Advent Devotion 8 - Sunday, December 5

O Holy Night (stanza 1)

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of Our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world In sin and error pining,
‘Til He appear’d And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope The weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks A new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels’ voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Almost 11 years ago those words, sang clearly and expressly by a co-worker at our Christmas party caught me off guard. My children were much younger then and as I sat inactive for a few minutes at the work luncheon, I was distracted by thoughts of what I should be doing rather truly being engaged in what was going on around me. It seemed everyday I had something scheduled, somewhere to be with my children festively dressed or somewhere to be with food in hand. My thinking was along the lines of “I’m going to get through Christmas, I just need to focus and get organized…”

I took notice when the room became silent in anticipation of her solo, then the words, Oh Holy Night were articulated so perfectly and with such conviction. There was no music or other noise was in the room. The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear savior’s birth!...The thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!.

There was something about the way I could hear the traffic and noise in outside, but in the room where we were it was completely quiet except for the song. All at once I got it (again I have to say) and I was both relieved and embarrassed. Relieved to know all the craziness I was caught up in really didn’t matter and embarrassed I had to be reminded of the profound love God chose to extend to me through the birth of Jesus.

Fall on Your Knees. (Indeed!) I felt compelled to mentally bend to my knee and get right with my God; to acknowledge this was no small event even though it comes around once a year. This song will forever cause me to stop during the month of December and take pause to remember only I can cause it to be something other than a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Oh, Hear the Angel Voices. Oh Night Divine.

Holy God and Comforter, we pray that during this season we will hear the angel voices through all the noise as we prepare for the Divine Night. Amen.

Susan Boatwright