Tonight’s the Night! That Holy night, the night Christ was born.
Or, at least it’s Christmas Eve, 2024, two millennia after the event. Tonight we remember. Tonight we celebrate. Tonight we sing the song.
O, Holy Night!
“O Holy Night”, or in it’s original French, “Minuit, Chrétiens”, or Cantique de Noël”, is a well-loved Christmas hymn, and for good reason. The English translation expresses the awe any believer feels when he or she “gets it”. When we start to comprehend what sort of love the Father has for us.
Take a close look at this favorite carol, written in the 1840’s. Enjoy the English translation.
“O holy night,
The stars are brightly shining; it is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world,
in sin and error pining, till he appeared,
and the soul felt its worth.”
How long this old world pined away, marred by the sin and cruelty and harshness that ultimately separated us from the Father.
That night, the soul felt it’s worth — well, maybe. but three decades later, our soul would begin to understand.
Our Worth
We don’t really know our worth, do we? How can we? After all, we know that we are sinners. Unclean. Often, we believe, unwanted. But that is not the case. We are wanted very much indeed.
Only His bending low and ultimately redeeming us, would we humans begin to understand His unending love for us.
How does God view us? How does He see you? He gave the best He could give, on that night in Bethlehem. This human birth of his dearly loved Son set in motion God’s plan to redeem His own, calling them unto Himself.
9The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.b We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Soncfrom the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:11-14
What a holy night indeed, that night that began the fulfillment of His mission.
O, Holy Night
Let’s return to our carol. The first verse concludes with this:
“A thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn ~
Fall on your knees,
O hear the angel voices,
O, Night, Divine.”
And there it is. The beauty and richness of our loving Lord. This coming into the world as the Christ Child stuns us with the reality of our treasured status. Humans were soon-to-be rescued, when the Son of Infinite, All-powerful, Creator-Father God, broke into the dark and weary world.
Our weary world rejoices, every Christmas Eve, every day we live, just to contemplate the wonder of such a wonderful God.
Celine
Few can match the beauty and artistry of Celine Dion, am I right? Her gorgeous rendition is below.
(It’s finding that Celine sing this to us tonight — after all, she is French-Canadian!)
Let your weary soul rejoice tonight. For once, one new and glorious morn, the light of the Son of God broke into our world. And the world would never be the same.
