Look to God and Live… Joyfully!

One of my very favorite Christmas carols is O Little Town of Bethlehem. Written by Episcopalian minister Phillip Brooks in 1868, it was prompted by a journey he had taken to Bethlehem a few years earlier. I admit, I’m jealous of anyone who has had an opportunity to visit that sacred place, and even more so of Brooks as he was able to travel through the region on horseback without the crowds of tour groups!

Anyway, I digress. Sorry.

I love the imagery Brooks uses in his opening: the still city streets lit by everlasting light. What a beautiful picture that makes! As he states, “the hopes and fears of all the years” were bound up in that place at that moment, and those hopes were lit from above with limitless heavenly love.

As much as I love the beginning, however, I think that my favorite verse is the third:

How silently, how silently,
    The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
    The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
    But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
    The dear Christ enters in.

Phillip Brooks

We live in a noisy world. I get breaking news and texts and emails on my wrist. My phone is always at hand to get information on any subject I want, frequently more information about the news that was breaking on my watch.  I am interrupted with advertising texts and emails seemingly non-stop. You walk outside and there’s the noise of the traffic. Airplanes and helicopters fly overhead. I personally don’t tend to watch TV, but for many there is a constant buzz of talking from televisions or radios. I myself listen to music pretty constantly. The world is not a quiet place.

The greatest and most profound moment in our history up to that moment, however – the Lord’s advent into the world, was done silently without breaking news on all the electronic devices imaginable. In fact, very few people noticed the events of that night. Yes, there were angels singing “Glory to God in the Highest,” but they came to a very small group of shepherds abiding in the fields. Yes, magi in the East recognized the star, but there wasn’t a neon sign within the star announcing the holy birth. It was a very quiet gift. One that left shepherds telling the story to incredulous listeners and leaving Mary to ponder in her heart – a personal and quiet act – all that had occurred.

I’ve come to recognize that this is usually how God works in our lives. It is a quiet and simple message of peace and hope that He sends to individual hearts and minds.

This past year has been an immense time of trial for so many. I’ve seen people lose friends and loved ones, lose their health, struggle emotionally and financially, and feel lost in an incredibly noisy world. I’ve watched people show cruelty beyond anything I can imagine, and I’ve seen people impacted by that cruelty, either directly or indirectly. I’ve also watched, however, the peace of God silently comfort and console. I’ve watched the love of God acted out in the quiet, selfless charity of others. I’ve seen people feel “the blessings of His heaven” buoy them up when they felt they were drowning in despair.

The scriptures tell us to “Be still, and know that I am God.” That ofttimes is difficult in our noisy world. Nonetheless, finding a moment to humbly seek God’s peace will bring great rewards.

Today I listened to two women share their traumatic experiences of the past while. Both expressed their love for God – for how He came to them in their hardest and most alone moments. Both expressed their gratitude for those who acted as God’s emissaries by giving service. Both declared affirmatively that through their trials they had come to feel God’s presence.

How silently those moments come. What a beautiful gift.

As the verse ends, “Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in,” reminds me that I need to humbly search for Christ’s love and accept it – even if it doesn’t come in a way that I’d anticipate. Meekness, an attribute of the Lamb of God Himself, is the key to receiving His powerful gift of love. And when we seek Him and ask Him to “Come to us, abide with us,” He surely will. Silently. Quietly. Personally.

That is the gift of Christmas.

O little town of Bethlehem,
    How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
    The silent stars go by:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
    The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
    Are met in thee to-night.

For Christ is born of Mary;
    And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
    Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
    Proclaim the holy birth;
And praises sing to God the King,
    And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,
    The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
    The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
    But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
    The dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy
    Pray to the Blessed Child
Where misery cries out to Thee
    Son of the mother mild
Where Charity stands watching
    And Faith holds wide the door
The dark night wakes the glory hearts
    And Christmas comes once more

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
    Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
    Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
    The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
    Our Lord Emmanuel.

Phillip Brooks