Christmas Eve (Year 4, NL)

God loves the creation. In response the creation sings praise and adoration to God.

Like millions of others, I was a devoted Dave Brubeck fan—ever since I first heard his music in the 1950s.

The angel said, "Fear not."“Fear not” is one of the standard opening lines that angels use to calm humans when they meet them, but it rarely does any good, and it certainly didn’t do any good on this night. At the first sound coming from the angel’s mouth, all eight shepherds fell flat on their faces. They were shaking and clinging to the earth as if crawling back into the dust from which they came might save them this night.

We have many defenses against hearing the Christmas readings and taking them to heart.