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

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And not withdrawn—once sent,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