9 Lessons and Carols

A service that tracks our salvation through readings and song.

“All is calm, all is bright.” Is it really? We sing those words from the hymn “Silent Night, Holy Night” every Christmas Eve. Yet the world in which we live is in so many ways neither calm nor bright. War, violence, shootings, unending anxiety: these are anything but calm and bright. Yet we sing. Why? Because the calmness and brightness of which we sing on Christmas Eve comes not from politics or laws or humanity’s ability to overcome obstacles; it comes from God. “Glory to God in the highest,” sings the multitude of angels to the shepherds, “and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). In Christ, we are given peace beyond human understanding, peace flowing from God to us, peace that comes from God’s self-sacrificing love. So filled with hope, we join the angel chorus and sing of the peace found only in Jesus.