It was not a silent night long ago in David's town

It was not a silent nightthere was blood on the ground you could hear a woman's cry in the alleyway that night on the streets of David's town. Those are the first lines of one of my recent favorite Christmas songs, "Labor of Love". It was written by Nashville singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson and features Jill Phillips singing lead vocals on his Christmas CD released in 2004 titled "Behold the Lamb of God - The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ." I think I like it so much because it does a good job of breaking down the sanitized, idealized images of Christmas we have come to hold. It cuts through the fluff and confronts us with the reality of the situation. It was not a silent night. The shepherds in the field were scared out of their sandals with the blinding light of a sky full of angelic beings praising God loudly and declaring the arrival of the long awaited Messiah.It was both terrifying and astounding. They were so excited they abandoned their posts with the sheep and rushed into town to look for what the angel had told them. I wonder if they got in trouble for that?Then there's Mary and Joseph. They are always so serene and composed in the pictures and manger scenes. They appear quite comfortable. In reality, Mary and Joseph were far from familiar territory and the comforts of home. There is no mention of a midwife or her mother there to help her, just Joseph. The manger scenes on our mantles and front lawns are missing a few things - cries of pain, sweat, blood, the smell of animals.Admittedly, the manger scenes we display show the situation after the birth when a mother's pain is overshadowed by the joy of the arrival of a new child. It is easy to forget, however, the events leading up to that scene.This is an amazing story when we take the time to really look at it. The Son of God stepped out of glory and put on the same flesh and bone that we have. Peterson encourages us again, "So sing out with joy for the brave little boy who was God, but he made himself nothingHe gave up his pride and he came here to die like a man." That gets me every time. Christmas is only truly understood in relation to Easter. He experienced what was a very ignoble birth for a king, to come and live among us and accomplish one thing. So let the joy of the season burst forth from the understanding of the earth-shattering arrival of a little child who would grow up to do what no one was expecting.