Silent Night

We just came home from our church's Christmas Eve service (it's actually the Eve of Christmas Eve, but they are offering services over the course of 2 evenings).  I really wanted to go, because I needed to feel the beauty of Christmas.  After the extreme stress of the last few months, I needed the peace of that special night of long ago.

I feel so guilty for saying it, but I came away disappointed from the service.  There was obviously so much time and effort and thought that went into the evening.  There was music and dance and videos and speakers and lights and....many people sacrificed a lot of time to plan and present the evening. 

But, it felt like a production.

And, that wasn't what I was craving tonight.  I was craving something quiet, reverent, peaceful, reflective.

To me Christmas is a time to shut out the noise and chaos of the world and of all the things that weigh on us.  It's a time to be still and remember that God came to us in the midst of the ordinary.  It's a time to remember when the glory of God was wrapped in the flesh of an infant.  To remember the tenderness and gentleness of a Savior who would come to us in the most vulnerable way possible.

And, I guess when I think of a Christmas Eve service, I think of voices raised in harmony (voices that we can hear above the roar of instruments, above the roar of this world) and soft lights flickering in the stillness. I think of a weary world that falls on its knees in adoration and awe.  I think of calm and the perfect peace that the Prince of Peace brings to us.