A DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT by Lois Coady
Just as with Thanksgiving this year, Christmas celebrations are going to be different due to the pandemic. The one thing I find myself really missing is the Christmas choir. I love Christmas music and for the past 18 years, or so, I have spent my fall as part of the choir practicing for a “big performance.”
As a kid, I remember conducting the Christmas choir in my living room throughout the month of December. Well, I felt like I was conducting it. After the Christmas tree was decorated and the Christmas LPs (or long play records) were put out for the season; I would turn the tree lights on, start up the phonograph and conduct all the ornaments on the tree (many of them fashioned after carolers on a cold Christmas night) in numerous Christmas selections. Every so often we would pause briefly for a section critique – my basses tended to sound a bit flat at times - but mostly we just sang and sang for what seemed like hours. Occasionally, my slightly younger sister, Nancy, would join me and she would conduct half of the choir while I conducted the other half. It was wonderful!
I recently was reading the account of the angel appearing before the shepherds in Luke 2:8-14. The shepherds had been resting in the field overnight with their sheep when suddenly the night sky lit up with a beautiful glow and an angel appeared to them announcing the amazing birth of Jesus, their Savior. Once the angel shared the news, the scripture says that “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’”
They were the first Christmas choir! I can imagine the beauty of their voices as they sang praises to God that Christmas night. I can also envision the shepherds, shivering from the cool night air, but also the amazement and fear of what they were seeing and hearing about this wonderful miracle.
This Christmas, even though we will have to put some of our traditions aside, let’s determine to not be “humbugs,” but instead raise our hands and hearts in absolute praise to our Heavenly Father for His never-ending love and care for us. Let’s remember the real reason for the season—Jesus—and the wonderful gift of life that He gave each one of us. Hallelujah everyone, our King is Born!
