Gift Number Sixteen (fixed)

Okay Team. One week from today - the whole planet will collectively go into another experience together. This one we’ve been celebrating together for millennia. It’s commonly known as “Christmas”. A holiday that is all about fulfilled promise, hope, restoration, and the Light of the World coming down to Earth and walking among us.

14 years ago I got to attend a Christmas service in the Balkans. I was at a church that was heavily attended by Christians from all over the world. There were so many people from so many parts of the world that the service was led by 4 different people - one for each of the most common languages in the church that evening. There were dozens of other languages that the service was translated into via an in-house audio system. There were more than a few languages that despite this incredible offering of translation services - had no translation available at all. Can you imagine?

As amazing as that was - the church was packed far beyond capacity. We were crammed onto the pews - jammed up against one another in a way that’s hard to imagine today. There were also so many attending for whom there was no room on any pew that they filled the aisles. These standing-room-only participants were present in much greater numbers than those who’d come early enough to grab a seat. Picture it!

As wonderful as all that was - the real beauty - was when we all began to sing Christmas carols. Familiar tunes blended with unfamiliar lyrics as those around me sang their hearts out, but you could tell that everyone in the room didn’t know that song.

Until, that is, we began to all sing Silent Night. What is it about that particular song? Everyone knew it! Everyone sang along - and knew every single word in their own language. I am just certain that heaven’s worship services will be the same - only we’ll all know what everyone’s singing. It was shocking to think that just a few hours before I’d been in the market with many of the same people - or at the coffee shop or enjoying the same walking trail - but we didn’t know what we had in common. They were all so precious to me in that place as we all sang together about that little baby born on that silent, night so long ago.

For so many reasons and on so many levels we’ve felt separated from one another - but I can assure you - for all we’ve all been through over the last 21 months - all of us preparing for Christmas - all of us especially who prepare our hearts for Christmas, who are so moved by that first Christmas miracle so long ago - without which there would be no Easter - God knows us all as His own. His children. And though we are not all in one building and accommodated with translations and language support - we ARE all in His sight. We are all why He came to live among us. What an incredible thing.

So - a week before Christmas eve - please, enjoy this gift of His perspective on us.