There is a beautiful old Christmas legend that tells how God called the angels of heaven together one day for a special choir rehearsal. He told them that He had a special song that He wanted them to learn… a song that they would sing at a very significant occasion. The angels went to work on it. They rehearsed long and hard… with great focus and intensity. In fact, some of the angels grumbled a bit… but God insisted on a very high standard for his choir.

As time passed, the choir improved in tone, in rhythm, and in quality. Finally God announced that they were ready… but then, He shocked them a bit. He told them that they would sing the song only once… and only on one night. There would be just one performance of this great song they had worked on so diligently! Again, some of the angels grumbled. The song was so extraordinarily beautiful and they had it down pat now… surely, they could sing it many, many times. God only smiled and told them that when the time came, they would understand.

Then one night, God called them together. He gathered them above a field just outside of Bethlehem. "It's time," God said to them… and the angels sang their song. O my, did they sing it! "Glory to God in the highest… and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests…" And as the angels sang, they knew there would never be another night like this one, and that there would never be another birth like this birth in Bethlehem.

When the angels returned to heaven, God reminded them that they would not formally sing that song again as an angelic choir, but if they wanted to, they could hum the song occasionally as individuals. One angel was bold enough to step forward and ask God why. Why could they not sing that majestic anthem again? They did it so well. It felt so right. Why couldn't they sing that great song anymore? "Because," God explained, "my Son has been born… and now the people on earth must do the singing!"

Once each year, Christmas comes around again to remind us of that… God's Son has come to earth… and now we must do the singing! And look at how we have tried. Without question, one of the best and most beloved parts of the celebration of Christmas is the music! The good news of Christmas is so awesome, so full of wonder, that it's not enough to just talk about it. We have to burst forth in song. We have to sing it. Think of all the beautiful Christmas songs! The beloved carols like O Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, The First Noel, O Come All Ye faithful, and Silent Night. Then there are countless pop songs that continue to sing the story of Christmas…

I was in a department store once doing some Christmas shopping. Christmas music was playing and I was getting into the spirit of it all… when suddenly I realized that I was singing along with Natalie Cole. Natalie was singing her Christmas hit, called "My Grown-up Christmas List." Have you heard it? In the song, Natalie Cole reminisces about how when she was young, she sat on Santa's knee and told him about her childhood wishes. And then she sings about how she's all grown up now, but she still has dreams… things she would like for Christmas, not just for herself but for our needy world. Then she sings her "Grown-up Christmas List." Here are the things she wants for Christmas now: "Lives that won't be torn apart And wars will never start, And time will heal the heart. Everyone will have a friend, And right will always win, And love will never end. This (she sings) is my lifelong dream, My Grown-up Christmas List."

Do you know what Natalie Cole is longing for in that song? She is longing for the peace of Christmas… and the place to find that is in the miracle of Bethlehem. When we go back to Bethlehem, we discover that real peace means being set right in all our relationships. It means being… right with God, right with ourselves, and right with other people.

I. FIRST OF ALL, WE NEED TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD

That's the starting place because that is indeed what Christmas is all about. Jesus Christ came into this world to set us right with God. Jesus Christ came into the world to save us and to bring us back to God.

Have you heard the story about the elderly couple driving down the street one day? They were listening to the radio as the man drove the car through the busy Christmas streets. As they listened to the beautiful music of Christmas, the wife became nostalgic and she said, "Herbert, do you remember how when we were younger we used to sit so close together as we drove along? It was so wonderful back then! What happened?" "I don't know about that," said Herbert, "All I know is that I haven't moved."

Well, Christmas comes each year to remind us that God is not the one who has moved away from us! No! We are the ones who move! We are the ones who drift away from Him. We have drifted away from God with our attitudes, our words, and our actions. With our inability to love, to put God first, and to put the interests of others before our own. We have failed as children, as spouses, and as parents. We have failed to let God's light shine in our lives!

Dr. Hugh Litchfield told about taking his 5-year-old son Christmas shopping one Saturday morning. It was just a day or so before Christmas… and the store was packed with shoppers. Hugh Litchfield told his son to stay near him, to not wander off because he might so easily get lost in the crowd. After they had shopped together for a while, Hugh was buying something for his wife at one of the department store counters. When he completed the purchase he looked back… and his little 5-year-old son was not there. He had drifted off! Hugh began to frantically search for his son. He called out to him; he rushed through the crowd looking for him everywhere, but no luck. He could not find him! He moved quickly to the candy counter and then to the toy department. Surely, he would be there… but no, he wasn't anywhere to be found.

