Lessons & Carols

Christmas could be over for me today.

Last night was our church's Christmas service of Lessons and Carols. It has easily become one of my most precious experiences in Jackson to get to sing with the choir, and especially so at Christmas, when our ranks almost double in number and we are joined by forty-some pieces of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. We practice for months to gather together with the congregation to listen to the entire plot of the God's plan to redeem his people, from the first offer of the gospel in Genesis through the coming of our Savior, told through Scripture passages and then responded to in song.

Last night was my last Christmas service of Lessons and Carols. I felt like I wanted to freeze every moment, remember the alto part of every song, and remember how every song sounded as an ensemble. I wanted to stop time and freeze everyone around me and just sit down in the midst of the choir and orchestra and congregation and just bask in my gratitude that I have been part of something like this - something that has so nourished my soul in a season when my soul could so easily be hungry and dry. Instead of the desired freeze effect, the two services flew by...my determination to live fully in and enjoy each moment meant that the moments bled one into the next and before I knew it, we were listening to the orchestral postlude.

My favorite moments from our service last night...we always begin by a candlelight processional to "Once In Royal David's City." My heart jumps up in my throat each time we sing the last verse:

"Not in that poor lowly stable, with the oxen standing by, we shall see Him; but in heaven, set at God's right hand on high; when like stars, His children crowned, all in white shall wait around." I still cannot fathom that I am one of those children - that some day I will look upon him in glory. Every time I sing that verse, I feel chills of simultaneous disbelief and delight.

Hands-down my favorite passage of Scripture from the night is the prophet fortelling the coming of the Savior from Isaiah 11:1-9 (I tried to pick my favorite parts, but couldn't, so you'll have to just read the whole thing. It's so worth it.):

1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (KJV)

I can't decide whether I like best the Lord judging with righteousness the poor and meek of the earth, or whether it's the promise of peace to a world that so desperately longs for it. By the time we get to verse 9, I can hardly see my music for the next song for the tears in my eyes. I so long for that day. Can you imagine? When the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea? What a beautiful day.

Christmas could be over for me today: the gift-giving and gift-getting, the Christmas cookie baking and traveling, the tree decorating and etc... All of that sort of pales for me after our Christmas service each year. I am so grateful to have been part of this these past years. I can't imagine Christmas without it. I think my heart will be in Jackson the second Sunday evening of many Decembers to come...longing to add my voice to the mix and to be reminded again in such a heart-grabbing way why we celebrate the season.