Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that we, being illumined by the teaching of thine apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that we may at length attain to the fullness of life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

27 Dec: feast of St John the Evangelist #otd

Lieven van Lathem, Flemish
Saint John on Patmos, 1469

(The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 37, fol. 18) pic.twitter.com/I8uNobGGNE

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) December 27, 2022

O Father, who hast declared thy love to men by the birth of the Holy Child at Bethlehem: Help us to welcome him with gladness and to make room for him in our common days; so that we may live at peace with one another and in goodwill with all thy family; through the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Twelve Artworks of Christmas ❄️

This beautiful nocturnal scene by Rembrandt has special resonance on this, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The painting is one of nine painted landscapes by Rembrandt, and the only by night. #Solstice #12ArtworksOfChristmas pic.twitter.com/noKD5OGpFg

— National Gallery of Ireland (@NGIreland) December 21, 2022

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always….

–Proverbs 8:22-30

We will be opening a window to your favourite views of the #YorkshireDales here every morning.

We hope you like this view of #BoltonAbbey Estate 💙 At the heart of the estate lies the Priory Church and Ruins of an Augustinian Priory.

📸 Kev Lockwood #Wharfedale #Dales pic.twitter.com/iOMSnu3SFw

— Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (@yorkshire_dales) December 27, 2022

“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you Good News of a great joy . . . This day is born the Savior,” that is, he who, as Son of God and Son of the Father, has traveled (in obedience to the Father) the path that leads away from the Father and into the darkness of the world. Behind him omnipotence and freedom; before, powerlessness, bonds and obedience. Behind him the comprehensive divine vision; before him the prospect of the meaninglessness of death on the Cross between two criminals, Behind him the bliss of life with the Father; before him, grievous solidarity with all who do not know the Father, do not want to know him and deny his existence. Rejoice then, for God himself has passed this way! The Son took with him the awareness of doing the Father’s will. He took with him the unceasing prayer that the Father’s will would be done on the dark earth as in the brightness of heaven. He took with him his rejoicing that the Father had hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to babes, to the simple and the poor. “I am the way,” and this way is “the truth” for you; along this way you will find “the life.” Along “the way” that I am you will learn to lose your life in order to find it; you will learn to grow beyond yourselves and your insincerity into a truth that is greater than you are. From a worldly point of view everything may seem very dark; your dedication may seem unproductive and a failure. But do not be afraid: you are on God’s path. “Let not your hearts be troubled: believe in God; believe also in me.” I am walking on ahead of you and blazing the trail of Christian love for you. It leads to your most inaccessible brother, the person most forsaken by God. But it is the path of divine love itself. You are on the right path. All who deny themselves in order to carry out love’s commission are on the right path.

Miracles happen along this path. Apparently insignificant miracles, noticed by hardly anyone. The very finding of a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger—is this not a miracle in itself? Then there is the miracle when a particular mission, hidden in a person’s heart, really reaches its goal, bringing God’s peace and joy where there were nothing but despair and resignation; when someone succeeds in striking a tiny light in the midst of an overpowering darkness. When joy irradiates a heart that no longer dared to believe in it. Now and again we ourselves are assured that the angel’s word we are trying to obey will bring us to the place where God’s Word and Son is already made man. We are assured that, in spite of all the noise and nonsense, today, December 25, is Christmas just as truly as two millennia ago. Once and for all God has started out on his journey toward us, and nothing, till the world’s end, will stop him from coming to us and abiding in us.

Read it all.

The Word was God in the beginning and before all time. Today he is born to us, the Saviour of the world.#Vespers #EveningPrayer #Antiphon #Prayer #OctaveofChristmas #Christmas #ChristIsBorn pic.twitter.com/u15O3Q4d8i

— PrayeroftheChurch (@Neddamred) December 26, 2022

This mediator must represent God to humankind, and humankind to God. He must have points of contact with both God and humanity, and yet be distinguishable from them both. The central Christian idea of the incarnation, which expresses the belief that Jesus is both God and man, divine and human, portrays Jesus as the perfect mediator between God and human beings. He, and he alone, is able to redeem us and reconcile us to God.

