Free Christmas in the Air by Irene Brand Page B

can play without music. There are hymnals in the pews, and you can use those if you don’t remember the words. Sean will solo ‘O Holy Night’ at the end of our service.”
    They all hovered as near the stove as they could when Eric started the service.
    â€œMy friends,” he said, “I’ll ask you first of all to recall a Christmas of the past that’s still vivid in your memory.”
    Livia didn’t even have to take a second thought. It was the one they were without electric power several days before Christmas. It was the same year Wendy came to meet the Kessler family. At first, they’d thought it was a disaster to be without electricity. But the days without modern conveniences had drawn them closer together than if circumstances had been normal. Livia thought the same thing was happening in this little forsaken church tonight.
    â€œI can tell by some of your expressions,” Eric continued, “that you’re having difficulty recalling any specific Christmas that stands out in your memory. Most of my Christmases have been the same. But it goes without saying that this Christmas will never be forgotten. Every year, we’ll remember what happened here tonight. We’ll talk of it to our children and grandchildren, and they will in turn pass the story on to their families. So it’s important that we remember, not only the hardships we endured, and the fellowship we have, but also that we commemorated the birth of Jesus.”
    Eric prayed, and then he turned to Roxanne.
    â€œGo ahead with your music.”
    As cold as it was in the room, Livia wondered how Roxanne could play the piano. She wore a pair of thin leather gloves, but they would provide little warmth against the cold black and white keys.
    Roxanne’s fingers did stumble a little. Livia noticed that she hit several wrong notes, which seldom happened, but the music seemed more beautiful to Livia than when she listened to Roxanne play the Steinway Grand in their church sanctuary. They moved from one well-known carol to another, most of them singing from memory because the candlelight was dim.
    More than ever before, Livia envisioned the actual events of the birth of Christ, as Eric read from the second chapter of Luke.
    â€œâ€˜And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; to be taxed with Mary hisespoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.’”
    Mary would have endured the same pain that any other mother would experience during the birth of her son. Compared to present-day hospital conditions, the Son of God had come into the world under dismal circumstances. But, since He was God in the flesh, it was fitting for His birth to be a natural one.
    As Eric continued reading the account of Jesus’ birth, Livia imagined herself walking with the shepherds as they left the fields and hurried to the stable to see the Christ Child. Tonight, when they were worshiping in a cold, abandoned building, she fully comprehended the pathetic conditions surrounding Joseph and Mary, and their newborn child.
    â€œThe focus of my message tonight is based on a verse in the fourth chapter of Galatians,” Eric said, interrupting her thoughts. He then read out, “‘But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.’”
    â€œThe Jews had been watching centuries for the promised Messiah,” Eric said, “and some had given up hope of His coming. Although men had despaired of His arrival, Jesus came to earth at the right time, the best time.
    â€œI pray that tonight’s message will make a