DECEMBER 2019

Borrowing from a devotional from 2012...

"I'm tardy, late with my Christmas giddy-up.  My Christmas CDs are playing, I decorated the church, made the Christmas cards for teens to sell, I made the sign for the Christmas parade church float, I made and delivered the invitations to our neighbors for a Christmas open house (with the wrong address), but the tree is still in the garage.  This is the latest I've been in years getting my Christmas decorations up.  I trained my daughters well who have their homes all radiant in the Christmas spirit.  Laura even decorated her tree twice (it fell over, and they had to do it again).  Tomorrow is the day, after I clean the garage to make a pathway, to bring in the boxes.  Chaos will reign until the Christmas spirit like fairy dust will settle to make it all worthwhile.  Jesus, like the tiny baby in a manger that He once was, won't notice the ambience so much as the heart of love that rejoices in Him.  That is the true Christmas sprit.

"Our God was such a shameless lover,

God is so in love with us

that He was willing to become

a helpless thing..."

Mark Conner

"And Mary said: 'My soul exalts the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."

Luke 1:46-47

One of the earliest recorded carols was sung by nuns in Medieval England, 1425.  

"He who made the starry skies, 

Lully, lully, lu, 

Sleeping in a manger lies, 

Ruler of the centuries, 

Lully, lully, .

Humbly clad the King of kings,

Joys of heav'n to earth He brings,

By, by, by, by,

 Sweet above all earthly things,

Mother pray thy sweet childing, 

Lully, lully, lu, 

Us eternal joys to bring,

That His praises we may sing,

By, by, by, by.

Joseph brings a garment there, 

Lully, lully, lu,

On His mother's breast He lies.

She will kiss Him if He cries,

Lully, lully, lu,

Ruler of the earth and skies,

Whilst we run this earthly race,

By, by, by, by, 

Then throughout all time and space,

May He grant us hope and grace, 

Lully, lully, lu.