—“I Believe”: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998), p.48

Christus natus est! pic.twitter.com/Wi6Vj4TWPG

— Levi Roach (@DrLRoach) December 25, 2022

“Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen” 🎶
26th December is St. Stephen’s Day. His dedicated flower is Purple Heather. This day is also known as #BoxingDay after the tradition of giving money or gift boxes to the poor or to workers in gratitude for their service. pic.twitter.com/NLkx1pSY1c

— VenetiaJane's Garden (@VenetiaJane) December 26, 2022

Look through them all.

In pictures: World celebrates #Christmas.https://t.co/fLJjhtQQcH

— High Days, Holidays & Holy Days (@DaysHolidays) December 25, 2022

Almighty God, who hast revealed the glory of thy love in the in the face of Jesus Christ, and called us by him to live as thy children: Fill our hearts, as we remember his nativity, with the gladness of this great redemption; that we may join in the heavenly song of glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill towards men; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Day two: the arrival of awkward, eager shepherds to see this very tiny babe fails to interrupt the circle of courtly devotion in Hugo van der Goes’s Portinari Altarpiece, 1470s. pic.twitter.com/3kFkXXQ22L

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) December 26, 2022

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first martyr, Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr https://t.co/qA6uIQ6qEx

Image: 'Devout Men Taking the Body of Saint Stephen', commissioned 1776 for St Stephen Walbrook by its Rector, Revd Thomas Wilson, & now on display in Boston, MA https://t.co/ixqFZUVg2b pic.twitter.com/zM5UiaQlae

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) December 26, 2022

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch′orus, and Nica′nor, and Timon, and Par′menas, and Nicola′us, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.

And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

–Acts 6:1-7

Today, December 26, is the feast of Saint Stephen.
Deacon and the First Martyr. pic.twitter.com/XisqsHvNuA

— Lester Hallig (@soundfactory72) December 25, 2022

Sometimes there were more kings than one in Sparta, who governed by joint authority. A king was occasionally sent to some neighboring state in character of a Spartan ambassador. Did he, when so sent, cease to be a king of Sparta, because he was also an ambassador? No, he did not divest himself of his royal dignity, but only added to it that of public deputation. So Christ, in becoming man, did not cease to be God; but though he ever was, and still continued to be, King of the whole creation, acted as the voluntary Servant and Messenger of the Father.

.

https://t.co/4RPZ5jbpm2
🎼Jan Dismas Zelenka(1679-1745)
🎵ZWV8, Missa Nativitatis Domini
　📖https://t.co/NLSa9eli3o

🎶Musica Florea https://t.co/Pk25yX4qla

🎨Master of Vyšší Brod https://t.co/BoPwNL0O8Q
　　Nativity c.1350 pic.twitter.com/8Sj1ObhY48

— Lucia (@angelicadisogno) December 21, 2022

15. This time of Christ’s feast natal,
We will be merry, great and small,
And thou shalt go out of this hall;
Farewell from us both all and some!

16. Advent is gone, Christmas is come;
Be we merry now, all and some!
He is not wise that will be dumb
In ortu Regis omnium. [At the coming of the King of all things]

Read it all.

'Advent is gone, Christmas is come;
Be we merry now, all and some!'

A medieval friar's cheery carol bidding farewell to Advent: https://t.co/X3eT0CHyHD pic.twitter.com/IlqmfZNRLG

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) December 24, 2022

Ever since I first heard it, my favorite Christmas song–KSH.

