When the song of the angels is stilled...

When the song of the angels is stilled,

when the star in the sky is gone,

when the kings and princes are home,

when the shepherds are back with the flocks,

then the work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,

to heal those broken in spirit,

to feed the hungry,

to release the oppressed,

to rebuild the nations,

to bring peace among all peoples,

to make a little music with the heart…

And to radiate the Light of Christ,

every day, in every way,
in all that we do and in all that we say.

Then the work of Christmas begins.

...Howard Thurman image by Greg Knapp

Welcome! All wonders in one sight!

Welcome! All wonders in one sight!

Eternity shut in a span!

Summer in winter, day in night!

Heaven in earth, and God in man!

Great little One, whose all-embracing birth

Lifts earth to heaven, stoops Heaven to earth!

...Richard Crashaw image

Eastern Orthodox Christmas Story

Christ is come to be thy Light...

Christ is come to be thy Light,

Shining through the darkest night;

He will make thy pilgrim way

Shine unto the perfect day.

Take the message! let it be

Full of Christmas joy to thee!

...Frances Ridley Havergal image

God descends to re-ascend...

God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity ... down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. ...C.S. Lewis
image by James Bradley

Given, not lent...

Given, not lent,

And not withdrawn—once sent,

This Infant of mankind, this One,

Is still the little welcome Son.

New every year,

New born and newly dear,

He comes with tidings and a song,

The ages long, the ages long.

Even as the cold

Keen winter grows not old,

As childhood is so fresh, foreseen,

And spring in the familiar green.

Sudden as sweet

Come the expected feet.

All joy is young, and new all art,

And He, too, Whom we have by heart.

...Alice Meynell image

Veni Veni Emmanuel

Whatever else be lost among the years...

Whatever else be lost among the years,

Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:

Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,

Let us hold close one day, remembering

Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.

Let us get back our childlike faith again.

...Grace Noll Crowell image

By His first coming...

By his first coming our Lord raised us up only in soul; by his second coming he will raise us up in body, too. As we now serve God with both-the body and the soul-so then in both shall we enjoy perfect happiness with God. At his first coming he gave us the faith that enables us to believe in him. At his second coming he will endow us with the capacity to see him, not as the wicked will see him on the day of judgment-for on that day of judgment the good and the bad alike will all see him in the likeness in which he bore his sufferings for us and in which he rose and ascended into heaven-but we shall see him as those who are pure of heart will be able to see him. For the Lord says: Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God. That is to say, we shall see his godhead too, that excellence and that beauty which now the angels see. For we shall be like the angels of God in heaven. Yet if we love him now and long for him and scorn all worldly pleasures and honors, then surely we shall see him confidently in the likeness in which he will judge the living and the dead. And we shall have the happiness of seeing him in that likeness in which he will show himself only to the good whom he will take with himself from judgment into the kingdom. ...Aelred of Rievaulx

What a day...

What a day for this poor old sin-ruined, storm-torn, heart- broken, groping-in-the-dark blind world, when He shall take His rightful throne and reign in all hearts and over all lives for ever and ever! ...Elmer Ellsworth Helmes image

Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear!

Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear!
Arise, Thou Sun so longed for, over this benighted sphere!
With hearts and hands uplifted, we plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption that brings us unto Thee.

Ye saints, who here in patience your cross and sufferings bore,
Shall live and reign forever, when sorrow is no more.
Around the throne of glory the Lamb ye shall behold;
In triumph cast before Him your diadems of gold!
...Lau­ren­ti­us Lau­ren­ti image

God, who had fashioned time and space...

God, who had fashioned time and space in a clockwork of billions of suns and stars and moons, in the form of his beloved Son became a human being like ourselves. On the microscopic midge of planet he remained for thirty-three years. He became a real man, and the only perfect one. While continuing to be the true God, he was born in a stable and lived as a working man and died on a cross. He came to show us how to live, not for a few years but eternally. ...Fulton Oursler image

The King shall come when morning dawns...

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And light triumphant breaks;

When beauty gilds the eastern hills,

And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child

To bear, and fight, and die,

But crowned with glory like the sun

That lights the morning sky.

O brighter than that glorious morn

Shall this fair morning be,

When Christ, our King, in beauty comes,

And we His face shall see.

