To all who celebrate, Merry Christmas. I appreciate you. whatever you’re doing today, and however you’re spending your time, please know that you are valued.
Last night, I attended Christmas Eve services, and we sang these words from “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
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.
I was thinking about how in the story of Christmas, apart from the shepherds who hear about this birth in their fields, hardly anyone knows about any of this. This birth is silent to most, unknown. People don’t know that this has taken place. How silently, how silently…
And whether this story is a part of your traditions or not, and whether you find yourself drawn to religious texts and stories or not, there is something beautiful in this message.
A birth has happened and in the most unlikely of places. This child will eventually become a person who speaks and works for liberation, transformation, and love, and as of yet, hardly anyone knows this goodness is coming. He’s not on their radar. This movement-to-come is not on their radar.
Could it be that there is goodness taking place in our own day? People, experiences, connections, communities, and synchronicities having their beginning now, which will one day lead to liberation, transformation, and love? And maybe we don’t even yet know about it?
— Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 