“The Nativity” fresco by Giotto, 1310 (the Church of St. Francis, Assisi, Italy)
Thoughts on Christmas Eve, that most tender evening . . .
To all of my readers —
I wish you a most blessed Christmas, with the hope that our DWELLING together in the truth of the Word of God is transforming us all, day by day, more and more, into the likeness of this Child, the Christ.
With love in Jesus’ Name,
Rebecca Mitchell
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Luke 2:7 (King James Version)
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
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from Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC,
by Frederick Buechner
HISTORY
Unlike Buddhism or Hinduism, biblical faith takes history very seriously because God takes it very seriously. He took it seriously enough to begin it and to enter it and to promise that one day he will bring it to a serious close. The biblical view is that history is not an absurdity to be endured or an illusion to be dispelled or an endlessly repeating cycle to be escaped. Instead it is for each of us a series of crucial, precious, and unrepeatable moments that are seeking to lead us somewhere.
The true history of humankind and the true history of each individual has less to do than we tend to think with the kind of information that gets into most histories, biographies, and autobiographies. True history has to do with the saving and losing of souls, and both of these are apt to take place when most people—including the one whose soul is at stake—are looking the other way. The real turning point in our lives is less likely to be the day we win the election or get married, than the morning we decide not to mail the letter or the afternoon we watch the woods fill up with snow. The real turning point in human history is less apt to be the day the wheel is invented or Rome falls, than the night a boy is born to a couple of Jews.
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Music:
HERE is Celine Dion performing ”O Holy Night.’
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We do not believe that the virgin mother gave birth to a son and that he is the Lord and Savior unless, added to this,
I believe the second thing, namely, that he is my Savior and Lord.
Martin Luther, “Sermon on the Afternoon of Christmas Day 1530”
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17th century English poet Richard Crashaw:
“In the Holy Nativity of our Lord”
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DWELLING in the Word 