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And earth’s dark night is past;

O haste the rising of that morn,

The day that aye shall last.

And let the endless bliss begin,

By weary saints foretold,

When right shall triumph over wrong,

And truth shall be extolled.

The King shall come when morning dawns,

And light and beauty brings:

Hail, Christ the Lord! Thy people pray,

Come quickly, King of kings.

Unknown au­thor photo

The battle is lost or won in the secret places...

  The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there.

If I say, "I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test," I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between my self and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God's decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.
...Oswald Chambers

He wants to talk to me of His own secrets...

He wants to talk to me of His own secrets, of the meaning of my life, and the way He would have me go; and I believe, brethren, one of the greatest lacks in the present day is that we do not take time to listen. "Oh," you say, "God does not speak to men now as He spoke to Abraham." I do not believe it. I think the true thing to say is that men do not listen as Abraham listened. We do not give God the chance to speak. The practice of fellowship. ...G. Campbell Morgan image

You keep us waiting...

You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
Want us to wait
For the right time

in which to discover
Who we are, where we are to go,
Who will be with us,
 and what we must do.
So thank you … for the waiting time.
...John Bell image

Now peacemaking is a divine work...

Now peacemaking is a divine work. For peace means reconciliation, and God is the author of peace and of reconciliation. … It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which attaches to peacemakers is that "they shall be called sons of God." For they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with his love. ...John Stott image by Keoni Cabral

Watchman, tell us of the night...

Watchman, tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are.
Traveler, o’er yon mountain’s height,
See that glory beaming star.
Watchman, does its beauteous ray
Aught of joy or hope foretell?
Traveler, yes—it brings the day,
Promised day of Israel.

Watchman, tell us of the night;
Higher yet that star ascends.
Traveler, blessedness and light,
Peace and truth its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveler, ages are its own;
See, it bursts o’er all the earth.

Watchman, tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn.
Traveler, darkness takes its flight,
Doubt and terror are withdrawn.
Watchman, let thy wanderings cease;
Hie thee to thy quiet home.
Traveler, lo! the Prince of Peace,
Lo! the Son of God is come!
...John Bowring image

God became man...

God became man, took upon him a birth from the fallen nature. But why was this done? Or wherein lies the adorable depth of this mystery? How does all this manifest the infinity of the divine love towards man? It is because nothing less than this mysterious Incarnation (which astonishes angels) could open a way, or begin a possibility, for fallen man to be born again from above, and made again a partaker of the divine nature. ...William Law art

What gives peace to the conscience...

What gives peace to the conscience is, that by faith our sins are no more ours but Christ’s, on whom God hath laid them all; and that, on the other hand, all Christ’s righteousness is ours, to whom God hath given it. Christ lays his hand upon us, and we are healed; he casts his mantle on us, and we are clothed; he is the glorious Saviour, blessed for ever. ...Martin Luther image

The whole stream and drift of the Old Testament...

The whole stream and drift of the Old Testament moves straight to the cross of Christ. The whole New Testament is nothing but the portrait of Christ. Let a man seek the true course of his own life in the Word, and inevitably it will land him at the cross, to seek mercy as a perishing sinner in the Saviour's wounds; and let him, starting afresh from this point of departure, seek his true course still farther, and inevitably what he will see will be, rising upon him in the distance, astonishing and enchaining him, but drawing him ever on, the image of perfection in the man Christ Jesus. ...James Stalker
 image by Dave Ceasar Dela Cruz

Advent Spirituality

In Advent spirituality we are also called on to meditate on the birthing of Christ in our hearts. In this matter we are dealing with the conversion of life, the movement away from the old life lived under the power of evil to the new life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. True conversion is a turning from one way of life to another. Christ calls us to be converted to him, to make him the pattern of our lives, to make our living and dying a living and dying in him. This can only be accomplished as we completely submit to him and live our lives in respect to his paschal mystery and by the example he left for us to follow..Robert Webber image

If we with earnest effort could succeed...

If we with earnest effort could succeed

To make our life one long, connected prayer,
As lives of some, perhaps, have been and are;
If, never leaving Thee, we have no need
Our wandering spirits back again to lead
Into Thy presence, but continued there
Like angels standing on the highest stair
Of the Sapphire Throne: this were to pray indeed!
Richard C. Trench image by Justin D. Miller

“When the Son of Man cometh..."

