Joyfully Singing

         Dear Friends,             What am I to say about the year? What can I say?             I believe I'll call this year a year of God's faithful love. He has shown me, above all else that no matter how much I doubt, no matter how often I attempt sanctification on my own, He who has begun a good work in me will complete it. I am never too far-gone, I am never made to sit in time out (that whole concept is rather skewed, by the way. I don't know what parent decided that time alone sulking in one's room was good for a naughty child) .           In fact, I feel as though this entire year has been one in which I've learned surrender. Surrender of control, of my own strength, my dreams and aspirations...not that I'm not still pursuing them, just in a different way...and learning to put those things first which r...

           I love Christmas Eve service. My favorite part is the candlelight portion.            I love it when they turn off all the lights and our only illumination emanates from the candles held by each person. One small candle each for about three-hundred people equals a great deal of light.           The beautiful thing about fire is that it's not, in itself, a quantifiable substance. The church doesn't need to purchase two crates of fire along with the candles. The ushers simply walk along the end of each row with a lighter, and the single flame gets passed down from candle to candle all the way down the row.           Just like that, the fire is multiplied. All you need is one little spark to light a thousand candles. All we needed was one Son of God to make many children of God. All ...

           If you're wondering why I've been somewhat spotty, a little bit vague, and rather loose with grammar in my posts this year, I have an excuse. The picture above is what I've been waiting for.            My older brother lives in Florida, and very recently came up to visit for Christmas. There have been several late nights(or should I say early :p) Long discussions, heated arguments, laughs that lasted so long they hurt, and beautiful memories made. I think this Christmas season has been the best in several years for us, and I look forward to Christmas day and all the time I have left for this year with Timothy.          Have you ever heard the saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder?" Well, to some degree that was the case with my older brother. We were always the two in the family to butt heads from how to sweep the floor, to w...

           One of the largest elements of Christmas is gift giving. Our celebration revolves about it. I start thinking about Christmas presents in August and by late October I've usually acquired most of them. The excitement of receiving secret packages that you hustle up to your special hidehout with many sneaky looks and misleading hints if necesary. If a sibling has the audacity to ask you what you got him for Christmas, you open your eyes wide and allow a slow smile to creep across your features, as you respond coyly,"Wouldn't you like to know?"           We love giving gifts, we're so excited to receive them, and we love surprising and being surprised(at least I do). What I like even better, though, is a gift that's hidden somewhere and I'm given a riddle as a clue to its whereabouts. Riddles have this way of not making sense in the least, until the solution, by some means or another.   ...

            My friends, I will now proceed to plagiarize from a friend's Christmas theme this year. It was so good I'm going to borrow it and hope he doesn't mind.              I had the great blessing to attend, nearly out of the blue, a magnificent concert in the boon-docks of Morrisville(it's no more boon-dockish than Rolesville but because it's far away, that's how I'll spin it). I attended with a little trepidation, feeling somewhat the audacity of skipping a Master Chorale rehearsal to go to a concert hosted by one who was barely an acquaintance, but, there were two very good reasons for going.          First, it was free and I will do almost anything for a free concert.          Secondly, I had told said acquaintance I would go before I realized I had a rehearsal that night! You k...

            There have been moments where I've been so excited about something that I've wanted to tell everybody about it. I want the random stranger passing me in the supermarket, the lady at the checkout, the gentleman walking his dog, and the child heading home from school to share my joy and rejoice with me.              Isaiah had some pretty good news to share with the people of Israel; so good that He encouraged those who brought good news to climb up to a mountain top and shout it to the world.    "O Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion; get Thee up into the high mountain."           And what was the good news?     "Behold Thy king cometh unto Thee!"             And not just any king, and king promised since our first parents sinned in the garden. The long awaited seed of...

           Why do the psalms call us to come before the Lord with Timbrel and Dancing; to come before Him with joyful singing?             Perhaps because all joy ultimately comes from Him, and joyful demonstrations such as dance and instrumentation is one of the best ways to bring Him glory.              Like prisms or glass mirrors we, in our feeble way, attempt to reflect back to Him His glory and beauty.            There's a certain exuberance to Christmastime and the way we all throw ourselves with wild abandon into what we would normally consider crazy activities such as ringing people's doorbells and singing to them, bringing friends desserts, wishing random strangers a very merry Christmas, and  spending hours decorating our houses.    ...

           "Wise Men Still Seek Him." goes the oft repeated line, proud of the pun that so cleverly encapsulates a serious message.             When the wise men came to find Jesus, they had obviously already made up their minds about who they were coming to find. "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" They asked those whom they met, "We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him."              It is further stated that when they came to Bethlehem and saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding joy(it seemed they'd lost it for a while) and entered the house to give Christ's gifts. This was no skeptical mission. The Magi had come to worship a king and worship Him they did; "And they opened their treasures and gave to Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."      ...

            Why in the world does everybody go through all the trouble of decorating his house each Christmas? Stringing lights, making wreaths(in my case), purchasing a great big tree and hauling it into his house, hanging ornaments which never appear at any other time of year?             Well, I can't speak for the whole world but I'll tell you why I do it? Last year, I decided I'd had enough of the old wreath we'd been using for about half my lifetime, hanging lopsidedly on one side of the front door, while another wreath that did not match at all and ought to have been hung indoors graced the other side. It was disgraceful, and this realization was only made more stark by the fact that our adopted grandmother has been sending us beautiful wreaths for our front door for the past three years whose magnificence condemned the deplorable nature of the two on each side (rathe...

           Whenever I wished myself somewhere in the Christmas story as a child I never wished to be Mary. Oh no. No little girl in her right mind wants to be Mary. I certainly knew better. No, I wanted to be one of the shepherds.  I wanted to be present when the herald angel visited and startled the poor men out of their wits. I wanted to witness the skies burst open to a myriad of angels proclaiming God's praises. What a memory to carry with you to the end of your days.             I will share with you one of my life long wishes. It's one I'm almost certain will never be fulfilled, but I'd like to see an angel just once in this life. I used to pray for this wish, assuring God that if He would only let me see an angel just once I'd never tell anybody about it.(As a child I'd read stories about people who'd seen fantastical things, talked incessantly about it and ended up i...

              My brother Jedidiah has the cutest Christmas ornaments in the house, I think. The squirrel above is a specimen. I'm not quite sure how he managed to end up with all the furry, fluffy, creatures on the Christmas tree. Perhaps the same way I ended up with most of the elegant, lacy, blown  grass decorations. Anyhow, back to the whole business of cuteness, I've often wondered what are the elements that make something cute, and why is it that we, when we see something of that sort feel the irrepressible desire to hug, squeeze, and make high pitched noises?              Did you know that the Eskimos even have a special word for something that is so cute that you want to squeeze it?              Well, for a while, I will say that while babies are generally squeezebly cute, I had a hard t...

            Any of you who have spent any length of time with me know that I have an obtrusive obsession with John Rutter's music. There is very little written by him which I don't like. And generally, if that happens, it's the words not the music which I object to.           The current case in point being one of the songs the Master Chorale is singing for their joy of the season this concert. We're singing two John Rutter songs. One, as usual is glorious, uplifting and theologically sound. The other one, well, let's just say I refuse to ever perform Ave Maria, and Sing We to This Merry Company is pretty much along the same lines. I'm not singing it.             That being said, I still love John Rutter's music, and my top favorite Christmas carols happen to include three of his: The Shepherd's Pipe Carol , What Sweeter Music , and The Angel's Carol. ...