December 2 - Advent Thoughts

It was not a silent night

There was blood on the ground

You could hear a woman cry

In the alleyways that night

On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean

And the cobblestones were cold

And little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

With every beat of her beautiful heart

It was a labor of love

For little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

It was a labor of love

Labor of Love -- Andrew Peterson

I'm sure Josef Mohr meant well when he wrote the words to Silent Night back in 1816. It is after all a lovely Christmas carol. Trouble is - it's just not real. The idyllic scene he painted was certainly lovely. But what happened on that first Christmas night was anything but perfect. This Christmas when life gets messy and loud and chaotic - remember that Joseph and Mary and the newborn would also have been surrounded by noise, from barnyard animlas to the clamoring cries of childbirth. In a way I'm glad it wasn't a silent night long ago in Bethlehem. After all we live in a noisy chaotic broken world which is why Christmas happened in the first place. God was invading our space with the light of his love. Jesus: love with skin on it!

GHT