Just as Hugh Litchfield was about to go into a panic, suddenly he heard this announcement over the department store loudspeaker: "We have a lost boy here! If you have lost your little boy, please come to the service desk." Hugh anxiously and hurriedly made his way there, and sure enough, there was his lost child. The reunion was filled with lots of hugs and words of love and visits to the candy counter and toy department. They had been apart, but they had found each other again! They had been brought back together. Now, think about this: The one who spoke over that loudspeaker, in a sense, served as a reconciler between the boy and his dad. They had gotten lost from each other because the little boy had wandered off, drifted away… but the one at the service desk got them back together again.

In the same sense, Christ came down to this earth to get us back together with God who made us… and who loves us. This is the real peace of Christmas! The peace Jesus made between God and us by coming here to be our Savior! God comes in the Christ Child to seek and save the lost. That's what Christmas is all about. God forgiving and forgetting about all the things you have done that have made you drift away from Him! Because of Jesus, you have now been brought back to Him and are at peace - real peace! The only way we can be at peace with God is letting the Christ of Christmas bring us back to the Father who loves us and set us right with the One who made us.

II. SECOND, WE NEED TO BE RIGHT WITH OURSELVES

More and more psychologists are telling us that we can't feel good about life and other people until we feel good about ourselves. They call it a healthy self-esteem… which is simply another way of saying that we need to be right with our "selves." God makes it clear that the only way that will happen is when we are right with Him, at peace with Him through Jesus!

Have you heard about the man who wrote a letter to Revenue Canada? It read: "Dear Sirs: I underpaid my tax bill for last year. I can't sleep at night and my conscience is bothering me. Enclosed please find $600." He then added the P.S.: "If I still can't sleep, I'll send the rest."

Let me ask you something: Do you know the meaning of integrity and honesty and ethics and virtue and morality? Do you love God and make Him the most important thing in your life? Do you put the interests of other people ahead of your own? Do you live your life with a humble attitude and selfless love? Do you feel good about your life right now? About who you are? Let me emphasize a very important point: The only way we can be at peace with ourselves is to trust that the Prince of Peace has put us at peace with God! The only way we can be right with ourselves is to be made right by Him. Believe in Him as your Prince of Peace! Trust that He has made you right with God, and that because of Him, God has forgiven you!

III. THIRD, WE NEED TO BE RIGHT WITH OTHER PEOPLE.

How many of you put up mistletoe at Christmastime? Do you know where the custom of kissing under the mistletoe came from? Actually, it came from the Druids in Northern Europe. They believed mistletoe had curative power and could cure lots of things including separation between people. So when two enemies happened to meet under an oak tree with mistletoe hanging above them, they took it as a sign from God that they should drop their weapons and be reconciled. They would drop their animosities and embrace one another under the mistletoe.

When the missionaries moved into northern Europe they saw this mistletoe custom as a perfect symbol for what happened to the world at Christmas. At Christmas a new age dawned, it was a time of peace, a time of healing, a time of reconciliation, a time for embracing one another. Peace between us and God means that there can also be peace between us and other people!

If you want to have a "peace-full" Christmas, and want to sing your real song of "Glory to God in the Highest" to thank God for sending his Son to make peace with you, then go in the spirit of love and fix those broken relationships in your life! If you are alienated or estranged or cut off or at odds with any other person, go in the spirit of Christmas and make peace. Don't put it off any longer… drop your pride, drop your resentment, drop your grudges, and go set it right. Go… and God will go with you. That's what mistletoe is really about… and that's what Christmas is about. When we make peace with others, that is one way we show the world that God has made peace with us!

God came to us in the Christ Child, so that through his life, his work, his death, and his resurrection, we have been set right with God, set right with ourselves, and set right with other people. That is only possible because God made peace with you and me! There is no more hostility between us for the things that made us once drift apart! So now - that song the angels once sang, "Glory to God in the Highest," is the song that you and I will sing every day to thank God for the gracious gift of his peace! Amen.

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