Christmas

Last week, our family went to Disneyland for the unusual privilege of watching Lou Diamond Phillips read the Christmas story at Disneyland’s Candlelight Ceremony.

When Kyle first told me that the Christmas story would be read at Disneyland, I immediately thought, “‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except Mickey Mouse…”

But lo and behold, instead of St. Nick and reindeer, this story was about the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.

A choir sang carols like “Joy to the World” and “The First Noel”, then led the audience in singing Silent Night.

I like singing songs about Jesus, so to sing about the Christ Child with a crowd of parkgoers on Main Street was a particularly happy moment for me.

LDP, with rounded tones and bated breath, read “One Solitary Life” by Dr. James Allan:

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth

When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life

At these words, the choir broke out in the Hallelujah Chorus.

Lou Diamond honored our men and women in uniform, and then we all went back to window shopping on Main Street and taking photos in front of the giant Christmas tree and riding Pirates of the Caribbean.

But for a few minutes in their busy park, Disneyland made room for God’s story. And I thought that was worth mentioning.