How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in

Jesus was born into straw poverty on a silent night because that’s the way He continues to come into the world again, and again and again. He quietly steals His way into the straw poverty of our souls — no fanfare — only angels notice and sing. (The Bible says the angels make a pretty big deal of it when even one sinner comes to Christ, but, of course, we don’t hear that.)

Why, do you think, did He come so quietly and with little or no fanfare? I’m sure there are lots of reasons, but one I can think of right now is that transformation starts small. Christ’s coming is never boisterous. We are not changed overnight. We start a lifetime process of reflecting more and more of His glory in our lives. But it starts small and grows over time.

A slow gradual change is more realistic, and more supported by the reality of Christ’s life in us. If having Christ born in your life turned you into an immediate spiritual giant, you would be eventually crushed under the weight of having to keep up that image. As it is, Christ’s presence in our lives is hardly seen, but over time, it changes us. The changes are real, produced from the inside by Christ Himself through His Holy Spirit and not fabricated on the surface by us. Spiritual change is not like returning from a spiritual retreat all pumped up, only to be eventually deflated by daily realities. Spiritual change is a part of those daily realities as Christ’s life is imbedded in us.

It was a silent night, but it was also a holy night. What made it holy was an invasion. It was an invasion of earth by heaven and heaven’s forces. The son of God, administered to by angels, broke the plane of our earthly existence and nothing’s been the same since. God has entered our space, taken on human form and lived as a human being for 33 years, and suddenly, everything about this physical existence is holy. There is no longer a line between sacred and secular — physical and spiritual. All of life is sacred because the Son of God lived it. The most human of things are now holy. Christ is in you, doing everything you do. Now, we’re not trying to escape this human existence — (i.e., “Help, I’m trapped inside this human body!) — we are sanctifying this experience because we are finding Christ in it.

Eyes Wide Open Participants

Special thanks to the participants in our Fall Annual Campaign.

A few new names to add. Thank you one and all.

Ed & Kathy

Merlyn, from Goodyear, Arizona

David, from San Diego, California

Mike, from Sacramento, California

Priscilla, from Rochester, New York

Kristin, from Chesterfield, Missouri

Patrick, from Milan, Michigan

Jay, from Franklin, Tennessee

Dave, from Reno, Nevada

Tom, from Arlington, Virginia

Tami, from Pensacola, Florida

Dick, from Lantana, Texas

Christina, from Colorado Springs, Colorado

James, from Mt Pleasant, South Carolina

Darin, from Schuyler, Nebraska

David, from Chehalis, Washington

Joanne, from Lynden, Washington

Richard, from Nashville, Tennessee

Carol, from Melrose, Massachusetts

Rob, from Sacramento, California

Roger, from Whittier, California

Rebecca, from Cullman, Alabama

Cynthia, from Harlingen, Texas

Keith, from Portland, Oregon

Daniel, from O Fallon, Oregon

Steve, from Nashville, Tennessee 

John, from Coralville, Iowa

Wayne, from Modesto, California

Gary, from Sidney, Ohio

Allen, from Exton, Pennsylvania

Mike, from Cambria, California

Joe, from Sugar Land, Texas

An Anonymous gift from the State of Washington

Stewart, from Gunnison, Colorado

Noel, from Blue Hill, Maine

Lisa, from Sunland, California

Daniel, from Hershey. Pennsylvania

John, from Ft Mitchell, Kentucky

Neil, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Bob, from Iowa City, Iowa

Herb, from Blue Mountain, Mississippi 

John, from Los Altos, California 

Laura, from Campbell, California