Well, it is December the 23rd. The holiday parties are almost over. Travel plans are made and maybe some have even already made the trip to their family or friends. Tomorrow night, many will gather in churches to take a moment to worship. Some will be frantically trying to get the last presents purchased, wrapped, bagged or assembled. Others will be putting the last touches on the turkey and fixings. Dec. 25 will be here, ready or not.

One of questions of the season is, “Are you ready for Christmas?’ I have heard this phrased many ways. One is, “Have you bought Christmas yet?” In July the question might be, “Have you paid for Christmas yet?”

Amy Grant sings a song entitled “I Need a Silent Night.” I understand that. Maybe you understand it too. She sings,

“I've made the same mistake before. Too many malls, too many stores, December traffic, Christmas rush, It breaks me till I push and shove.” The refrain says, “I need a silent night, a holy night to hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise. I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here to end this crazy day with a silent night.”

In another stanza, she sings of trying to buy the peace of Christmas. Hope, joy, peace and love are some of the themes of Christmas. I have seen people rush headlong in to the futility of trying to buy what can’t be bought. I could sing with Amy that I have made that same mistake before. How about you?

Unfortunately, choosing not to purchase in order to find the peace, hope, joy and love of Christmas will not make them magically appear, either. And trying to receive the coveted four aspects of the season in packages with beautiful paper and bows won’t get it done.

As a pastor, father, husband, friend, man, boy and all of the other roles I have fulfilled and do fulfill, I have observed and participated in the religious and cultural realities of Christmas, some good and some bad.

I have celebrated with those for whom Christmas brought a desired first: a new job, baby, home or other desired addition in life. I have cried with those who have lost and for whom the season was blue, rather than red and green. I have personally experienced the first Christmas with a new joy and hope and endured the first one when a joy or hope was gone.

Somehow, the anticipation and expectation of the Christmas season magnifies the extremes in emotions. I think a solution to Christmas chaos and confusion, to the sorrow and solemnity of Christmas losses and the hope of the hysterical hype is to sing with Amy, “I need a silent night, a holy night to hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise. I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here to end this… with a silent night.”

Some might read this and conclude that I am suggesting that some things should be omitted from the holiday hassle. It is much too late for that! Rather, I am suggesting something else. What if something was added— a silent night, a holy night, a moment of clarity, an angel voice and little peace within and all around?

This is a wonderful, wonder-filled season. It would be a shame to miss it. So this is my suggestion. Make some room for a birth or rebirth, take a moment to have a silent night, a holy night. Hear an angel voice singing of good will and peace that God is with you. In that silent and holy moment, know that what happened long ago in a far off land in the still of the night has happened one person at a time throughout history, God with us. May that be your gift this Christmas, God with you. That is a Gift that keeps on giving.

Merry Christmas.