I Love Christmas

It was Christmas Eve and I had just moved my family to a small Mennonite town outside a major city where I was teaching seminary. The kids were all excited waiting for Santa to arrive and had spent most of the day out playing in the falling snow. We were settling down to on of Bach's cantatas when I heard singing outside the door. We all grabbed our coats and boots and went outside to listen to the carolers. They were pretty good and there were a lot of them. When they finished the song the leader proclaimed in a loud voice, "Come follow me". Of course I realized he was quoting Jesus but intrigued we left the lights on and the music playing and began to follow the group. They stopped at a few more places along the way singing and calling the occupants to "Come follow me". In short order we were entering the local church where we were all invited to sit and enjoy the evening service. Well we sat for a bit and the pastor welcomed us all and opened in prayer and a re-telling of the nativity story. Suddenly without cue or warning a large group of people stood up and walked toward the dais where they formed 4 ranks. Then without cue or accompaniment they began to sing Stille Stille Stille in German. The volume and harmony and the simple faith shown by these simple farm folk made the hair on the back of my neck stand up as tears filled my eyes. Every day I dealt with professional Christians. Ones who soon would be pastors and preachers but this was nothing like that. This was a renewal of my spirit. The choir then switched to English and I and my family could sing along. The church fell silent for a time as people prayed or meditated on this blessed eve until precisely at midnight the church bell gonged. We all got up and wended our way back home to the songs we had been singing in chruch. The snow swirled as the wind blew but we hardly felt it. It was a Christmas Eve to remember.