I wonder what I would have heard had I been there that night. It is a question that annually haunts me. Would I have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of barnyard animals shifting around. Would I have seen the star in the sky that night or simply two poor and very frightened kids. Would I have felt the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind. Would I have understood the message of Emanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic implications of that evening have passed me by.

I am convinced that had two people been there that night in Bethlehem it is quite possible that they could have heard and seen two entirely different scenes. I believe this because all of life is this way. God never reveals himself in such a way that we are forced…