Lyrics–The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be
of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

The Messiah came as the Apple Tree from heaven to redeem the trees of the field (people). Tall trees (proud people) who reject Him will be brought low. But the Messiah will exalt the humble who trust Him. #AppleTree #MerryChristmas #PeopleAsTrees https://t.co/MWwUR1LwuR

— Wade Burleson (@Wade_Burleson) December 25, 2022

God with us means more than God over or side by side with us, before or behind us. It means more than His divine being in even the most intimate active connection with our human being otherwise peculiar to Him. At this point, at the heart of the Christian message and in relation to the event of which it speaks, it means that God has made himself the one who fulfills his redemptive will. It means that He Himself in His own person at His own cost but also on His own initiative has become the inconceivable Yet and Nevertheless of this event, and so its clear and well-founded and legitimate, its true and holy and righteous Therefore. It means that God has become man in order as such, but in divine sovereignty, to take up our case. What takes place in the work of inconceivable mercy is, therefore, the free overruling of God, but it is not an arbitrary overlooking and ignoring, not an artificial bridging, covering over or hiding, but a real closing of the breach, gulf and abyss between God and us for which we are responsible. At the very point where we refuse and fail, offending and provoking God, making ourselves impossible before Him and in that way missing our destiny, treading under foot our dignity, forfeiting our right, losing our salvation and hopelessly compromising our creaturely being at that very point God Himself intervenes as man.

—Church Dogmatics (IV.1) [E.T. By Geoffrey Bromiley and Thomas Torrance of the German Original] (London: T and T Clark, 1956), page 12

Bon réveillon de #Noël à tous et à toutes ! 🌟
Rappel : dimanche 25 décembre, le musée sera fermé. pic.twitter.com/vyXUXf8Jvo

— Musée de Cluny (@museecluny) December 24, 2022

Almighty God,
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him
and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:
grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Mary & Joseph arriving at the inn in Bethlehem, where there is no room. OTD year zero, here in a woodcut from 1551. pic.twitter.com/EuOC9Ck3Eq

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) December 25, 2022

She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word
was revelation.

She said
they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air
whirled around, dove into the sofa
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.

–John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected; one of my favourite Christmas poems, read every year on this day

Nous vous souhaitons à tous un très beau réveillon de #Noël !
(le musée d'Orsay sera fermé le 25 décembre)
🕯️🕯️🕯️
We wish you all a very nice #ChristasEve!
(the Musée d'Orsay will be closed on 25 December)
.
Edward Burne-Jones, "L'Adoration des mages"
👉https://t.co/t5yiNfP7oq pic.twitter.com/3Wjg80n4mI

— Musée d'Orsay (@MuseeOrsay) December 24, 2022

‘The idea that there’s a force of love and logic behind the universe is overwhelming to start with, if you believe it. Actually, maybe even far-fetched to start with, but the idea that that same love and logic would choose to describe itself as a baby born in %$#$ and straw and poverty is genius, and brings me to my knees, literally. To me, as a poet, I am just in awe of that. It makes some sort of poetic sense. It’s the thing that makes me a believer, although it didn’t dawn on me for many years.’

–Bono as quoted in Cathleen Falsani, The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), p.10, also cited by yours truly in yesterday’s sermon

Merry Christmas to all! 🎄

This timely artwork depicts a vibrant nativity scene full of movement and crowded with people, with the ‘Lamb of God’ seen in the immediate foreground.

🎨: The Adoration of the Magi, Franz von Rohden
oil on canvas, Rome 1851#SnowPlaceLikeUshaw pic.twitter.com/K3DAm5v2fy

— Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens (@ushawdurham) December 25, 2022

O Heavenly Father, as we celebrate again the nativity of thy Son our Saviour, we pray that, like the angels, we may sing his joyful praise; like the shepherds, we may go even to Bethlehem and see the Child lying in a manger; and like the wise men, we may offer to him our worship, and give him the love and loyalty of our hearts; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

'And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.'
John 1: 14

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from all of us at Westminster Abbey pic.twitter.com/cgprfiSWJy

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) December 25, 2022

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

–Zechariah 2:10-13

The angel said to the shepherds: ‘I bring you news of great joy: today the Saviour of the world has been born to you. Alleluia.’#Lauds #MorningPrayer #Christmas #ChristmasDay #Prayer

Painting by Thomas Buchanan Read pic.twitter.com/XWvqGkisVW

— PrayeroftheChurch (@Neddamred) December 25, 2022

Lyrics:

Good people all, this Christmas time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
‘Prepare and go, ‘ the angels said
‘To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born
With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went, this babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side the virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of life
Who came on earth to end all strife
Good people all, this Christmas time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born

The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context…the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should ever view it–not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.

