Christmas Eve Meditation
Meditation for Christmas Eve
Luke 2: 1-20
It is quiet now. We stop to draw a welcome breath.
We have come again up the rocky, well traveled path to Bethlehem, to Christmas – one of the strangest roads we will ever walk. Skirting the “winter holiday” signs and ads for electric shavers, through the clamor and the clangor and the glitter, the ancient path takes us where we can see the gleam of an ancient miracle. Pausing, we hear again the breathless hush of a mystery older than time.
We have come once more around the rough turn in the road. Just yonder is the Judean pasture. Not far is the drafty stable-cave in a crowded, hustling, teeming town. A strange scene, yet we here on the hilltop smile with understanding.
We know.
The veil of heaven has parted. We understand what the shepherds in the sheep-field heard. The song of promise fulfilled, it is the sweet music of hope, God’s own hope. We see them, once again, running to the town where their hope and faith are confirmed in the reality of a life, newly born to a gentle, dreaming Hebrew girl, and an aging, weary carpenter.
Others are there, too. Not just shepherds – men without rank, but seers, wise men who had spent their lives searching for the truth that would light up the desert night like a starburst. A star of truth did explode upon a tired and yearning world. God’s love pierced the hurting, power-mad world. The light of God’s love shattered all the darkness that evil can produce. The light of God’s love shines from a stable in Bethlehem.
The light still shines.
Tonight we boldly proclaim that Christ is born. Joy to the world!
Prayer: O gracious God, enable us to live so as to reflect the light of your love. And, once again, O Lord, thank you for the Babe of Bethlehem. Amen
Bishop Charles Crutchfield
