Friday, December 22: Angels We Have Heard on High
Friday, December 22: Angels We Have Heard on High This Christmas Carol is a joyous celebration of Christ’s birth on Earth. The celebration was so great that the Angels in Heaven sang! What a joyous occasion – a night that changed the world. I cannot imagine the awe the shepherds must have felt when the […]
December 17, 2017: 3rd Sunday of Advent
Scriptures: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 (Read them online here.)
Thursday, December 21: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Thursday, December 21: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” -Luke 10:41-42 (NIV) Christmas can seem like a rat race […]
Wednesday, December 20: White Christmas
Wednesday, December 20: White Christmas The sun is shining, the grass is green The orange and palm trees sway There’s never been such a day In Beverly Hills, L.A. But it’s December the twenty-fourth And I’m longing to be up North! I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas: Not many people remember the verse that preceded […]
Tuesday, December 19: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Tuesday, December 19: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day The song I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is based on a poem, Christmas Bells, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863. The poem was written after a dark period in Longfellow’s life. The accidental death of his second wife and his son being […]
Monday, December 18: Do You Hear What I Hear?
Monday, December 18: Do You Hear What I Hear? You may have thought this is an old English Christmas song, but it was actually written in October of 1962, surrounding the emotions of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Do You Hear What I Hear? was written by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne as a prayer for […]
Sunday, December 17: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Sunday, December 17: I’ll Be Home for Christmas Such a haunting melody, popularized by Bing Crosby in 1943, always reminds me of World War II; specifically, the winter of 1944. Operation Market Garden had failed and hopes of the war ending by Christmas were shattered. Furthermore, on December 16th the Germans launched a last ditch […]
Saturday, December 16: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Saturday, December 16: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing Imagine Norah O’Donnell on CBS News leading with the teaser: “‘Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled’. More after this brief message.” Every day we are bombarded with messages, commercial, political, personal, true, false… How would we respond to […]
Friday, December 15: The Christmas Song
Friday, December 15: The Christmas Song The Christmas Song has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas; turkey, carols, children anticipating the sight of flying reindeer and toys fresh off Santa’s’ sleigh! It’s all so wonderful, cheery and bright. The real world is not always so cheery and bright. The first Christmas was not cheery […]
Thursday, December 14: The First Noel
Thursday, December 14: The First Noël She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. -Matthew 1:21 NIV It is widely known that Noël is the French word for Christmas, but do you know the original origin of the […]