Late Christmas Eve night I realized that this was the first year that simply attended a Christmas Eve service. Every year since we’ve been attending Ada Bible Church, I’ve either been a part of the worship team or read scripture. This year I just sat and soaked it all in with my family.

And I loved it.

The service was surprisingly emotional for me. I choked up on several occasions. I guess everything was very real to me. Jenna and I never can attend a worship service together. Just being next to her as we sang and prayed and listened was enough to make my night.

I loved singing with Liam and Ellison as they sang Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. Ellison’s mouth was WIDE open while singing “Gloooooooooooooo ria!” Liam being able to read the lyrics on the screen this year, kept rushing ahead of the beat and reading the words without stoping. I tried with no luck to get him back on rhythm. Perhaps what got me was knowing their hearts. Throughout the past several months our conversations at the dinner table have been about Jesus. They are truly beginning to understand and articulate their child-like faith. They pray with an understanding that God really is listening to them. Hearing them sing songs of worship just made that all the more real to me.

The worship leader set the tone for familiar carols that we sing year after year. In particular, he commented on the second and third verses of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

O ye beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

He allowed us to hear the music not only as words of celebration but as words of comfort and hope. Hope is a beautiful thing. As we look at the suffering around us, we know that hope is here in flesh. That one day the wrong will be made right. And oppression truly will cease.

The campus pastor spoke of Emmanuel, God with Us. With such clarity, he preached that no matter our stage in life, whether it be joy, sorrow, confusion, or waiting, God is HERE! He is the source of healing and refuge throughout our journey.

As a congregation, we responded with “The Glory of it All”

All is lost
find him there, find him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there

After all falls apart
he repairs he repairs

Oh the Glory of it all is:
he came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

oh he is here
for redemption from the fall
that we may live
for the glory of it all

Those words, “…that we may live.”

Hope.

I’m not even feeling down, and yet I cried knowing that the source of my joy is THE SOURCE of life, of my children, my marriage, my present and most definitely my future.

I’m beyond thankful for a night off to worship the Son. I really needed it.