“Oh hush the noise you men of strife and hear the angels sing!”

I am sitting in my home office as I type this message. I am listening to one of my favorite Christmas carols, It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, on one of my favorite Christmas albums and I am thinking about everything that I have to get done before I can enjoy Christmas. Believe me, it’s dizzying, yet, a line in the song jumps out of the speakers and seemingly slaps me in the face: “Oh hush the noise you men of strife and hear the angels sing!”

The overall message of this beautiful song is about how in Jesus, GOD came down to earth to bring us His hope, peace, joy, love, and light – the very things we look to in Advent. As I think about the “men of strife” line, I cannot help but think about all the things wrong in the world. Still, the true essence of that line is captured in my heart when I think about my own strife. I am prone to worry. I am prone to pessimism. I am prone to cynicism. I am prone to the very things that fly in the face of true hope, peace, joy, love, and light, and that is precisely why I need Advent to help me prepare for the blessed glory of Christmas.

All of our worship services this season have been focusing on hospitality. As we consider hospitality, we must remember that in the biblical languages, hospitality means love of stranger. We often think of it as entertaining our friends and family – you know, the people we love, like, and/or tolerate – but to GOD, hospitality is about sharing our lives with everyone so we can introduce them to the love of Almighty GOD. If we commit our lives to a sense of hospitality that includes those who we do not (yet) know, then we are fulfilling the desires of Christ who welcomes us into His holy family even in spite of ourselves.

As I sit at my desk listening to Christmas music and admittedly wrestling with what it means to share love with strangers, I am struck by the significance of the first Christmas present I am to wrap this year – a pair of tennis shoes for a teenager that we picked off of the church’s Angel Tree. When Tiffany told me that we picked shoes, I was actually quite happy. Shoes are seen by many young people as a status symbol. As I thought about providing a pair of new shoes to a young person in need, a smile was brought to my heart, because I knew that with this one simple gift, our family would not only help keep someone’s feet warm and protected, but able to meet a need of a different sort.

Beyond the basic needs of food, shelter, and safety, we humans have another driving need…the need to belong. Think about that and allow it to sink in. With all the harshness in the world, we need to know that we matter to someone and that our life makes a difference. This can come from seemingly trivial things like sneakers, but is found in something far more significant. Friends, this is precisely what GOD wants you to know: you matter to Him and your life can make a difference for Him! Amazing, isn’t it? Even in spite of your own worry, pessimism, and cynicism, you matter to the One who created you for Himself and delights in the very beating of your heart. This is a powerful message and one that has the power to change the world.

So as we make our way through this Advent season, focusing on the message that we matter to GOD and GOD’s people should matter to us, I need to ask, how are you living out that message in your daily life? We need to hush the noise of strife that we experience for a myriad of reasons so we can hear the singing of the angels proclaiming GOD’s love and favor for us! In the birth of Jesus, GOD shouts that we matter. As we celebrate Christ’s birth, may our lives also shout the message that others matter, too. May this be the light that we shine this Christmas, the life that is the very light for humanity! (John 1.5) Know you matter and belong to GOD. Go and make it a point to share that with someone else. Do it today!