“When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” If He should now come, would He find it in us? What fruits of faith have we to show? Do we look upon this life only as a short passage to a better? Do we believe that we must suffer with Jesus Christ before we can reign with Him? Do we consider this world as a deceitful appearance, and death as the entrance to true happiness? Do we live by faith? Does it animate us? Do we relish the eternal truths it presents us with? Are we as careful to nourish our souls with those truths as to maintain our bodies with proper diet? Do we accustom ourselves to see all things in the light of faith? Do we correct all our judgments by it? Alas! The greater part of Christians think and act like mere heathens; if we judge (as we justly may) of their faith by their practice, we must conclude they have no faith at all. ...François Fénelon image

Joy, not grit, is the hallmark of holy obedience...

Joy, not grit, is the hallmark of holy obedience. We need to be light-hearted in what we do to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. It is a cheerful revolt against self and pride. Our work is jubilant, carefree, merry. Utter abandonment to God is done freely and with celebration. And so I urge you to enjoy this ministry of self-surrender. Don't push too hard. Hold this work lightly, joyfully. The saints throughout the ages have witnessed to this reality.... You know, of course, that they are not speaking of a silly, superficial, bubbly kind of joy like that flaunted in modern society. No, this is a deep, resonant joy that has been shaped and tempered by the fires of suffering and sorrow; joy through the cross, joy because of the cross. ...Richard J. Foster image

The voice is John, the word is Christ

The voice of one crying in the wilderness is the voice of one breaking the silence. Prepare the way for the Lord, he says, as though he were saying: “I speak out in order to lead him into your hearts, but he does not choose to come where I lead him unless you prepare the way for him”.

To prepare the way means to pray well; it means thinking humbly of oneself. We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He is thought to be the Christ; he declares he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.

If he had said, “I am the Christ”, you can imagine how readily he would have been believed, since they believed he was the Christ even before he spoke. But he did not say it; he acknowledged what he was. He pointed out clearly who he was; he humbled himself. He saw where his salvation lay. He understood that he was a lamp, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride. ...from a sermon by Augustine, bishop, 4th century icon

Wherever souls are being tried and ripened...

In what strange quarries and stoneyards the stones for the celestial wall are being hewn! Out of the hillsides of humiliated pride; deep in the darkness of crushed despair; in the fretting and dusty atmoshpere of little cares; in the hard cruel contacts that man has with man; wherever souls are being tried and ripened, in whatever commonplace and homely way, there God is hewing out the pillars for His temple. ...Phillips Brooks photo

Watchman, tell us of the night...

Watchman, tell us of the night,

For the morning seems to dawn,
Traveler, darkness takes its flight,

Doubt and terror are withdrawn.

Watchman, let thy wanderings cease;

Hie thee to thy quiet home.

Traveler, lo! the Prince of Peace,

Lo! the Son of God is come!

...John Bow­ring

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion...

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion,

for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst,

declares the LORD.

 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD
in that day, and shall be my people.

And I will dwell in your midst,

 and you shall know that the LORD of hosts

 has sent me to you.

 And the LORD will inherit Judah

 as his portion in the holy land,

and will again choose Jerusalem."
Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD,

 for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

 ...Zechariah 2:10-13 photo

What we need very badly these days...

What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will be swept away, and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith that is terrifying, but to real faith it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain. ...AW Tozer photo

The Christian life is not just our own private affair...

The Christian life is not just our own private affair. If we have been born again into God's family, not only has he become our Father but every other Christian believer in the world, whatever his nation or denomination, has become our brother or sister in Christ. But it is no good supposing that membership of the universal Church of Christ is enough; we must belong to some local branch of it. Every Christian's place is in a local church, sharing in its worship, its fellowship, and its witness. ...John R.W. Stott  image by Smythe Richbourg

Light of those whose dreary dwelling...

Light of those whose dreary dwelling

Borders on the shades of death,
Come, and by Thy love’s revealing
Dissipate the clouds beneath.

The new heaven and earth’s Creator,
In our deepest darkness rise,
Scattering all the night of nature,
Pouring eyesight on our eyes.

