No Christian should need be reminded to go to church on Christmas Eve.

Thursday, December 23, 1999

No Christian should need be reminded to go to church on Christmas Eve.

Or at least to stop and take a moment in silent contemplation in the privacy of their home and think about what Christians are celebrating around the world tonight.

It’s all about peace and a silent night long ago, when a peacemaker was born.

That he would seek so earnestly to bring peace to the world only to meet a violent end is not to be discouraging.

Even peace has its price.

There is bounty in the world this Christmas Eve for many just as there are bountiful needs far greater.

But, it is impossible to measure peace.

Especially, when violence lurks everywhere all the time.

A slap on a face in the privacy of a home is as much a threat to humankind as the explosion of bombs in the pursuit of peaceful coexistent in some distant land.

Just as there can never be too little violence, there can never be too much peace.

That’s what makes peace on earth so necessary and so timeless.

Peace on earth to all tonight and tomorrow and for ever and ever.