–J. I. Packer, Knowing God, (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press; 20th Anniversary ed.), p.42

Peter Paul Rubens, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1608. Artists often distill a narrative to a single frame. Rubens knew angels didn’t appear to the shepherds while they were with Mary and Joseph. He’s telling several parts of the story in one image. #ArtWednesday #Nativity #Rubens pic.twitter.com/hiVaRcI1Y6

— Russ Ramsey 🫀 (@russramsey) December 21, 2022

How can you cope with the end of a world and the beginning of another one? How can you put an earthquake into a test-tube, or the sea into a bottle? “How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that fire has become flesh, that life itself became life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that, or it means nothing. It is either the most devastating disclosure of the deepest reality of the world, or it is a sham, a nonsense, a bit of deceitful playacting. Most of us, unable to cope with saying either of those things, condemn ourselves to live in the shallow world in between. We may not be content there, but we don’t know how to escape.

–NT Wright, For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church (Grand Rapids, Eerdman’s, 1994) the introduction, page ix, quoted by yours truly in today’s sermon

Today's pick: Rogier van der Weyden: The Nativity https://t.co/XR5R2TPTBS pic.twitter.com/8QBb7on9LC

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) October 23, 2019

ALMYGHTYE God, whiche haste geuen us thy onlye begotten sonne to take our nature upon hym, and this daye to bee borne of a pure Vyrgyn; Graunte that we beyng regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, maye dailye be renued by thy holy spirite, through the same our Lorde Jesus Christe who lyueth and reygneth &c.

Nativity at Night (c. 1490) by Geertgen tot Sint Jans (Dutch artist, lived c. 1465 – c. 1495). #nativity #christmas2022 pic.twitter.com/2vym3NIcdh

— The Long Victorian (@longvictorian2) December 24, 2022

We pray thee, O Lord, to purify our hearts that they may be worthy to become thy dwelling place. Let us never fail to find room for thee, but come and abide in us that we also may abide in thee, who as at this time wast born into the world for us, and dost live and reign, King of kings and Lord of lords, now and for evermore.

–William Temple

The Adoration of the Shepherds
Georges de La Tour c. 1644 pic.twitter.com/nQ15oWv5tr

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) January 6, 2022

We are going to take a break from the Anglican, Religious, Financial, Cultural, and other news until later in the Christmas season to focus from this evening forward on the great miracle of the Incarnation–KSH.

I like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas & a great New Year!! 🎄🤶😊 xxx #HappyChristmas2022 #Christmas @Bournemouthecho @CorfeCastleUK @StormHour pic.twitter.com/fUQazeTUYM

— Shazz Hooper Photography – Dorset (@DorsetShazz) December 24, 2022

Men overlooked a baby’s birth
When love unnoticed came to earth
And later, seeking in the skies,
Passed by a man in workman’s guise.
And only children paused to stare
While God Incarnate made a chair.

–Mary Tatlow

#MerryChristmas from the Barber. Here's our Christmas present to you – Bassano's 'The Adoration of the Magi' c1560s pic.twitter.com/HdHNNMZUVR

— The Barber Institute (@BarberInstitute) December 25, 2015

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge; who livest and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Guten Morgen ☕️🌟wünsche euch ein frohes Weihnachtsfest 🎶🎄
🌟 Die Hand, die die Wiege bewegt, bewegt die Welt. 🌟
Gertrud von Le fort pic.twitter.com/vVq7Mtjsml

— Renate Kleine (@RenateKleine) December 24, 2022

And his father Zechari’ah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

–Luke 1:67-80

Guten Morgen Twitteruniversum ☕️🎄
Heiligabend.
Ich wünsche euch frohe Weihnachten und erholsame Feiertage. #gmberlin pic.twitter.com/952Cz5bM2m

— Berlineralex – Hauptstadtfotograf 🔴⚪️ (@Berlineralex75) December 24, 2022