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When the music at the symphony concert is stunning, tears come to my eyes. At a wedding, I cry. A touching act of kindness brings tears. A movie in which a character makes a turn around makes me tear up. In the presence of extraordinary love or beauty, yes, a smile comes, but also tears.

When we think of Christmas, this small, vulnerable, poor child being born into the world to show us God, it is moving. To think about his life, his teaching, and his death. It is compelling. To reflect on all that he has been to people through the ages, it is beautiful. Such love. A book, a story, a life, cannot contain all of the love that we see in Jesus. His love is stronger than all of our weakness, all of our evil, all of our apathy, all of our hatred and meanness, all of our selfishness, all of our cruelty and violence. There’s nothing more beautiful than that.

So, among the smiles and hugs and laughs of Christmas, may there also be a few tears. May the love and beauty of those glad tidings of great joy to all people stir our souls once more.

Prayer: Christmas will always be more than we could ask or imagine. May it work its magic on us once more reminding us that the heart of creation is love, the breath of the universe is compassion, and the soul of the cosmos is beauty. Amen.

Joy to the world! O come, all you faithful! Angels we have heard on high. It came upon a midnight clear. The first noel. Feliz navidad. Sleigh ride. Silver bells. Jingle bells. Can you even imagine this season without music? Without the countless concerts and the carols accompanying you as you walk down the aisles of the grocery store? “In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas,” simply because of the ubiquitous Christmas music we hear this season.

The glad tidings of great joy to ALL people cannot be contained in words alone. We need music to express our sentiments this time of year, and lots of it. That’s why there is lots of Christmas music. There is the music that we sing in church; the conventional carols. There is popular Christmas music. There is country Christmas music. There is sacred Christmas music. There is classical Christmas music. All kinds of music. All themed to the Christmas season. It just shows you that the glad tidings of Christmas are celebrated by people of all musical tastes! All kinds of music lends itself to the themes of this season, themes of love, giving, and peace. Music exposes everyone to Christmas and spreads those glad tidings ever more widely.

Prayer: We are grateful for the music of this season. The glad tidings cannot be contained in words alone. We need melody and harmony and rhythm and tempo to share the feelings evoked by Christmas. Music is a beautiful gift for sharing what longs to be conveyed. Music lifts the spirits and touches the heart and we are thankful! Amen.