Music is such a part of our Christmas celebrations that without it, Christmas would not be the same. Some radio stations have been playing Christmas music since Thanksgiving. It can get a little old at times, but those carols, those anthems sweet, all remind us what tonight is all about, the birth of Jesus, of God coming into our midst!
One of those carols, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, tells us in one of its stanzas:
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!
the world has suffered long;
beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!
The carol plants us in reality: We live in a world of sin and strife, warring humankind hears not what the angels sing.
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!
It is a call for us to hush our noise and strife, and listen, pay attention, for maybe God is speaking to us this very night in the music we hear. For music helps us not only get in the mood but it tells a story. The other night at a concert, it was these words that struck me, to hear this story in a new way:
THE MAN WHO RAN THE INN by Peter McCannCompassion, joy, hope. Christmas is about this and so much more. The innkeeper just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold and neither can we; hear what the angels sing tonight and let that baby enter in your home and your soul. Amen.
It was cold out on the desert
But they were headed for the light
O little town of Bethlehem
It were a warm and welcome sight
Mother and her unborn child in the bitter winter wind
`Till he saw the man took pity
On the state that she was in
Here`s to the man who ran the inn
Don`t you wish that we could always be
Just a little more like him
He found some room beneath the roof above his home
He just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold
Well, it wasn`t much to look at
It was old and tumbled-down
But he said `you`re welcome to it
It`s the last room left in town.`
I don`t know why he did it
I`d have loved her just because
I guess we`ll never know his name
But I bet that Jesus does!
Here`s to the man who ran the inn
Don`t you wish that we could always be
Just a little more like him
He found some room beneath the roof above his home
He just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold
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