fall on your knees

Fall on your knees,
O hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born!

 

 

This is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas songs.  I think it is just SO beautiful and powerful to hear it sung by some gifted voice.  It is so sweet to hear, but actually listening to the words and pondering their meaning have been especially sweet this year. 

 

When I am faced with the reality of my Savior coming to me I have no other choice but to fall on my knees.  To fall on my knees in worship.  To fall on my knees in awe and gratefulness.  To fall on my knees in exhaustion finally finding my rest in Him.  To fall on my knees because I don't have the strength to stand on my own.  To fall on my knees overcome with emotion and love.  To fall on my knees with the breath knocked out of me, in disbelief that the God of the Universe would come down to meet with me in all my yuckiness and sin.

 

 

 

I have thought about that "night divine" a lot over this Christmas. Just trying to picture what it was like and what was going on. Did Mary and Joseph fall on their knees holding the One who had come to save the world? Did the shepherds fall on their knees at the sight of the baby?

I've also thought a lot about the way He entered our world. A tiny baby on a quiet, ordinary night. No loud announcements or banners. His arrival only known to his teenage mom and dad and some lowly shepherds surrounded by a lot of dirty, stinky animals. A quiet and simple, yet extremely divine night when Christ was born. So different from the way we celebrate these days.....with parties and noise and bright lights and bold colors and mounds of presents and frantic shopping and busy schedules and "oh yeah Jesus is the reason for the season" thrown in there at the end.

 

 

I think about the world to which Jesus was born. It was not an "all is right with the world" type of world, and He was not embraced by the people He came to save. I feel like this point is a little clearer this year for me. Christmas is "supposed to be" a time of such great joy and happiness....so what if you are "just not in the Christmas spirit". I think that is ok. The very reason that Jesus came is that this world is not ok and we are not ok. Jesus came into this world in the middle of the night to a world that was full of darkness. We are still living in that dark night. On a more global scale, I am very aware this Christmas of deep darkness in the world. My eyes continue to be opened more and more to the horror of human trafficking as I learn more about this evil. I see images on my television screen of families who have lost all material possessions in superstorms. There are 20 little birthday parties that won't be happening in 2013 in Newtown, Connecticut. The darkness is oh so dark! In a more personal way, I have friends who are battling cancer, standing beside family members battling sickness, grieving the loss of loved ones, struggling to hold marriages together, grieving miscarriages and longing so badly for children. Once again, the darkness is oh so dark!

 

Christmas is a reminder of the hope that we have in this dark world.  Thankfully, Jesus entered and still enters in to our darkness.  He meets us there and gives comfort that only He can give.  He comforts us with His Presence.  He is the God who is with us, Emmanuel.  He is with us in our darkness.  He is with us in our pain.  He is with us in our suffering.  He is waiting to bring us to a place of rejoicing.

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is my absolute favorite Christmas song.  I feel like the above verse captures best what I've been trying to say.  God came down to rescue those who were mourning and in exile.  He still comes down to us to be with us(Emmanuel) and to ransom us from the sin that we are held captive by.  And.....He takes us to a place of rejoicing!!! We can rejoice now in the middle of our "night", and we can rejoice that He IS returning.  This time He will come with a loud announcement and banners, and everyone will know.  Everyone will fall on their knees (Phillipians 2:10).  This time He will make everything right.