It is the day after Christmas. As we prepare to close the chapter on this Christmas season, a few things are worth remembering. Christmas did not begin in comfort, celebration, or certainty. It began in obscurity, inconvenience, and unmet expectations. The long-awaited Messiah entered the world not in a palace but in a stable, not surrounded by dignitaries but by animals (Luke 2:7), not welcomed with ease but born amid rejection. There was no room in the inn, yet heaven made room on earth. This is where true worship begins, not when circumstances are ideal, but when God chooses to work through what feels small, painful, or overlooked. It is worship born in the dark. The birth of Christ reminds us that God’s greatest work often unfolds in places the world deems unworthy.
Mary’s response to this moment was not bitterness or fear, but surrender. She did not know how the story would unfold, yet she trusted the God who had spoken. Joseph walked a road marked by uncertainty, yet he obeyed. Their worship was not expressed through songs alone, but through faithful obedience when life did not make sense. Christmas teaches us that true worship is often quiet, hidden, and costly. It is praising God in the middle of inconvenience, trusting Him when the future feels fragile, and surrendering plans to a purpose greater than our own.
Even the angels who announced Christ’s birth did so to shepherds, men accustomed to long nights, loneliness, and watchfulness. God revealed His glory first to those who knew how to wait in the dark. Their response was worship: they went, they saw, and they glorified God. Christmas worship is born when faith responds to God’s initiative, even when life is ordinary or weary. The message of the incarnation is clear: God draws near not after the struggle ends, but in the midst of it. Emmanuel means God with us, not God after us, not God once everything is resolved.
The manger points us forward to the cross, where worship, once again, would rise from suffering. The child wrapped in swaddling clothes would one day be wrapped in burial linen, and yet through both moments, God’s redemptive plan was unfolding. Christmas invites believers to worship not because life is easy, but because God is present. It reminds us that not only is worship born in the dark, but hope often arrives quietly, love enters humbly, and glory is revealed in surrender. In every season, joyful or painful, Christmas declares this enduring truth: God is with us, and that alone is reason enough to worship. Praise the Lord!
