The most dramatic moment of the Christmas Carol “O Holy Night” is the phrase “Fall on your knees”! The music suddenly becomes very loud, fortissimo! The emphasis is on “FALL”. There is no gentle slipping down to the kneeling bench. There is a sudden full out, fall on your face, overcome with awe at being in the holy presence of God. This is the moment of truth when we absolutely know that God is God and we are not. We are part of fallen humanity in need of a Savior. In this moment we know that the baby is our gift of life eternal. We were lost and we have just been found, rescued! It just feels so good to fall on our knees, to fully give ourselves in this way. The following photo was taken by my friend Ellen of a nativity in Nazereth.
Another lesser known Christmas Carol is “Nino Lindo”. It is a traditional Venezuelan Christmas song translated by George Lockwood, 1987.
“Child so lovely, you are Christ my God…All my life, my darling, and my soul as well; this is what I offer, offer joyously, falling at your feet.”
Here the gift of ourselves is offered in full surrender of our lives, our souls. This Advent season I saw the opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. The boy, Amahl, is crippled and walks with a crutch. The wise men stop by the humble abode of Amahl and his mother as they are on their way to the manger in Bethlehem. Upon hearing about the new baby Jesus, the new king who brings new life, Amahl wants to send a gift to the baby. The only thing he has to offer is his crutch. As he lifts it up, he passionately offers the essence of his life support. In this very moment he begins to fall to his knees and is suddenly healed. His leg catches his fall, and Amahl bursts forth with new life, dancing about. A miracle!
nk
Pondering…
Let us recall a special holy moment of kneeling before God. Write about it if you wish.
Have you ever surrendered something to God, falling on your knees?
nk moments 
Such beautiful words of Amahl’s story and your friend’s nativity picture brought me to tears as it triggered a memory of the day my daughter revealed she had breast cancer. That night I literally fell on the floor onto my knees and surrendered Shannon to God, deeply knowing she would be fine regardless of the outcome of surgery. Yesterday, while I was listening to O Holy Night playing on my iPad, tears of joy gushed out at the phrase “fall on your knees” as I recalled the memory above. You have captured the ultimate, human response to the Christmas miracle. Thank you.
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I love O Holy night. I have done an arrangement in a quiet folk song style. Falling on my knees occurred 7 years ago. My son was in the deepest of addictions. I fell on my knees and raised my hands to God, giving him Spencer even if it meant God taking him. I felt such a peace. Then a couple of months later he went into rehab and has been clean and sober since.
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