Silent Night

Christmas Eve

Cycle A

Why do we hate the silence so much? Why do we fear it so?

I only paused for 30 seconds or so just now, and you could feel the discomfort move throughout the room. The shifting in your seats, the breaking of eye contact. How many of you were thinking to yourself something along the lines of, “What the heck is he doing? Did he forget his notes? Why doesn’t he get on with it, I have 8:30 dinner reservations!” It was very difficult for me to pause and look at you for so long, too, even though it was only half a minute. I was uncomfortable, too.

We have to fill our lives with noise, don’t we? We have to be constantly stimulated. We’ve been preparing for this night since Halloween, and we still have so much more to do. But not tonight. Tonight, embrace the silence.

The joy can only be found in the silence.

Silent night, holy night. Christmas happens at night, in the peace and quiet of the night. Mary and Joseph had had a hectic few days themselves, moving throughout the crowds of Bethlehem looking for a place to stay. But Jesus was born in the quiet of the night, off away from the crowds and distractions.

Be still. Be quiet in the night and contemplate the Christ child.

Like many of you, I have been annoyed this year that among the constant barrage of Christmas carols on the radio there have been virtually no true Christmas carols. You know, the ones that actually mention Jesus. They’re all about white Christmases and sleigh bells and grandma getting run over by reindeer. None of the beautiful, peaceful and joyous songs that talk about silent night, holy night, joy to the world, and come, let us adore him.

But then it hit me that that’s ok, because for us, Christmas shouldn’t begin until tonight. All that other stuff that barrages us from October through today is for the world and its vision of Christmas. You know that all those carols will be gone from the airwaves after tomorrow and will not be heard again for another year. On to New Years!

For us, the Christmas season starts tonight and continues through the twelve days of Christmas to the Feast of the Epiphany and then to the Baptism of the Lord on January 12. You know that the idea that the Christmas season begins before Christmas Eve is only a couple generations old. Our parents often didn’t put up the tree and decorations until Christmas Eve and then left them up until the Epiphany. For us, the season of preparation is Advent, and Advent is a time of peaceful, quiet expectation. How many of us have taken advantage of that time to create an island of peace in our hectic worlds?

So, it’s ok that we have not been hearing any religious themed carols until tonight, because that’s when we should be hearing them. Let the world have its silly Santa songs; we have the joy of Christ tonight. Santa is perfect for the secular world, with his frenetic running around to every house in the world all in one night. A perfect metaphor for what some of us have been doing every day since Black Friday. And we have the image of poor old Santa collapsing into his easy chair at dawn Christmas day, exhausted from the pace. Is that you?

That shouldn’t be us. The Christ child is not frenetic and rushed. Jesus is peaceful. Imagine how quiet it was in that stable 2000 years ago. Imagine what Mary and Joseph were thinking and feeling. Look at the crèche before us. The image we have of Mary and Joseph is one of quiet contemplation of the Christ child. They must have been overwhelmed by the wonder of what was before them. They were in the presence of God, and it must have been awesome. I can’t imagine them chattering away with the shepherds. All who came into Jesus’ presence must have been moved to holy silence.

Why do we fear the silence? Is it because we are afraid of what we will hear? Are we afraid to be confronted by God in the silence? Because that’s where He is found, not in the hustle and bustle but in the quiet of the night. Jesus is not found in shopping malls full of wreaths and ornaments and blinking lights. Jesus is found in the silent darkness of our hearts. Are we afraid that if we stop and get off the treadmill for a moment we will be forced to take a look at who we really are and recognize why we need a Savior in the first place? Do we try to fill our lives with sound and movement because we can’t bear to hear and see ourselves as we truly are?

Do not be afraid of the silence. Jesus came in the silence because he knows what’s in your heart. He knows everything about you and he loves you anyway. Even more than you love yourself. You are the very reason he was born in that poor stable so long ago. Just as Mary, Joseph and the shepherds were silently contemplating Jesus, Jesus was quieting contemplating you. Just you. He knew who you were going to be and who you would become and that’s why he was born. For you.

Embrace the silence tonight. Go out into the snowy darkness and stare up at the sky and just become part of it. Try to clear your mind of all the things you think you have to do that are so important and remember once again what is truly important. You know what it’s all about. You know how to refocus yourself on the true meaning of Christmas, or you wouldn’t be here tonight.

Then take advantage of the next 12 days, the true season of Christmastime. The world will have forgotten about Christmas by Thursday. Not us. Keep those religious carols playing on your iPod. Take some time from playing with the presents you’ll receive tomorrow morning to just be quiet and contemplate the wonderful gift you have been given tonight.

Find Christmas in the silence of night. Every night.