But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Virtually every Christmas Eve Service tonight will feature the narrative of the Nativity penned by a virtuoso storyteller named Luke.

Beginning with: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” the reading from Luke 2 will evoke powerful images in the imagination of all who hear the sacred text:

• A very pregnant young woman and her husband trudging along the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem;
• This weary couple being refused lodging at an inn;
• Mary laying down their newborn son in a manger, with a doting Joseph looking lovingly at both of them and a host of farm animals watching in bemused wonder.

The scene then shifts to the countryside. In swift succession, we see the angels appear to the shepherds who promptly go to Bethlehem, see the Christ child, share what the angels told them with Mary & Joseph, and tell everyone in sight about all that they had seen and experienced. Whew! What a whirlwind of activity!

Through it all though, Mary “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

The dictionary definition of “ponder” is “to weigh carefully in the mind; consider thoughtfully; meditate.” Pondering is defined primarily as a mental activity.

But Mary did not ponder in her mind. She pondered in her heart.

Yes, she took the time to think through all that she had heard and seen. But this reflection came from the depth of her being, not just her mind. You could say that her mind, emotions and spirit were all involved in the process.

Mary is not the only one to ponder all that happened that night and in subsequent days.

In 1818, a roving band of actors was performing in towns throughout the Austrian Alps. On December 23 they arrived at Oberndorf, a village near Salzburg where they were to re-enact the story of Christ’s birth in the small Church of St. Nicholas.

Unfortunately, the church organ wasn’t working and could not be repaired before Christmas. So the actors presented their Christmas drama in a private home.

That Christmas presentation put assistant pastor Josef Mohr in a meditative mood. Instead of walking straight to his house that night, Mohr took a longer way home. The longer path took him up over a hill overlooking the village.

From that hilltop, Mohr looked down on the peaceful snow-covered village. Reveling in the majestic silence of the wintry night, Mohr gazed down at the glowing Christmas-card like scene.

As he pondered the Christmas play he had just seen, he remembered a poem he had written a couple of years before about the night when angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside.

You can read the rest of the story here.

It was this pondering that led to “Silent Night, Holy Night” being sung the very next night.

This Christmas Eve, will you also take time, as Mary did, to “ponder” these things “in your heart?”

Who knows what will come out of your pondering on this “Silent Night, Holy Night?”

Merry Christmas, everybody!