On Christmas Eve, Andorra and I sang a duet at our church service. I had written the song O Holy Child as I was thinking about the incredible truth that the Jesus in the manger was the same Jesus who went to the cross, rose from the dead, and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Our friend Elise shared a really encouraging story with us about what God was doing in her life and what the song meant to her.  It all started when she was teaching preschool Sunday school one morning …

“One of the things on their curriculum for the morning was to practice O Come Let Us Adore Him for the kids’ program.  It was pretty quickly apparent that most of them weren’t familiar with (or not that interested in) the song, and when I asked if they knew what it meant to adore someone there were blank stares.

“Then I asked, ‘What do you do if you go to someone’s house to meet a brand new baby for the first time?’  That was something they had authority to speak on, apparently, because everyone launched in with great enthusiasm: ‘We hold the baby!  We snuggle it! We smell the baby! I want to rub its head!  We kiss it and snuggle it…’  So we talked about what we would do if we were in the stable meeting baby Jesus – same kinds of answers, of course, and suddenly adore was a thing in their minds.

“I was undone. I have sung that song and even imagined being at the manger-side for years…always with a fairly formal, distant, serious attitute of worship. Suddenly these children had shown me another (I think better) way.  Snuggle in. Kiss Him.  Smell Him. Hold Him.  Even as He comes and draws near to us in ways most unimaginable.

“So all that has been tumbling through my head and heart as we prepared for Chistmas this year.  And Christmas Eve your song tied it all together.  Surprising, unexpected Jesus.  Dirt and Hay and Holiness mingled together in that unassuming place.  And we come to adore and praise and worship God-With-Us. And suddenly the ‘program’ was worship and I didn’t want the song to end.  Even now it brings me to tears. Thanks friends, for being vessels of worship and ushering us into His presence!”