Venite Adoramus!

I am surrounded by the quintessential Christmas card landscape with the classical music station completing a particularly moving rendition of Venite Adoramus. It is two days before Christmas, and the words of the holiday are raising the usual rumpus here in the US.

"Happy Holidays?" Isn't that an overt attempt to remove the "real meaning" of Christmas from our culture?

Maybe. But as I bask in the emotional glow of the music, I know that many--most?--of the performers of so many of these classical works probably care little about the message of the lyrics they are so beautifully sharing.

I can't point fingers. One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the many Christmas Eve midnight services we attended at the little Lutheran church just down the road from our home in Arizona. The church would be bathed in candlelight, with greens and tasteful decorations all around. The kids would sleepily lean on me as we enjoyed a service of carols and scripture reading; all too soon the hour would be done and we would go home full of peace and joy...having understood almost nothing of the service, since these were conducted completely in German. Yes, the programs handed out at the door gave us translations of the songs and the Bible references were given so we could follow the readings in our English versions. Still, it was the emotion and the beauty of the music and the setting that was providing that glow we always felt at the end.

I feel faintly Grinch-ish as I write this. Is there something wrong with emotion, with feeling a kind of "spiritual high" from great performances? Of course not. The gift of art--whether to the composers and performers of these great selections or to those privileged to listen--is a part of God's marvelous creation representing just a tiny bit of his overwhelming love for humanity.

But today, someplace in the middle of all these wonderful Christmas blessings, I need to remember that words and the message they impart are still at the core of God's grace to us. As the apostle John summarized for us so long ago:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-5; 14

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and, most of all--behold the glory and grace!