Jesus is Born 4U.

For love, God has entered our human family - to stay!  That's the reason for all the joy and music making at Christmas...
it's why we sing, "Silent Night, Holy Night".

This carol called Silent Night that we sign so tenderly at Christmas turns out to be noisier than we think. In its original German it is still a quiet night, to be sure--that's the literal meaning of "Stille Nacht"--but it is not all that "silent".

Like the peal of a majestic tower bell, "Silent Night" (in its German text) tells of the hour of God's salvation striking--it also says that when the angels sang "Christ the Savior is born", it was loud--so loud, in fact, that it went echoing near and far! But of all the sounds in "Silent Night's" the sweetest are these words--"Son of God, Love's pure light Radiant beams from they holy face."

Of course, "beaming" is not a very noisy business, but what the German actually says is that God's love for you comes laughing from the mouth of baby Jesus, the Son of God.  "Gottes Sohn, O wie lacht, Liebe aus deinem goettlichen Mund!"
(We'll return to this laughing love of God in just a moment).

No doubt you have heard the story of how "Silent Night" got its start--how one Christmas Eve nearly two hundred years ago, the organ broke down at St. Nicholas Church in the village of Oderndorf in the Austrian Alps, and how it took the teamwork of the parish priest, Joseph Mohr, and the parish organist, Franz Gruber, to save the day and produce this simple but profound Christmas carol for the people.  What everyone feared would be a "silent night" with no music at all gave us instead this wonderful carol called Silent Night that to this day fills the world  with the praise for Christ everywhere.

(Of course, once December 26 rolls around, they don't play Silent Night at the mall anymore...it just doesn't do much for sales the rest of the year, you know.  So for Christmas to be more than just a "Silent Night"--that is, for the world to keep on hearing the message of God's love--believers need to keep on singing the Christian song--and keep on living the Christian life!)

Now back to the laughter of the infant Son of God.  Having become a grandpa some years ago, let me remind you about the smiles and laughter of babies.  First, babies are a gift to a family straight from God--which is exactly what the German words of "Silent Night" are saying: "God's love comes laughing from the mouth of Baby Jesus!"  I also happen to know that babies make a lot of joyful noise--they hardly ever laugh quietly!

It's like that with the birth of Jesus too--something so momentous as the Son of God, arriving on the human scene as a newborn in a manger--who can be silent about that?  This is something to talk about, sing about, rejoice over--and even laugh out about: "Christ the Savior is Born 4U!"

Of course, we might guess that when Jesus is born, not God, but God's enemies might be having the loudest laughs.  A tiny baby is no match for the forces of evil, or for the might of corrupt systems and war machines or for the greed of individuals and groups of people.  "Whom did God send to deliver humanity from the power of sin and death?  A baby!  Ha, Ha, Ha!" (or maybe even "Ho, Ho, Ho!").  In fact, as Matthew 2 tells us, the sharp sword of King Herod's rage almost does succeed in putting Baby Jesus to death!

But listen again--it is God who is laughing at Christmas, not the forces of evel!  As Psalms 2 says so well, "The Lord laughs from heaven against them."  For in the end it is not with might that God will defeat his enemies.  It is by God blessing--not blasting-- our world that evil will be displaced by good will, and peace come to the earth. 

Christmas is God's love laughing its way into human hearts.  For through this chid Jesus powerless in the manger and this man Jesus powerless on the cross, God will love and forgive our world right into goodness and life!

That's what all the joy and singing are all about all year round: Jesus Born 4U.  He is human in order to be one with us, and he is God in order to do what we cannot do for ourselves.  For through this child in the manger and this man on the cross, God will love us and forgive us right into eternity!

That love of God for you is the gift and message of "Silent Night"--and of all Christian hymns--the holy laughter of God's love for us in this baby.

Jesus is Born 4U.  Take this gift God offers--He is yours for the believing.  Merry Christmas!