O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the word in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared 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! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
There are a couple of things I love about this song. First, I love the idea of acknowledging and celebrating a very specific, significant moment in time. My dad is notorious at family gatherings for stopping in the midst of the chaos, looking around at the kids and all who are gathered there and saying, "It will never be this way again." We may all gather again, but we will never be exactly the same as we are on that day. I don't pretend to know when Jesus was really born, but I do know that the night of his birth changed everything. It was truly a night set apart.
Second, I hope I never get over the line, "a weary world rejoices". The fact that it's followed by the celebration of a "new and glorious morn" -- and you all know how I feel about mornings -- just makes it that much better. It's that beautiful contrast that draws me over and over again to the glory of Christmas.
But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children. Galatians 4:4-5
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