One of my favorite Christmas carols is “O Holy Night.” (Will you judge me if I told you that I had never heard of this carol until Hanson covered it on their Christmas album “Snowed In” back in 1997?! 😉 )

The song was actually written in the mid-1800s and has been a beloved carol for many years. I was 16 years old when I first heard this song on my Walkman, earbuds in my ears and my cassette tape playing away, but I still remember these profound lyrics and find comfort in them today:

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, o hear the angel voices

O night divine, o night, when Christ was born

O night divine, o night, o night divine

I think it’s safe to say that we as a world have been weary. It’s easy enough to take for granted the baby in the manger destined for the cross when we have presents to wrap, trees to decorate, and lights to see. Perhaps it’s even easier to overlook “the reason for the season” when we feel the weariness and weight of a very heavy year where nothing has looked familiar at all.

Can I urge you to think back to that thrill of hope that you felt when you first heard of Jesus? When you realized what He had done for you and how much He loved you and how that caused your heart to soften and swell because everything was different now…

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn, Fall on your knees…

What should our response to this Holy Night be?

Rejoice and worship.

This Christmas may it be a time to fall on your knees. To remember why we can rejoice. May this season be a time to remember that thrill of hope and what it means for us that our God came as a baby into our weary and sinful world that our souls might feel His worth. This Christmas, and maybe especially this Christmas, we need that reminder of hope. We need to remember that we can rejoice now because of what was done and what will be done. Let’s return to hearts of gratitude and praise for our Savior who will come again!

And until that time, we wait. We wait with hope knowing that one day our weary world will rejoice once again because that hope will be fulfilled.

Everything changed on Christmas. Our Savior was born. And with Him, hope.