Whatever struck you, moved you; whatever part of it which led you, like Mary, to ponder it in your heart.
Whatever struck you, moved you; whatever part of it which led you, like Mary, to ponder it in your heart.
Christmas finds its true meaning in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite “newer” Christmas songs is “Mary Did You Know.”
There is a wonderful video that ties this song with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus – [url=http://www.deaconslant.blogspot.com/]on my blog[/url]
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
It occurs to me that God had a choice; He could choose judgement – such as with a flood – to destroy a corrupt humanity, or, He could choose grace. Mary, Jesus’ mother, also had a choice, and she chose to be the servant of Almighty God.
It is because of the choices of both God and Man that I (we) have the choices that I (we) have today. Let us choose the great gift of grace which God has given, that grace might work in our hearts, that we might have life, and that Christmas will have real meaning and, finally, that we might rightly call Jesus “Lord”.
Don
Two themes captured my attention this year: the powerlessness of God as an infant – a line from Denise Day Spencer’s poem “Incarnation” triggered a sermon – the line “His first memory was his Mother’s kiss”. The second theme – good news of great joy in a whole world of hurt – triggered another sermon. I think the sermons were meant for me though I was the preacher.
The birth of Jesus sent the brilliant Light of Truth and Grace into the cold dark of the world as a beacon of hope.
Same today…
My reflections, this year, are contained in the Christmas pageant I wrote for my church.
(I should point out, for those who wish to avoid dealing with such matters in this Christmas season, that the script is a little reappraiser-y. If you would rather skip over such a thing, then my reflection is: a very merry Christmas and a joyous Feast of the Nativity to you and yours.)
My Christmas reflections this year are colored by the fact that I am (only slightly) handicapped–limited to hopping on one foot while the other is recuperating from surgery, limited to living in the downstairs because I can’t climb upstairs, limited to the indoors because of snow out doors. So I am limited. . .by choice, actually. So, too, God chose the limitations of humanity to be born as a baby in a manger–a place I actually saw a month ago.
But Jesus” limitations were not for himself (as mine are for me ultimately) but rather for the world. I can’t begin to fathom that but I do know it is a fact. And for that this Christmas I am thankful and blessed.
I’m blessed with a caregiver–my husband–who is serving me because he, too, has been blessed.
How rich I feel!
Our priest learned while composing his sermon for last night’s Christmas Eve service doctors and family will withdraw treatment for his young brother’s cancer, as it is not working. While struggling with this and with composing the sermon, he was yearning and praying for a vision of what Incarnation looks like – and looked out his window and saw on the town sedding hill a father cradling his young child tight, going down the bumpy hill on a sled so the child could live that joy and yet do it in the safety of his father’s embrace. He preached this last night – to very few dry eyes, you can be sure! Shortly before that Christmas Eve service I delivered the baby of a couple who had tried for years to be pregnant; sadly, the baby died in utero at 20 wks and we had to induce the woman’s labor. The baby appeared perfect for that gestation. It was sobering and sad. There was no obvious reason for spirit to have left that little body. However, 7 hours later I had the privilege of delivering a term, live baby at 1 a.m. Christmas Day – a baby with a very loud spirit!
My answer, then, is Incarnation – God taking this flesh so that we may travel the terrible bumps of this life safe in our Father’s embrace, assured of His love.
Dear Jesus, Thank you for coming! Please come again soon!
I ask prayers for my priest, Fr Tom Galloway, who suffered a heart attack on Dec. 23. He is a good and faithful priest who never fails to proclaim the Gospel.
I too ask prayers for continued recovery for MY priest, Father John C. Combs, who is recovering from lung cancer surgery. He has been declared cancer-free, thanks be to God, and he’s back with his family and with us! What a wonderful Christmas this has been for the people of St Alban’s Anglican Church!
I reflected on a [url=lhttp://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=371]photo of a sculpture[/url] and wrote ‘Tender Attention’:
mother’s head is
lightly inclined;
baby’s body is
safe and special,
sound and secure,
encircled, enfolded,
enwrapped, embraced:
welcome wonderful world.
Apologies for the wrong link at #11. The correct link is [url=http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=371]here[/url].
#11 Very tender, Canon Kings. Thank you.
What a fortunate stroke that Christ is not just one day. The rest of the US signs off on Christmas about 5 o’clock on the 25th; but for us, we have 12 full days. And as for the others, they have no idea what they are missing. They would not go to the beach for just one day if they had 12 available, would they? Somehow, in the past, I had not felt the solid stretch of 12 days so clearly. Larry