The Songs of Christmas — Week 4

O Holy Night , composed in 1847, captures the Christmas message in one phrase: a thrill of hope . This Christmas Eve message argues that taking Christ out of Christmas takes the hope out of the season, leaving a world "in sin and error pining." The teaching dwells on the shepherds—despised, unimportant, smelling of their flocks—as the only ones invited to the announcement. God's message is not the world's "be good and you'll be rewarded," but "Christ has come, so be free." Drawing on Max Lucado, the message ends at the low door of the Bethlehem cave: to see the Savior you have to stoop. Humility, not merit, is how anyone comes to the King who was born to be our friend.