This is one of the quietest times of the year for me- the two hours between the 7:00 Christmas Eve Jazz Service and the 10:30 prelude for the 11:00 CandleLight service.  The church is pretty empty except for the hardworking custodians.  The jazz band is gone and the chancel choir has not yet arrived.

If I go home during this time I get tired and it is hard to come back.  So I stay in my office.  Some kind soul left a cup of Starbucks on my desk.  Yum.

So this quiet time each Christmas Eve is something I look forward to.  It is a time to reflect on the year that is about finished and the one about to begin.  It is a time to think about the places I have witnessed Christ's birth and the ways I have ignored his coming.

This has actually been a rather strange Christmas.  For one thing the warm weather is odd.  We had to turn on air-conditioning at the Jazz Service this evening!  Tomorrow morning Jack and I will go to New York to see my son and his new bride for Christmas.  That is odd as well.  I guess this is a significant passage when my child becomes the host and I become the guest.  I am looking forward to it.

But even with unseasonable weather and family role reversals Christmas has come.  Once more we have celebrated the birth that was and is and is yet to be.  Once more we have turned a great mystery into a simple story and we have circled the manger with our songs and praise.

Merry Christmas.  For to you is born this day a savior.  Glory to God.  On earth, peace.