Still we wait for Thine appearing;
Life and joy Thy beams impart,
Chasing all our fears, and cheering
Every poor benighted heart.
...Charles Wes­ley image

He comes to us...

He comes to us

in the brokenness of our health,
in the shipwreck of our family lives,
in the loss of all possible peace of mind,
even in the very thick of our sins.
He saves us in our disasters, not from them.
He emphatically does not promise to meet
only the odd winner of the self-improvement lottery:
He meets us all in our endless and inescapable losing.
Robert Farrar Capon art

The Advent Journey

 It is natural for travelers to hasten toward their native land, and natural too that they should have trouble on the way and safety at home. So let us who are on the way to it hasten toward our native land; for our whole life is like a single day's journey.

And therefore let us devote ourselves to divine rather than human affairs, and like exiles be always sighing for our native land and longing for it. For the journey's end must always be wished and longed for by travelers, and so because we ourselves are travelers and exiles in the world we should always be thinking of the journey's end, that is, the end of our life, for our journey brings us to our native land. But, there, all who have been traveling the world get different lots according to their merits. The good travelers come home because they love the journey. Let us not love the journey to our native land, so that we do not lose our eternal home for that is the kind of home we have, and which we must love. Let this, then, be our constant aim: to live our way like travelers, exiles, visitors to the world, without clinging to any worldly ambitions or longing to fulfill any worldly desires, but to fill our minds entirely with heavenly and spiritual images, singing in thought and deed: When shall I come and appear before the face of my God? For my soul thirsts for the strong and living God. And saying with Paul: I long to die and be with Christ.

Let us realize that although We are exiles from the Lord as long as we are in the body, we are present in the sight of God. Therefore spurning all laziness, putting away all lukewarmness, let us do our best to please him who is present everywhere. Then, with a good conscience, we may pass happily from our journey in this world to the holy and eternal home of our eternal Father, from the present to the absent, from sorrow to joy, from transitory to eternal, from earth to heaven, from the region of the dead to that of the living. And then we shall see, face to face, the world of heaven and the king of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, ruling his kingdom with right government, to whom be glory for ever. ...St. Columban

Behold! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands!"

Behold! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands!"

Isaiah 49:16

"Behold," says Immutable One, "I have engraved you on the palms of My hands." Not on the mountains, colossal as they are, for they shall depart; on no page of nature's vast volume, for the last fires shall scorch them; not on blazing sun, for he shall grow dim with age; not on glorious heavens, for they shall be folded together as a scroll. But on... the hand which made the worlds, the hand which was transfixed on Calvary, the hand of might and love; I have engraved you there! No corroding power can efface the writing, or obliterate your name! ...John MacDuff image

In The Bleak Midwinter

We search for Thee in prayer, O Lord...

We search for Thee in prayer, O Lord,
for all is comprehended in Thee.

 May we be enriched by Thee,

for Thou art wealth which diminishes not
with the changes of time.

May Thy loving-kindness come to our aid!

May Thy grace defend us!

 From Thy treasury pour out upon us restoration
  to heal our sores.

We must seek Thee above all else,
and not seek anything but Thee,

 for he who seeks Thee finds all in Thee.

In Thee is wealth for the needy,
 heartfelt joy for the sorrowing,

 restoration for all the wounded,
consolation for all who mourn.

Accept our prayer, O our Lord, and grant us Thyself.

 May we live in Thee, may we possess Thee
instead of all else, for then all is ours.

Grant, O Lord, that we may be Thine.

And according to Thy loving-kindness be Thou ours;

for the righteous Father gave us Thee
 for the healing of our sores.

Thou art ours according to the will of Thy Father;

and Thou art ours according to Thine own desire.

Thou art with us, O Emmanuel!

Thou art with us, as our Lord.

Accept these prayers from us, O our God,

Who hast descended to us.

Accept the tears of sinners and show mercy to the guilty.

According to Thy desire Thou hast been united with us;

 be the intercessor of our prayer.

Raise it up to Thy Father and establish peace in our souls.

...St. Ephraim the Syrian art

Woe to those who say, "When shall the day of the Lord come?"

Woe to those who say, "When shall the day of the Lord come?" and they don't care to know and understand that day. For the Lord's Presence in the faithful has already come, and is continuously coming, and to all those who wish for it, has arrived and is firm. Because, if He is indeed the light of the world (John 8.12) and to His Apostles has said, that with us until the end of time will be (Matt. 28.20, cf. Matt. 1.23), how, with us being, will come? Not at all. For we are not sons of darkness and sons of night, in order for the light to overtake us, but sons of light and sons of the Lord's day, hence and living in the Lord we are, and dying in Him and with Him will live, as Paul says (Acts 17.28). ...St. Symeon the Theologian photo

There is a time appointed in the history of our world...

There is a time appointed in the history of our world, when that very Jesus who appeared on earth, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," shall reappear with all the circumstances of majesty and power, "King of kings and Lord of lords." We are led to expect a day when Christ shall find a home in the remotest hearts and families, and the earth in all its circumference be covered with the knowledge and the power of the Lord. ...Henry Melvill art

The voice of the Father will be heard...

The voice of the Father will be heard as He sets before us a widely opened door and receives us into blessed fellowship with Himself. When we pray for the Spirit's help, it will no longer be in the fear that prayer is too great an effort for us. Instead, we will simply fall down at the Lord's feet in our weakness. There we will find the victory and power that comes from His love.
...Andrew Murray 

Advent is a time of waiting...

Advent is a time of waiting. Our whole life, however, is Advent—that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: “On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.” Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. “I stand at the door...” We however call to him:
“Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!” ...Dietrich Bonhoeffer image

God Is With Us

O My God, Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects...

O My God,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
 my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee
in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee,
 ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
 crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
 for adorning it, for sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;

I bless thee for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
 for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;

I bless thee for thy royal bounty
 providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness;

I bless thee for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express,
 for what thou art to thy creatures.
Increase my love, O my God,
 through time and eternity.
...The Valley of Vision image by David Goehring

Gratitude...

Gratitude... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. ...Henri J. M. Nouwen image

My prayers for a blessed Thanksgiving to all who visit here!

...Pat Dague

How great is your goodness, dear Lord!

How great is your goodness, dear Lord!
Blessed are you for ever!
May all created things praise you, O God,
for loving us so much that we can truthfully speak
of your fellowship with mankind, even in this earthly exile;
and however virtuous we may be,
our virtue always depends
on your great warmth and generosity, dear Lord.
Your bounty is infinite.
How wonderful are your works!
...St. Teresa of Avila photo

For those of us who live in a free country...

For those of us who live in a free country, we have so much to be grateful for. May we never take our freedoms for granted and always live and act responsibly in every area of life. And for all of us who are Christians, we can thank God even if we aren't free outwardly, that we can find freedom within in our spirit, freedom from guilt because of God's gift of sins forgiven, and freedom regarding the future knowing that God has a home in Heaven for us where there will be no more bondage physically, emotionally, spiritually or in any other way! ...Dick Innes  image by Paulo Ordoveza

The heart must be alive with gracious gratitude...

The heart must be alive with gracious gratitude,
or the leaf cannot long be green with living holiness.
...C. H. Spurgeon image

Happy are they...

Happy are they...who shall learn...not to despair, but shall remember, that though the day is past, and their strength is wasted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavours ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his errors, and that he who implores strength and courage from above shall find danger and difficulty give way before him. ...Samuel Johnson image

A great many people do not pray...

A great many people do not pray because they do not feel any sense of need. The sign that the Holy Spirit is in us is that we realize that we are empty, not that we are full. We have a sense of absolute need. We come across people who try us, circumstances that are difficult, conditions that are perplexing, and all these things awaken a dumb sense of need, which is a sign that the Holy Spirit is there. If we are ever free from the sense of need, it is not because the Holy Spirit has satisfied us, but because we have been satisfied with as much as we have. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." A sense of need is one of the greatest benedictions because it keeps our life rightly related to Jesus Christ. ...Oswald Chambers image by Peter Heilmann

Distress of soul and grief of heart...

Distress of soul and grief of heart can only bring on destruction of body. Joy alone is a healer, and ye can have it in the darkest hour if ye will force thy soul to rise to Me in worship and adoration. I have not failed thee and ye have not failed Me. Remember that I am in the midst when ye praise me. Never let any kind of anxiety crowd out thy praises. ...Frances J. Roberts image by BobbyProm