Christ is Born! Alleluia!



Here’s an ancient hymn of the church that anchors an appropriate reverence for the advent season. It's words and good to meditate upon.



Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.



King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.



Rank on rank the host of heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day,

That the powers of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away.



At His feet the six winged seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry:

Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Lord Most High!



—Liturgy of St. James, 4th c., Tr. Gerard Moultrie, sung to “Picardy”

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Father; Son; Spirit.
God the unknowable, beyond us, who's ways and thinking are far beyond us.
God the revealed, explained, demonstrated, related to us.
God inside us, transforming, guiding, inspiring, convicting, translating for us.

I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
— Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I often try to envision Benjamin Franklin rising to give his beautiful call to prayer in 1787 as representatives had become flustered after weeks of trying to write the Constitution of the United States. The 81-year-old Franklin offered one of the most beautiful discourses ever recorded. He said, in part:

“I have lived, Sirs, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs in the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow cannot fail to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sirs, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. …”

It's been a long time since I blogged, but I had to say a huge THANK YOU to Mark Haverty for designing, building and publishing the 3rd generation of web site for Londonderry Church of the Nazarene. What a great job!
What makes it more amazing to me is that mark did this while moving house, selling his car, preparing to relocate his family from the UK to the US, clearing family visas through the London US Embassy, and just about a hundred other things. mark you are a real trooper! AND you did all this just as a fvor to me. You are the best!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Wild gorillas seen to use tools

Just an example of the all-pervasive presence of the faith-system called Secular Humanism in the media - in this case the BBC - again. That gorillas use sticks as tools is hardly news. We wtached them doing it on our TV screens in the 70's.

But now - "Stop press!" it's suddenly news. (No, it's not!) And now, it means that we have fresh insights into the origins of humans. (Err, how exactly?)

(Sigh...)