Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Saturday, December 26, 2015
Still, Still, Still
Yesterday was out of the ordinary. Different, even strange. Few people on the streets. Few cars on the roads. Since yesterday was Christmas, few stores were open. As my husband and I drove home from church shortly before noon, I commented on those things. My husband made the deep comment that Christmas day is a pause. A collective catching of breath for most of the United States. For many people in the world, too.
Today, being December 26, everything went back to normal. Extra rushing around, what with all the after-Christmas bargains available.
In my book of Advent and Christmas meditations, today’s reading featured a bit of one of Maria von Wedemeyer’s letters to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His fiancée spoke of the calm and quiet of Christmas night. “Can you think of a better time than night-time? That’s why Christ, too, chose to come to us—with His angels—at night.” [1]
A hush comes over the world, on Christmas day and night. A hush, a lull. Even a preternatural stillness. It was truly a Holy Night. Regardless whether the date of Christ’s birth was actually December 25, or some other date, I believe God caused that night to be still. Peaceful. A resting place between the noise, the rush, the wheels, anger, frustration, and confusion. All that started up again, after the Christ child was born.
But this mysterious time of silence—this special peaceful time—was certainly a day to remember. The stillness. The hush. The birth of Messiah.
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[1] God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, trans. O.C. Dean, Jr., compiled and edited, Jana Riess (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2010), 69.
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