Calm is not a word to describe this season of the year, and yet we all long for calm. We long for peace and stillness. People everywhere long for comfort and rest. I pray that each of us, during this busy season, find a moment of calm, a moment where we hear God’s voice speaking the word of hope and comfort we long for.
Come and worship with us at United Church of Christ, Congregational, this Christmas season! Hear the good news of great joy, “Christ our Savior is born!” God has come. Let heaven and earth rejoice!
Have a blessed Christmas
and joyous New Years!
Pastors Neal and Mariah
