Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Poetry of the Day We Call Christmas

The most profound things in life are often the simplest.

The birth of a child. The birth of THE child. So simple, yet so profound that theologians have wrestled with it for 2,000 years. And, often, their prose has failed them. Instead, they’ve resorted to poetry.

One of the first to wrestle the nativity into words was John,the author of the Fourth Gospel. “In the beginning,” he wrote, “was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Centuries later, Charles Spurgeon preached of the incarnation: “Everything here is simple; everything is sublime. Here is that simple gospel, by which the most ignorant may be saved. Here are profundities, in which the best-instructed may find themselves beyond their depth. Here are those everlasting hills of divine truth which man cannot climb; yet here is that plain path in which the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err, nor lose his way.”

Merry Christmas, friends. May you make room in your hearts, lives, and families for the babe in the manger. And may your mouth, too, be filled with poetry in the face of the awesomeness of God's gift of His Son!

Yes, this season is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and this season brings with it a reminiscence of Christmases, as we’ve known them throughout the ages spent amongst family and friends.

Christmas is a time for bonding with one another.

Christmas is a time for reaffirming our love toward our families.

Christmas is a time for celebration and reflection
.

Christmas is a time for considering who you are in Christ.

May you experience all of these aspects of the holy day this year!

Merry Christmas -- and to all a Holy Night!

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