This One Moment....

I just got home from doing some work at our church.  Each Saturday night we have to do some things to get ready for the early worship service.  But tonight was especially chaotic, as most of the last few weekends this time of year have been.  With Sunday School Christmas parties and so many other things going on, we have basically just been dodging each other to make sure that everything is done and nobody gets hurt!  With the exception of Trevor tripping in the parking lot and falling sternum first onto a concrete parking stop, I think we have done alright.  (He seems to be ok, by the way.)

Tonight, there was a Christmas party in the fellowship hall and children’s play practice in the auditorium.  I, because of my many talents, well mainly because I showed up, was asked to help with the production by running the sound and the lights for the play.  So I got a script, made my notes and marked my cues and tried to keep up.  You know how these plays are!  I was so distracted by the adorable angels with coat hanger halo’s and the wise men in bath robes that I missed half of my notes and all of my instructions.  The kids were great and the workers were even better.  I sat and watched and thought about how blessed my church is to have this kind of program and to have the people with the heart to put something like that together.

I looked at the kids and glanced over the parents sitting by.  I love watching when a child takes a microphone in there hand and seeing the nervous look on the parent of said child as they hold their breath hoping the word “Fart” doesn’t come out of their mouth.  The kids however are more nervous and couldn’t even generate a real fart if they tried.  They have lines that must be said, certain places they have to stand all while making sure their wings don’t hit the person next to them, or make sure they don’t trip over the manger!  

The child leans into the microphone…

Their breath rattles the speakers like a Snoop Dog concert…

After the initial breath there is always that slight pause…..

Their minds race over all that they have worked hard to remember…

At the foot of the stage there is the play director mouthing the first few words of their line…

Then, in what starts as yelling until both the child and the sound man realize how loud the microphone is, the child says their line or sings their verse.

The crowd snickers and the parent beams with pride as they shake their head with this, “only my child” look on their face.  It is a moment that nothing else compares to.  It is special.  Not because of my child or your child mastering the stage with all of their wonderful talents. This moment is not made unique by the music or the delivery of the parts.

In this brief moment, its as if time stands still.  In that moment, there is no outside world, no other time, no other event, and no other priority.  It is just this moment.

Our shopping lists and agendas are non existent.  Pictures with Santa, dinner with family, and decorations left unfinished are as far as way as the North Pole itself.  There is nothing else but this moment. 

There is no prejudice or hate.

There is no malice or anger.

There are no jaded views or misunderstandings.

There are no bitter grudges or unsaid words.

There are no walls to separate us or any distance too great.

It is just this moment….

In this moment, every thing that is wrong is made right.  Our minds are not distracted by politics or empty religion.  Our hearts are not drawn away from what is important.  We have no place else to be and nobody else to be with.  The next moment may take us rushing out the door to the next play or party, but as for right now there is nothing else.

I sat in the sound booth tonight watching all of this unfold in slow motion.  I sat there and watched kids forget words and wonder away from their spots like crazy people.  I saw workers sewing wings back on angels and wise men with their zippers unzipped.  I even saw shepherds picking their nose.  But for that second all was calm and all was bright.

Too often we let this season and it’s true meaning slip away.  It’s not because Jesus has been muscled out but because we have let ourselves forget.  All those years ago when a little country town was as busy and bustling as any town had ever been or will ever be, there was a moment like this.  There was a moment when time stood still.

The night sky’s darkness was shattered by the voices of angels..

The silence of a sleepy stable was overtaken by the screams of labor pains…

The life of a carpenter and a young girl were interrupted by the fulfillment of all prophecy.

The very course and hopeless spiral of humanity was changed in that one moment.

Through the odor of cow dung and sweat, the aroma of heaven filled a tiny barn.  While the world around that shack filled with animals was sleeping, God Himself stepped off His throne to save the lives of sinful man.  In that moment, nothing else even existed.  Creation itself held it’s breath and pushed with Mary.  All of Heaven rejoiced to see God’s plan being fulfilled through this infant born in the prickly hay of a stable.

In that moment, nothing else mattered.  God’s presence filled the spaces of time and existence.  Joseph reaches down and picks up this child.  I can see him, as he cradles this baby in the fold of his arm and smiles.  He is careful as he wraps this little person up to stop His shaking.  He leans over and hands Him to Mary and wipes the sweat from her brow and smiles.  The baby seems to bounce up and down on the chest of Mary while she is still winded, trying to catch her breath.  As she looks into the face of her child, her mind is flooded with all that she has seen and heard and in that moment, time stands still.

Shepherds, Wise Men, and even the cosmos itself are drawn to this place.  The town around this place is still and silent.  The voice of GOD cries out of the mouth of a baby in a shaky newborn cry, and in this moment there is nothing else.

Our hearts ought to break.  We ought to be ashamed of ourselves.  When did we forget about the wonder of this moment?  When did we lose sight of how big this message is?

We can’t sleep at night thinking of all we have to do all the while forgetting what all God accomplished in this single moment.  We are distracted, ungrateful and perverse to make this moment any thing other than what it is.  We make this moment as pointless and empty as the countless moments we spend running over shopping lists in the isles of Wal-Mart when we refuse to be irreparably humbled and broken over the condescension of the God of the Universe in this moment.

For this one moment….

Have you taken the time to embrace the immeasurable glory of this one moment?  God help us to get back to the place where we can put aside all of our ___________ (fill in the blank), and just worship at the feet of the King.

Silent Night,

Holy Night,

Son of God,

Love’s Pure Light.

Radiant beams from Thy Holy Face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace.

Jesus, LORD at Thy birth.

Jesus, LORD at Thy birth.