Christmas Eve

By Christina Rossetti

Christmas has a darkness,

Brighter than the blazing noon,

Christmas has a chillness

Warmer than the heat of June,

Christmas has a beauty

Lovelier than the world can show:

For Christmas brings us Jesus,

Brought for us so low.

Earth strike up your music,

Birds that sing and bells that ring;

Heaven has answering music

For all angels soon to sing:

Earth put on your whitest

Bridal robe of spotless snow:

For Christmas brings us Jesus,

Brought for us so low.

What are your Christmas Eve traditions? My family's Christmas Eve over the past few years has consisted of a lasagna dinner, followed by the traditional Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in, at 8:00 PM. We dress up and gather in the sanctuary for the traditional reading and singing of the Christmas lessons and carols. The service fills me with memories. Being in that sanctuary automatically triggers recollections of going to the traditional service with the whole family as a child, of singing in the youth choir as a teen, and the memorial for my Dad two years ago. A feeling of joy about the arrival of my Savior arises as the sadness of missing my Dad lingers in my soul. I sit on the cushioned pew remembering that as we celebrate Jesus' birthday, the reason He came here at all was to die for us. He changed the world, and filled us with hope. If the Creator of the Universe is willing to come down to earth to suffer and die on my behalf, and yours, this is a love deeper than anything we could ever comprehend. It is the love of God that has always been and always will be.

The service always ends with everyone holding small candles, now lit with a tiny flame. The lights are turned off and we sing all the verses of "Silent Night" as old and young voices mingle in harmony and the dark world is lit up with God's light, Jesus.