It was many, many years ago. It was a dark night, and you could barely see the stars. In an out-of-the-way place in the Middle East, obscure sheep-herders huddled around a fire for warmth. They kept their eyes open lest a wolf sneak up and devour their livelihood. They kept close together lest something should rise up out of the darkness and devour them. Their world was small and ordinary. Perhaps they hoped for a family, a better job, a friend.

When the presence of God burst upon them, it not only scared them but it changed them forever. Something happened that night. Something that was bigger than just people. Something that could not, should not have happened under those wintry December skies…happened as they realized that truly God was in that place. Everything was different. I believe that God’s presence met them in a place of darkness and infused it with light…and hope.

It was December of 1914. World War I, called “the Great War,” had started in August. Much of the world was at war, and it was a dark and fearful time. Already hundreds of thousands of people were dead. Eventually over 10 million would die. The so-called “Western Front” of the war in Europe was a squiggly line northeast of Paris.

By December, a kind of stalemate had settled in. The Germans were dug in on one side, the French and English and Belgians on the other. Both sides had dug miles and miles of deep trenches to protect soldiers and hold their positions. In some places they were only 60 yards apart from one another.

The trenches were deep, dark and muddy. Full of rats and lice and water, and little medical care was available. Many of those who survived never talked about those days because they were so horrible. Every day, mortar pounded and bullets flew. Everyday, friends died. The trenches had barbed wire stretched across the top, and the most important thing the soldiers could do was to stay down, to keep their heads below the top of the trench.

Suddenly on the evening of December 24 (this evening), in 1914, the bullets stopped flying. On the German side of the line, some little Christmas trees began to pop up at the top of their trench. Later a white flag would be raised, and someone shouted out,

“A Christmas Day truce!”

They all wondered what was going on. The next morning an officer with a white flag climbed out of the German trench and made his way to the center of the field in between the two trenches. Reluctantly, an officer from the other side did the same.

And something happened. A spontaneous cease fire. With absolutely no authorization or negotiating, and in fact, despite a number of orders to the contrary, soldiers on both sides…put up Christmas trees. Slowly others climbed out of trenches, first one man at a time, then a whole company.

In the no man’s land in between they met their enemies. And found that they were real people. In some places, they began to help one another bury the dead. Conversations were held, handshakes clasped, souvenirs were exchanged, meals cooked, beer shared, even some soccer games broke out. Good Lord…what if there was a war and no one would fight?

Something happened that day. Something that was bigger than just people. Something that could not, should not have happened under those wintry December skies…happened as people pondered what Christmas meant…everything was different. I believe that God’s presence moved across a place of pain and darkness and infused it, however briefly, with light and hope.

It’s 90 years later. We sit under the same wintry sky, the same day of the year. So many times, our world is not a pretty place and in fact is painful and dangerous. And as a result, we sit in our own trenches of darkness and fear, trying to hunker down and survive. And it is this world that Jesus Christ still enters into. Lives beside us, stands beside us in the trench but does not leave us there. It is Jesus who lifts the flag of peace and brings us out of our ditches, out to the open field under an open sky, who says,

“Do not be afraid…I am with you.”

It is Jesus who would one day die on a cross to call us to a peace that is far broader and more profound than we can ever imagine. Peace between brother and sister, peace inside of ourselves. There is something bigger going on, more even than we can explain.

We know it at Christmas. We come on this holy night when we celebrate God’s coming into this world, the mystery of the incarnation, “God With Us.” And on this same night, we come to this table and we celebrate the mystery not only that he came, but why he came. For you. for me. To lift us out of the grimy places, and set our feet on level ground. To save us.

“Do not be afraid…for I bring you good news of great joy for ALL of the people. To you is born this day…a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”