Greatness In a Baby

Last night at our Christmas Eve Eve service Pastor Cory told the story of world famous violinist Josh Bell. Bell is a child prodigy violinist who when his parents found him creating music with rubber bands on dresser draw knobs, help professionally train him to become on of our greatest musicians. Josh Bell gave up his fame for a day and played his violin in a busy subway with his violin case open to appear common. The experiment was to see if the busy people using the subway to get to their next destination would stop and hear the greatness that was playing before them. Very few stopped to listen. Some children tried to rest in the music but were hurried on by their parents.

I always love listening to Christmas music this time of year. And this year while listening to O' Holy Night, I've been struck by the lyric, "a thrill of hope". Those four words that had become mechanical to me are now the focus of my Christmas season. The next line in the song is, "a weary world rejoices". We are certainly a weary world. The nightly news is prof of that but how many of us stop to see the greatness of God that came down to us as a vulnerable baby? This year stop and quiet your heart and listen to the miracle that God gave us in a common looking baby that changed the world with a thrill of hope.