“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” – Matthew 1:23
Over the 4th of July holiday there was lots of noise coming from the playground near my house. In the daytime it was the laughter and shouts of the children having fun. At night it was teens shooting off fireworks. I hear these sounds so often I barely notice them. But one evening I heard a sound that stopped me in my tracks. It was the strong confident voice of a young girl singing.
It wasn’t the fact that she was singing that caught my attention. It was the song she sang. “Silent night, holy night. All is calm. All is bright round yon virgin mother and child…” She was singing a Christmas carol at the top of her lungs on a hot summer night for all the world to hear. I don’t think I would have noticed if she was singing the latest pop song, but no one expects a Christmas carol in July. It made you stop and listen.
What would prompt her to do this? Did the still evening air cause her to think of those lyrics? Was it the only song she could remember? Or did she want to intentionally celebrate the coming of Jesus, even though it was July?
I’m going to hope it was the latter. It’s not just in December that we have Immanuel – God with us. Jesus is with us every day. So, in July or December, let’s celebrate that Jesus is with us. And don’t be afraid to let the world know, even if you’re sitting by yourself on a playground.
Pastor Mark