She sings of her own faith as a part of their faith and the promise God made to them the same promise made to her and to all of us through her. She sings about that promise God is making to her and to us through her – that for all time, God loves us and that the light of that love will never grow dim or become overpowered by shadow or darkness, that for all eternity, we belong to God.

In our faith tradition, hymns and songs are a central part of how we worship.  Of all the times and seasons of the Church year, I think this season of Advent and Christmas has some of the best loved songs that both express and nurture our faith and hope in God and in God’s love for us in the newborn Jesus.

After all, the story in scripture that tells us about Jesus’ birth, begins with singing – Mary’s song of love and faith in response to what God promised to her.

In so many of our Christmas hymns, Mary’s story is often the focus, I think because of the grace with which she received the news and the humility and gentleness she showed on the night of the birth in circumstances that could be called bleak at best.

Our Christmas concert last Sunday, featured songs with lyrics by 19^th Century English poet, Christian Rosetti, and the program included a brief biography about her.  One of her poems captured the difficulty of the physical circumstances of the night Mary gave birth.  In the Bleak Mid-winter became well known only after her death when it was set as a Christmas carol first by Gustav Holst.  In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone. In the bleak mid-winter, a stable place sufficed the Lord incarnate, Jesus Christ.

The bleakness of the world’s and humanity’s condition is part of the poetry of another well-loved Christmas Song, O Holy Night – which will be sung this evening by Nick Pulikowski during the prelude for the 8pm service.  But in this song, the bleak condition of humanity is painted as quick contrast to God’s glory in Christ, whose transforms the world with love. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared, and the soul felt his worth.

O, Holy Night, has a fascinating history of how the words and music were written, but also of how it has been sung over time.  It was written in 1847 when a parish priest in France asked a well-known poet in his community to write a poem for Christmas Eve.  The poet, who was not known for his Church attendance, wrote stunningly beautiful words as he put his whole self into imagining what it was like on that night of Jesus’ birth.

The priest read the poem and was very moved and said that it must be made into a song.  The poet asked a friend of his, who was a famous composer of ballets and operas, to write the music.  He did, and the song Cantique de Noel or O Holy Night was sung for the first time at a Christmas Eve Mass in 1847. The song quickly spread through the French Church and became one of the best loved Christmas anthems in parishes all over the country.  Legend has it that at some point, Church leaders learned that the author of the words was basically a Church drop-out, so they set out to have the song banned from Church services.

While the song was not allowed in services, the French people held onto it, singing it in their homes. They were inspired by the song’s hauntingly beautiful words and music that transcended its less-than-ideal human origins and elevated the spirit into a feeling of what that first holy night must have been like when God came into the world in the flesh of a newborn babe.

Decades later, in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war, there is a legendary story about Christmas Eve on the battlefield that year.  In the midst of the fierce fighting between the German and French armies, “a French solider suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Both sides stared at the seemingly crazed man. Boldly standing with no weapon in his hands or at his side, he lifted his eyes to the heavens and sang” his beloved French carol, which in English begins – O holy night, the stars are brightly shining; it is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!

After he finished all three verses, a German soldier came out from his hiding place and answered with Martin Luther’s carol From Heaven above to earth I come; the story goes that “the fighting stopped for the next twenty-four hours while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas Day.”  Bleak human circumstances transformed by songs of God’s love in Christ shared even within the hearts of sworn enemies.  Meanwhile, in late 1800’s America, a minister discovered that he had paralyzing stage fright, and left pulpit ministry to found and edit what became a highly regarded music review journal.

One day he came across Cantique de Noel and was so moved by it, that he translated it into the beautiful English version that we all know and love.  Then on Christmas Eve on the Massachusetts coast in 1906, a Canadian-born inventor and one-time Purdue University professor did what was previously thought impossible.  “Using a new type of generator, (he) spoke into a microphone and for the first time in history, a man’s voice was broadcast over the airwaves.”  First, he read about the birth of Jesus from the gospel of Luke.  Then, he picked up his violin and played “O Holy Night” the first song ever sent through the air via radio.”

The message of God’s love for humanity in the birth of Jesus was carried to people all over the world in this beautiful song through the imperfect humans that embraced its spirit.  God’s song of love, grace and mercy comes to us across time and in every time to transform even in the bleakest conditions of the human world through the divine humanity of Jesus, who is Christ the Lord.

Truly he taught us to love one another…Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother and in His Name all oppression shall cease…Let all within us praise His Holy Name! What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a Shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what I can, I give him. Give my heart.

Today is unusual as it is both the 4^th Sunday of Advent as well as Christmas Eve.  The festivities of our Christmas Worship will begin in a few hours first the Children’s Pageant service at 4pm and then the Festival Prelude at 7:30pm leading to the traditional Candlelight service at 8pm.

The lively celebrations have already begun in many places, but while we are still gathered in worship for the season of Advent – the time of looking with faithful anticipation to God’s Love for us in Christ, I’d like to invite us into a brief time of quiet, listening prayer, to help us center ourselves in spirit, mind, and heart, one what all our celebrations are for. I will open our time with a spoken prayer, then invite us into silent listening prayer.  I will close with a spoken prayer.  I invite you to enter into a time of prayer: