A YouTube Advent Calendar: December 25

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all people, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

- Zechariah 2:10-13 (NRSV)

I grew up on this Christmas carol by John Denver and the Muppets. I love the way it addresses the bleakness of the world around us and the Christian hope of redemption. It also elegantly portrays the forgiveness Christ brings: all the pain of the world can simply be laid aside as irrelevant in the light of the Incarnation. God is with us, and we have nothing to fear.

The Peace Carol

The garment of life, be it tattered and torn

The cloak of the soldier is weathered and worn
But what Child is this that was poverty-born

The peace of Christmas Day

The branch that bears the bright holly

The dove that rests in yonder tree

The light that shines for all to see

The peace of Christmas Day

The hope that has slumbered for two thousand years

A promise that silenced a thousand fears

A faith that can hollow an ocean of tears

The peace of Christmas Day

Add all the grief that people may bear

Total the strife and the trouble and care
Put them in columns and leave them right there
The peace of Christmas Day

The branch that bears the bright holly

The dove that rests in yonder tree

The light that shines for all to see

The peace of Christmas Day