Yuletide
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
Aside from "Old Rugged Cross" and "The Church's One Foundation," "O Holy Night" is probably the most difficult song for me to get through. For I am faced with the culmination of all that I love: Meaningful, nourishing theology; a sense of awe beyond explanation; and a tug at my heart strings that would upend a mastodon.
Contemporary Christian Music is full of commands to raise your hands and dance to the Lord... and many worship leaders will encourage worshippers to do so along with the music. I never feel led to participate. Catching rain and holding up the wall have never been my forte. For my money though...when the swell comes through from a huge organ in a cavernous sanctuary and the saints sing the same line they have sung since the middle of the nineteenth century and the command comes to fall on your knees and hear the angel voices...it is all I can do to not collapse and lift my arms and face skyward...hoping to even catch a glimpse in my minds eye of what those shepherds saw these many centuries ago.
For those of you who meander through here...of which I don't think there are a great deal....my prayer for you is that during this Christmas you do what you love, with whom you love...and that at least once, you cry. I hope you are moved to the depths of your soul by the power, the depth and breadth, and the tenderness of the love of God in Christ...and that you continue to sing the second and third verses through gritted jaw, worshipping in spirit and truth, as tears stream down your face in the light of a disseminated Advent Christ candle.
Merry Christmas...and to all, a very good night.
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
Aside from "Old Rugged Cross" and "The Church's One Foundation," "O Holy Night" is probably the most difficult song for me to get through. For I am faced with the culmination of all that I love: Meaningful, nourishing theology; a sense of awe beyond explanation; and a tug at my heart strings that would upend a mastodon.
Contemporary Christian Music is full of commands to raise your hands and dance to the Lord... and many worship leaders will encourage worshippers to do so along with the music. I never feel led to participate. Catching rain and holding up the wall have never been my forte. For my money though...when the swell comes through from a huge organ in a cavernous sanctuary and the saints sing the same line they have sung since the middle of the nineteenth century and the command comes to fall on your knees and hear the angel voices...it is all I can do to not collapse and lift my arms and face skyward...hoping to even catch a glimpse in my minds eye of what those shepherds saw these many centuries ago.
For those of you who meander through here...of which I don't think there are a great deal....my prayer for you is that during this Christmas you do what you love, with whom you love...and that at least once, you cry. I hope you are moved to the depths of your soul by the power, the depth and breadth, and the tenderness of the love of God in Christ...and that you continue to sing the second and third verses through gritted jaw, worshipping in spirit and truth, as tears stream down your face in the light of a disseminated Advent Christ candle.
Merry Christmas...and to all, a very good night.
posted by rOmiLaYu at 10:04 PM
2 Comments:
that, those things you have written from your most honest self, was beautiful. i don't know if you care about writing beautiful things but you have and you consistently do; from what i have seen, you have an exquisite and precise command of your thoughts and an enviable fluency in transcribing those thoughts into something visible. i read with great respect and consideration everything you write because i know that if you deem it important enough to share with other people outside of the private realm of your solitary mind, then it must be of extreme import. i like the way you make me think about God: the way you write about God is immense. you don't even attempt to encapsulate him, you don't bother, because to do so would be useless; you simply reveal a sliver of his enormous magnitude, which is so much more truthful. it is your sense of awe that is inspiring, that makes the thought of God something somewhat less scary: to know that i can't contain him is so much more soothing than the thought of an insipid deity.
anyway, i thought you should know that i am an avid reader of what you write, and your words contnually encourage me, though you do not give them the credit they deserve. sorry for the long extravagant speech- i just waned you to know that i think you are doing your job. :-)
-julie
that's my favorite song.
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